December 2025

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is currently collaborating with SNV Netherlands Development Organization under the umbrella of its Voice for Change Partnership (V4CP) in Kenya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Honduras, and Indonesia. Within this research program, V4CP intended implementing a research project to better understand the nature and consequences of food losses in 12 districts spread across the 3 northern regions – Upper West, Northern and Upper East.

The COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to increase global extreme poverty to about 150 million people by 2021. While it is difficult to state the full socio-economic impact of the pandemic, it is envisaged to have adverse effects on vulnerable groups and participants within informal sectors of many economies, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The United Nations report that the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is being threatened by poverty, inequality, and exclusion; as a result, the most vulnerable are being further marginalized.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of Ghana’s economy: constituting 70% of GDP and 92% of all businesses. This notwithstanding, SMEs in Ghana face various constraints (including limited access to credit facilities and international markets). A major challenge in a dynamic and interconnected economy is SME’s inadequate access to appropriate information communication technology which, moreover, is a key ingredient for tapping into global markets for business transactions.

In Ghana, more than 5,000 people are killed by tobacco-caused diseases every year (Tobacco Atlas, 2018). Currently, the country’s tax administration approach is unitary with a uniform ad valorem tax structure on all excisable products including tobacco. However, the ECOWAS directive on tobacco control in line with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), recommends a simple tax structure using a mixed excise system with a minimum specific tax floor, to overcome the large limitations of the ad valorem system on tobacco products especially cigarettes.

An international consortium, with ISSER as a Ghana-based Principal Investigator, partnered with staff from the University of Bonn and a US-based NGO, Eparque Urban Strategies, LLC, to undertake this project aimed at equipping smaller cities (Agona Swedru and Cape Coast) to boost their economies and help reinvigorate employment and related improved socio-economic status for residents. In this project, both cities chose areas of interest to them. Cape Coast chose tourism while Agona Swedru and its environs chose agro-processing. East Mamprusi Municipality was introduced as a “learning city”.

ReFinD is a sub-grants-awarding research initiative that aims to support interventions that will effectively expand the reach and efficiency of agent network operations through public policy and commercial solutions that can plausibly be scaled. It was launched in June 2022 with a first call for proposals, and is implemented by ISSER, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Researchers: Prof. Peter Quartey

Location: Ghana (with a focus on Africa and Asia)

Duration: November 2021 – November 2026

This is a three-year $449,833 research project led from ISSER that uses communications by cell phone to strengthen nutrition among young children in Northern Ghana. The project, supported by USAID under its Feed the Future Advancing Local Leadership, Innovation and Networks (ALL-IN) program, is testing whether this approach reinforces the Resiliency in Northern Ghana Project (RING), a prominent USAID program focused on nutrition and resilience.

This is a three-year $450,000 research project, led from ISSER, to test a package of training and financing for women shea producers in Northern Ghana. This project, supported by USAID under its Feed the Future Advancing Local Leadership, Innovation and Networks (ALL-IN) program, seeks to increase the shea sector’s overall profitability while empowering women to receive the full benefits of their work.

Trade is a central factor in shaping global, regional, and local development. Increased trade, empowered by the growth of Global Value Chains (GVCs), has boosted productivity and incomes in many countries. However, if not fairly regulated, trade might generate increases in inequality and negative impacts on working conditions in developing countries and compromise the environment.

The Future of Work Research Initiative is a grants-awarding programme aimed at advancing research on the rapidly changing nature of work in the region. As part of the IDRC-funded FutureWORKS Collective, a five-year initiative focused on the Global South, the hub fosters high-quality research, evidence-based policymaking, and regional capacity-building.