From Protection to Production
 

Meet the team

Federica Alfani joined FAO in 2010, managing household level data and conducting applied microeconomic research on economic efficiency, social protection and poverty. She holds a degree in Economics and a Masters in Development Economics and International Co-operation. She is finalizing a PhD in Economics at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.

Solomon Asfaw is an Economist at FAO since 2010, specializing on impact evaluation, social protection, climate-smart agriculture and adaptation to climate change. He has also worked as Regional Scientist for ICRISAT Regional Office in Eastern and Southern Africa. He holds a PhD in Economics from Leibniz University of Hannover.

André Croppenstedt is an Economist on the State of Food and Agriculture team at FAO. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Essex University and has in the past worked at the Universities of Warwick, Oxford and Addis Ababa. Since joining FAO he has  contributed to the annual State of Food and Agriculture and was the lead technical officer for the 2010-11 edition on ‘Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development’ and the 2013 edition and on ‘Food Systems for Better Nutrition’. He is currently leading the work on the 2015 report on Social Protection and Agriculture.

Silvio Daidone has been an Econometrician at FAO since 2012. He was Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics at University of York, UK. He holds a PhD in Econometrics and Empirical Economics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He is specialized in impact evaluation, productivity and efficiency analysis..

Benjamin Davis is a Senior Economist with FAO and team leader of PtoP. He has served as Social Policy Advisor for the UNICEF Regional Office in Eastern and Southern Africa and as a Research and Post Doctoral Fellow at IFPRI. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from UC Berkeley.

Ana Paula de la O Campos is a Policy Analyst in the areas of gender, social protection and rural transformations. She started working with FAO in 2007 as an econometrician specializing in rural labor and household income strategies. Currently, she manages the gender and land rights database and leads several research projects related to social and gender inequalities in rural areas. 

Marco d’Errico is an Economist/Econometrician; he joined FAO in September 2009 and the PtoP team in September 2011. He has expertise in impact evaluation, resilience analysis, and social protection. He holds a PhD in Development Economics from University Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna. 

Josh Dewbre joined FAO in 2010 after a brief stint at the International Food Policy Research Institute. His research interests include the design and evaluation of interventions aimed at reducing poverty in developing countries. He holds an MA in Development Economics from the American University in Washington DC.

Daniela Farinelli is the PtoP team assistant. She joined FAO 29 years ago, first working with the radio and TV section, later with the investment center and statistics division. Holds a diploma as translator and interpreter (English/French).

Maja Gavrilovic is a Social Policy Analyst specializing in risk and vulnerability assessments, social protection, and child and youth wellbeing. She joined FAO’s PtoP team in 2014 as a consultant to support a research and policy dialogue on fostering greater synergies between agriculture and social protection in policy and programming across sub-Saharan Africa. She holds an MA in international development from the RMIT University, Melbourne.

Carina Glendening is team assistant and joined the PtoP team in 2011.
She takes care of contracts, organizes workshops and missions for the team members and she also updates the website. Contact her and she will be enthusiastic to assist.

Marco Knowles started working with FAO in 1997, more recently specializing on country-level food security policy assistance and on supporting policy dialogue and development of guidance material to strengthen coordination between social protection and agriculture. He also has expertise in programme co-ordination and has worked with the World Food Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Netherlands Development Organization.

Robert Pickmans joined the PtoP team as Research Assistant. He has previously worked on the Living Standards Measurement Study team and the Human Development Network at the World Bank and has also consulted for UNICEF. Robert holds a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. His work with PtoP focuses on the impact analysis of the Ethiopia and Malawi cash transfer programmes as well as a cross country study of the impact of cash transfer programmes on non-farm enterprises. 

Pamela Pozarny is a Rural Sociologist for the Africa Service in FAO's Investment Centre and member of the PtoP team leading the qualitative research. She has worked and lived in Africa for 18 years, most recently in the FAO Regional Office for Africa/Ghana, as well as UNDP, USAID, and NGOs. She holds a PhD in anthropology, focusing on rural farming systems and tropical agriculture.

Ervin Prifti joined the PtoP team as an Economist. He has worked as a Quantitative Analyst at the Modelling and ALM Strategies desk of Poste Vita Spa and as an Economist at the Research Department of Confidustria (Italian Confederation of Industries). He holds a PhD in Econometrics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. He has extensive expertise in the field of econometrics, and he specializes in treatment effect evaluation and labor economics. The focus of his research with the PtoP team will be on labor and gender in the context of social protection programs in Sub Saharan Africa.

Angelita Ruvalcaba joined the PtoP as Research Assistant. She has previously worked as Subdirector of Fiscal Studies for the Finance Department in Mexico City and as a Researcher for the National Institute of Public Health, in Mexico (INSP), where she  participated in the coordination, design and analysis of impact evaluations for Conditional Cash Transfers Programs (Oportunidades and MIFAPRO) among other projects. Angelita holds a Masters in Applied Economics from Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Mexico. Her work with PtoP focuses on the impact analysis of the Zimbabwe HSCT program and a cross country study of the impact of cash transfer programmes on food security. 

Ashwini Sebastian joined the PtoP team as an Economist. She has completed an MA in Economics and Agricultural and Resource Economics, and recently a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. While in graduate school she worked as a consultant to IFPRI on issues of Environmental Migration and Labor. Her research interests lie in Development Economics, Environmental Economics and Applied Econometrics.

Massimiliano Terzini is the PtoP communication and outreach focal point. He joined FAO in 2011 and worked for two years as Knowledge Sharing Specialist in OEK. Prior to that, he worked in the Public Affairs and Executive Offices of the United States Embassy to Italy. He is also part of the digital analysts working on the annual “Twiplomacy” study which looks at how governments and world leaders use Twitter. Max holds an MA in International Communication and a Master in International Relations and Politics.

Smriti Tiwari joined the PtoP team in September 2014 as an Economist. She recently completed her Phd from the Department of Economics at American University. Her research interests lie in the areas of Development Economics, Labor Economics and Demography.

Natalia Winder Rossi is a senior social protection specialist with policy and programmatic experience in Latin America and Eastern and Southern Africa. She is Senior Social Protection Officer at FAO, ESP Division. Prior to joining FAO, she was the Senior Programme Specialist (Social Protection) at UNICEF’s Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa where she led UNICEF work in social protection across 21 countries. Ms. Winder co-led and co-authored the development of UNICEF’s first ever Social Protection Strategic Framework, which lays out UNICEF approach and principles for their work in this. Prior to joining UNICEF, Ms. Winder worked at the Inter-American Development Bank in social protection design, indigenous peoples development and education programmes.

Paul Winters is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at American University in Washington DC. He has previously worked at the International Potato Center in Peru, the University of New England in Australia and with international development agencies He has his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Berkeley.

 

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