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Socio Economic Research and Analysis (SERA)

Socio Economic Research and Analysis

FAO recognizes the importance of rigorous evidence to guide policy choices and investments to achieve the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The Socio-Economic Research and Analysis (SERA) Team of the Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP) supports Member States to identify policies and programmes to foster resilient and inclusive agri-food system transformations through the generation, coordination, and dissemination of rigorous evidence.

The hallmark of the SERA team's strategic research agenda is an explicit focus on identifying policy options to address the socio-economic barriers and constraints faced by rural populations living in poverty or subject to other forms of structural vulnerability.

The team draws on a variety of methodological approaches and data sets, and leverages a range of strategic partnerships, in order to inform global and national policy debates on the importance of prioritizing inclusive approaches to rural development in the context of an increasingly uncertain world.

Social Protection and Rural Development

News
Strengthening Social Protection Systems in the Caribbean to Adapt to Climate Change
16/05/2024

The Regional Workshop "Strengthening Social Protection Systems in the Caribbean to Adapt to Climate Change: Opportunities and Challenges" underscores...

Think-PA Webinar: Behind the scenes of the 'Unjust Climate'
18/04/2024

Behind the Scenes of the "Unjust Climate" Report: A Review of the Data and Tools Used to Measure the Impacts of Climate Change on the Rural Poor, Women,...

Think-PA seminar on Well-being Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Perspective across territorial typologies
19/03/2024

In sub-Saharan Africa, limited detailed data hinders efforts to track poverty trends spatially. Authors use the ATLAS-AI dataset to study welfare dynamics,...

Integrating Environmental and Socioeconomic Domains for Sustainability
05/03/2024

The 4th IEO-EED Conference focused on how evaluation practice has increasingly integrated the cross-pollination of environmental, socioeconomic, and...

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IN FOCUS
The unjust climate

This report assembles an impressive set of data from 24 low- and middle-income countries in five world regions to measure the effects of climate change on rural women, youths and people living in poverty. It analyses socioeconomic data collected from 109 341 rural households (representing over 950 million rural people) in these 24 countries. These data are combined in both space and time with 70 years of georeferenced data on daily precipitation and temperatures. The data enable us to disentangle how different types of climate stressors affect people’s on-farm, off-farm and total incomes, labour allocations and adaptive actions, depending on their wealth, gender and age characteristics.

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Publications
Publications
Social protection and rural transformation in Africa
2023

This article develops a conceptual framework on pathways through which non-contributory social protection can contribute to a resilient and inclusive...

Publications
Local economy-wide impact evaluation of the United Republic of Tanzania’s. Productive Social Safety Nets
2023

To reduce extreme poverty and break its intergenerational transmission, in 2012 the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania initiated the Productive...

Publications
Climate adaptation, perceived resilience, and food security: Comparative evidence from Kenya and Zambia
2023

This study uses comparable data collected in a pastoralist setting in Kenya and a rain-fed crop production context in Zambia to examine the relationship...

The unjust climate: Measuring the impacts of climate change on rural poor, women and youth
2024

This report assembles an impressive set of data from 24 low- and middle-income countries in five world regions to measure the effects of climate change...

Videos
Bridging the Gap for Women in Agriculture
08/03/2024

Watch the CSIS Global Food and Water Security programme's discussion of the uneven impacts of climate change on rural women in agriculture and the crucial...

The Unjust Climate
05/03/2024

The unequal impacts of climate change on countries, communities, and individuals undeniably pose a critical global challenge. Despite contributing minimally...

Tackling the gender gap is crucial to fight food insecurity and the climate crisis
05/03/2024

The FAO's "Unjust Climate" report reveals that climate change hits women farmers in low- and middle-income countries hardest. Lauren Phillips, Deputy...