2021 Annual Report: Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk & Resilience

Launched in 2019 by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the lab focuses on constraints to agricultural transformation, poverty reduction, and food security posed by risk and shocks. The research strategy is driven by three priorities: enabling resilient escapes from poverty, financial and agronomic innovations for inclusive growth and resilience, and resilient systems for broadly-based agricultural growth. The MRR Innovation Lab's approach to food security and resilience is centered on generating and transferring innovations that bolster resilience and enable rural individuals, households, communities, and markets to sustain a process of inclusive agricultural growth. The lab innovates and field-tests approaches to reducing risk that create opportunities for families to adopt productive technologies, such as stress-tolerant seeds and low-cost loans. Research shows that these tools can generate additional food and income that keep people from falling into poverty while building a ladder up for families who are already poor. The lab is testing ways to build virtuous circles of upward mobility and resilience, promoting a cycle of resilience for families who are already poor and providing a ladder up for vulnerable families who are not poor. The lab is also developing and improving tools to manage risk, such as agricultural index insurance, microfinance, and other tools that manage risk and build resilience. Additionally, the lab is testing ways to make market systems both competitive and inclusive, stabilizing public finance while integrating rural communities and helping families to become and remain resilient to environmental and other shocks. The MRR Innovation Lab is led by Director Michael R. Carter, a distinguished professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis. The lab's management team includes Associate Director Tara Chiu, Research Finance Officer Stefanne Haro-Maendly, and Policy Engagement Coordinator Sophie Javers. The lab has expanded its collaborations across the development community, ensuring that the evidence generated reaches stakeholders who can readily incorporate it into their work. Through publications and participation in high-level partnerships, the lab has provided critical thought leadership in the areas of risk management, technology adoption, market development, and resilience. In 2021, the lab completed its research portfolio with a total of 32 awarded projects across 16 countries. Of these projects, 12 are funded through the Feed the Future Advancing Local Leadership, Innovation and Networks (ALL-IN) initiative, which the lab co-manages in partnership with the International Center for Evaluation and Development (ICED). The lab has also expanded its efforts to increase research capacity among African researchers and institutions through its ALL-IN initiative, including mentorship in research and grant administration, as well as a capacity development event in Ghana that supported African researchers in strengthening their proposals for future grant funding. The lab's research has shown that the deep relationships established with governments, NGOs, and the private sector are creating a ready pathway for scaling what works. In the coming year, the lab anticipates more of these successes across the broad collaborations that make its work possible. The lab's research has provided actionable guidance on how to respond to systemic threats like the COVID-19 pandemic, which can compromise hard-won progress against food insecurity and rural poverty.