MSc small grant scheme winners in Ethiopia and Viet Nam share results with SHiFT stakeholders

Making a research presentation is a rite of passage for any researcher. Recently, six master’s-level students from Ethiopia and four master’s-level students from Viet Nam passed this milestone in their academic career. Each presented their thesis projects in an organized symposium with local and international researchers from a wide range of disciplines and members of national ministries, agencies, and departments of agriculture and nutrition.  

The students were all grantees in a 2024 MSc small grant scheme from the CGIAR Research Initiative on Sustainable Healthy Diets through Food Systems Transformation (SHiFT). The purpose of the SHiFT small grant scheme was to enrich master’s-level research projects on topics related to sustainable healthy diets, the food environment, and/or food systems. The selected research topics aligned with SHiFT’s own research objectives and addressed topics of local interest. Other advantages of the small grant scheme were that it strengthened partnerships between SHiFT and local universities and academics and increased awareness of food systems concepts and approaches and capacity to use them in research.  

The 2024 winners were: 

• Aklil Abera (Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia): Investigating the effect of food advertisement exposure on the dietary behaviors, food choice, and nutritional status of adolescents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 

• Beneyam Demeke (University of Gonder, Ethiopia): Dietary behaviors among pregnant women in urban food environments in Gonder City 

• Biruk Wolasa (Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia): Future smart food for healthy diets:  The potential prospect, consumer preference, and dietary diversity effect of neglected and underutilized crop species in southwestern Ethiopia 

• Enatnesh Terefe (Hawassa University, Ethiopia): Characterization of food consumption, dietary patterns, and nutritional status of adolescents in three different agroecological zones in Sidama region, Ethiopia 

• Le Khanh An, (Korea University, Viet Nam): Validity of the Vietnamese version of the Sustainable and Healthy Eating Behaviors Scale in adults 

• Nguyen Minh Quan (Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Viet Nam): Promoting a sustainable healthy diet in Vietnam: investigation into consumer insights and development of an alternative protein rich product from alcoholic beverage byproducts 

• Tran Gia Bao (Faculty of International Business, School of Economics, Can Tho University, Viet Nam): Assessing the effects of food environments on food consumption behavior towards sustainable healthy diets among the urban poor in the Mekong Delta 

• Nguyen Truong Bao Tran (Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Viet Nam): Minimum dietary diversity and related factors among women aged 15-49 in Phong Dien District, Can Tho City, Vietnam in 2024 

• Rinna Sabir (Hawassa University, Ethiopia): Characterization of marginalized populations’ food environment in Butajira and Hawassa cities, southern Ethiopia 

• Sena Dula (Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia): Assessment of unhealthy food consumption and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months in Wolaita Sodo town, southern Ethiopia 

In Viet Nam, each of the four winners received USD4,000 to support data collection and fieldwork for their master’s thesis. The grant scheme was co-managed by the SHiFT Country Coordination Unit, and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, and was funded by the CGIAR Trust Fund through SHiFT. In Ethiopia, each of the six winners received USD6,500 for the same set of activities and the grant scheme was managed by the Research Center for Inclusive Development in Africa (RIDA), and was funded by the Van Dam Foundation. The grant scheme also included a one-day introductory workshop on food systems research for the students and their thesis supervisors, and in Viet Nam, mentorship from a SHiFT researcher.  

Their presentations were made in October as part of country-specific stocktaking workshops with local stakeholders in Ethiopia and Viet Nam organized by the CGIAR Research Initiative on Sustainable Healthy Diets through Food Systems Transformation (SHiFT). The workshops were designed for SHiFT researchers to present emerging research results from SHiFT’s research (2022-2024) and exchange ideas with national partners, known as SHiFT’s Strategic Partners, about how to interpret these results and where they can be applied in the implementation of national food systems transformation policies and processes. The student winners in Viet Nam also presented their research to wider audiences at the 1st Green Transformation conference and a SHiFT share fair, both held in October 2024.  

Header image: Rinna Sabir, an MSc student at Hawassa University explains her research study in a rapid-fire poster session at the SHiFT Stocktaking Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 7, 2024. In the background, Enatnesh Terefe, also an MSc student at Hawassa University, presents her study.  

The International Food Policy Research Institute and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT lead SHiFT in close collaboration with Wageningen University and Research and with contributions from the International Potato Center. SHiFT combines high-quality nutritional and social science research capacity with development partnerships to generate innovative, robust solutions that contribute to healthier, more sustainable dietary choices and consumption of sustainable healthy diets. It builds on CGIAR’s unparalleled track record of agricultural research for development, including ten years of work on food systems and nutrition under the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.