This document provides an overview of the Sudan Strategy Support Program (SSSP) funded by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The SSSP aims to address Sudan's development challenges through research focusing on 5 themes: agricultural production, markets and trade, livelihoods and nutrition, development strategy and investment planning, and increasing farming resilience to climate change. Through a participatory workshop, priority research areas were identified within each theme to fill knowledge gaps and inform policy. The SSSP will generate new data and analysis, build research capacity, and disseminate knowledge to stakeholders to guide policies that improve food security and livelihoods in Sudan.

1. Sudan Country Strategy
Support Program
Overview of Sudan SSP – Research Priority
Agenda
International Food Policy Research Institute
31 October 2022
The SSSP is
Funded by: Hosted by:

2. Objectives
 Sudan is confronted with a complex set of macroeconomic, environmental, health, and
humanitarian crises, threatening to worsen poverty and food insecurity and further
undermine agricultural transformation given the limited resources to address these
challenges.
 Scarcity of resources necessitates individuals, governments, and organizations to allocate
them in such a way that benefits are maximized for a given cost, but the question is HOW?
 We utilized a participatory approach to identify evidence-based research needs and gaps
from a wide range of stakeholders, stressing the need for collaboration between policy
makers and researchers in policy-making processes.
 The goal is to identify strategic areas and topics that are highly relevant to a country’s
current and future development policy agenda and consistent with IFPRI’s comparative
advantage and strategy.
 We seek to increase the country’s self-reliance to pursue its own development strategies
and policies as well as build coalitions that involve local partners as co-creators and co-
authors of research outputs and co-convenors of major training events and conferences and
advocates for change.

3. Strategic Framework of IFPRI and SSSP Themes
IFPRI (2018)
SSSP Themes
1) Agricultural production
2) Markets and trade
3) Livelihoods and nutrition
4) Development strategy and
investment planning
5) Increasing resilience of farming
under growing climate
challenges.

4. Approach
 Workshop Guiding Questions
 What are the main development challenges in Sudan (in the short-term and long-term)?
 What are (a) the main knowledge gaps within this theme and (b) the specific research questions
within the top-three knowledge gaps?
 What are the main (a) governmental; (b) non-governmental organizations; and (c) research
institutions working in areas of this theme in Sudan?
 Each set of questions was allocated about 30 minutes of discussion time and were structured to serve
multiple purposes: to
 Learn about Sudan’s main development challenges and opportunities directly from national experts
participating in the workshop,
 Identify existing knowledge gaps and IFPRI’s potential contributions across the four themes, and
 Understand which organizations and research institutions engage in which themes and are
concerned with which issues.
 Selection of Participants: Blending of Different Types of Stakeholders (5 breakout groups and a Modified
Carousel Approach)

5. Development Challenges and Opportunities Across Themes
Priority
No.
Agricultural
production
Markets and
trade
Livelihoods and nutrition
Development
strategy and
investment planning
Resilience of farming
under growing climate
challenges
1 Agricultural
productivity
improvement
The lack of
infrastructure
(including markets
and roads)
Lack of knowledge about
nutrition and little research
and data on nutrition
Strategy formulation
and implementation
challenges
Insufficient data and
inaccessibility of
available data
2 Data challenges
and Knowledge
transfer
Credit, especially
micro-financing
Inadequate availability of
food throughout the year
and changing food culture
Coherence of laws and
regulations and
institutions
Lack of awareness and
political will by
policymakers on climate
change issues
3 Natural resource
Management
challenges
International
market dynamics
Suitable policies for healthy
agricultural production and
awareness
Investments
challenges and
business environment
Water and its effect on
women
4 Policy and
institutions
Livelihoods are eroding Gender and inclusion Inadequate strategies to
address climate related
challenges
5 Livelihoods’ fluctuations
due to weather and
droughts
Value chains and
farming systems
6 Lack of appropriate
technology
Capacity and data
7 Markets access,
processing.
Priority Setting Workshop Finding (Feb 2022)

6. Knowledge Gaps and Research Demands
Priority
No.
Agricultural
production
Markets and
trade
Livelihoods and
nutrition
Development strategy and
investment planning
Resilience of
farming under
growing climate
challenges
1 Investing in data
infrastructure &
analytical rigor
Conducting
market and
value chain
studies
Stocktaking exercise to
assess the current food
security and nutrition
situation nutrition
programs
Addressing strategy difficulties
(lack of development strategy)
Climate adaptation
research
2 New evidence
and
technologies
Improve
market-related
data
infrastructure
Agriculture and Nutrition
linkages research
Consolidate evidence on
effectiveness of policies,
investments and programs
Development of a
national coherent
action plan
3 Investing
prioritization
Digitizing
service
delivery
Create awareness by
making information
available and
accessible
Stocktaking of sectoral laws,
regulations and institutions
4 Value chains and farming systems
assessments
5 Addressing the lack of capacity
and data for strategy development
Priority Setting Workshop Finding (Feb 2022)

7. Research Themes, Strategic Results and Illustrative Output
 Agricultural surveys
 Value chain analyses
 Climate impact assessments
 Investment planning
 Political economy & institutional analyses
 Market & household surveys
 Satellite data
 SAM & RIAPA
 Microsimulation models
 Annual research/ policy conference
 Modeling community of practice
 Technical & policy skills training
 Policy briefs & blogs
 Targeted engagement with policy
champions
SSSP Themes
1) Agricultural
production
2) Markets and trade
3) Livelihoods and
nutrition
4) Development
strategy and
investment planning
5) Increasing resilience
of farming under
growing climate
challenges.
Strategic Results
 Demand-driven and
policy-relevant
research & foresight
analysis
 Generation of new
data, tools and
knowledge
 Research capacity &
institutional
strengthening
 Knowledge
dissemination &
policy engagement

8. Summary of Priorities
Agricultural
Production
► Investing in data
infrastructure and
analysis & strengthen
the capacity of
agricultural researchers
and policy makers.
► Generate new evidence
to guide improvements
in agricultural practices,
policies and investments
based on existing and
new data (surveys,
satellite data etc).
► Conduct investment
prioritization analysis to
identify activities with
high impact on
agricultural productivity
growth.
Markets and Trade
► Conduct market &
value chain studies
of rural and urban
markets to identify
constraints,
bottlenecks and
opportunities.
► Improve market and
trade related data
infrastructure.
► Introduce and
evaluate the
potential of digital
tools and ICT
innovations to
revitalize
agricultural
extension and
market information
systems.
Livelihoods and
Nutrition
► Assess the current
food security and
nutrition situation
based on existing
data and to review
existing food and
nutrition security, and
social protection
policies.
► Analyzing the
linkages between
agricultural
production,
household income,
food prices, and
nutrition outcomes.
► Create awareness by
making information
available and
accessible.
Development Str. &
Inv. Planning
► Consolidate evidence on
the effectiveness of
policies, investments
and programs
► Update and expand the
economy-wide database
and model and build
microsimulation modules
for poverty and nutrition.
► Conduct value chains
and farming systems
assessments.
► Establish a modeling
community of practice
(economy-wide
database construction
and modeling and policy
communication
activities).
Resilience to
Climate
Challenges
► Building climate
change
awareness and
education
among actors
► Understanding
adaptation
strategies
► Develop a
coherent
national action
plan

9. Research Output
WORKING PAPER
Distributional consequences of wheat policy in
Sudan: A simulation model analysis
SSSP WORKING PAPER | 2021 | PAUL A. DOROSH
WORKING PAPER
Prioritizing development policy research in
Sudan: An innovative approach to guide IFPRI’s
Sudan Strategy Support Program
SSSP WORKING PAPER | 2022 | OLIVER K. KIRUI KHALID
SIDDIG CLEMENS BREISINGER PAUL A. DOROSH YUMNA
KASSIM
WORKING PAPER
An assessment of Sudan’s wheat value chains:
Exploring key bottlenecks and challenges
SSSP WORKING PAPER | 2022 | FATMA ABDELAZIZ AMY
WILLIAM KIBROM A. ABAY KHALID SIDDIG
PROJECT PAPER
Wheat subsidies, wheat markets and food
security in Sudan: Current state and options for
the future
SSSP POLICY NOTE | 2022 | KIBROM A. ABAY FATMA
ABDELAZIZ LINA ALAAELDIN ABDELFATTAH CLEMENS
BREISINGER PAUL A. DOROSH DANIELLE RESNICK KHALID
SIDDIG AMY WILLIAM
WORKING PAPER
Political economy of wheat value chains in post-
revolution Sudan
SSSP WORKING PAPER | 2021 | DANIELLE RESNICK
WORKING PAPER
The Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Implications for Global and Regional Food Security and Potential Policy
Responses
MENA RP WORKING PAPER | 2022 | KIBROM A. ABAY CLEMENS BREISINGER JOSEPH W. GLAUBER SIKANDRA KURDI DAVID
LABORDE DEBUCQUET KHALID SIDDIG
WORKING PAPER
Evaluating cereal market (dis)integration in
Sudan
SSSP WORKING PAPER | 2022 | KIBROM A. ABAY LINA
ALAAELDIN ABDELFATTAH CLEMENS BREISINGER KHALID
SIDDIG