Bio:

Fiorella is trained as a development economist and her interdisciplinary research is positioned at the intersection of agriculture, economics of food and nutrition in the Global South. Her academic practice is informed by mixed-methods approaches and primary data collection. Fiorella’s areas of study include food and nutrition security, agricultural seasonality, nutrition impacts of food price crises, intra-household labour dynamics and work intensity. She has field experience in Ghana, India and Indonesia. She completed her PhD at SOAS, University of London (funded by the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health). Her thesis developed innovative methods and tools from the field of agricultural economics and nutrition to examine pathways of food price fluctuations on food security and nutrition.  

Project summary:

Food fortification interventions (FFIs) are becoming the most common strategies to address micro-nutrient deficiencies (MNDs) in the Global South. Despite being applied to a wide range of geographies and socio-economic contexts, FFIs are seldom designed or assessed with a political economy lens focused on gender. By reinforcing gendered norms in the production and provision of food, FFIs can instrumentalize the gendered aspects everyday food work and dismiss the diversity of roles that are present in complex food systems. Based on the case study of fortified maize flour in Tanzania, the research proposed under this IMMANA fellowship programme will develop a conceptual framework to look beyond the technical aspects of food fortification and consider the broader political economy issues and gender relations that shape these interventions.