Here are some tools, publications and perspectives that underpin and guide NGI’s work. We are continually updating the list and would welcome suggestions under either of our agrifood and education pillars.
The NGI Index and Typology
Video Overview: This 15-minute video provides a high-level overview of the rationale behind the construction of the Index and Typology, and how they can be applied to better understand food systems and make strong policy recommendations for food crisis response and longer-term food system strengthening and transformation.
Full Report: This deck is a deep dive into the methodology behind the Index and Typology, as well as in-depth analysis arising from their application, including a global ranking of food systems, food system performance benchmarks, and examples of food system performance scorecards from six country cases.
Overview Document: This 2-page document describes our approach to building the Index and Typology and outlines key findings.
NGI Food System Typology: This document shows the country placements in the typology.
The PRISM Tool
PRISM is a methodology and associated toolbox developed by New Growth International (NGI) to bridge the “implementation gap” between aspirational strategies framed in broad directional terms, on one hand, and concrete actions comprising time-bound and location-specific investments and programmes, on the other.
- Has your organization or team recently developed a new strategy or refreshed an existing one?
- Are you confident that staff at all levels of your organization are fully aware of the rationale, logic and components (building blocks) of the new strategy?
- Do your team leaders and staff members understand what the new strategy means in practical terms for the organization as a whole, for their teams or functional areas, and for each of them individually? Are you fully aware of these implications yourself?
- Have you thought through how the new strategy will be implemented?
- Have you identified and ranked the operationally significant strategic priorities emerging from the strategy or strategy refresh?
- Have you developed action plans under each operationally-significant strategic priority?
- Have you developed the structures, processes, and mechanisms required for successful implementation?
NGI has developed the PRISM methodology and toolbox to help you answer these questions quickly, fully, and in the affirmative through five interlinked modules.
Module 1 – Strategically Relevant Client Characteristics
Module 2 – Strategy Perception and Awareness: Gaps and Corrective Measures
Module 3 – Setting Priorities
Module 4 – Action Planning
Module 5 – Implementation Requirements and Arrangements
The “bridging” is envisioned as a two-way process, with iterative feedback between strategy and action. Current applications of PRISM are in the agrifood sector, but the methodology is fully adaptable to other sectors.
A full description of PRISM is available here: PRISM Concept
An illustration of PRISM is available here: PRISM Concept Illustration
Please contact us if you would like to learn more about PRISM.
Selected NGI Staff Publications
- World Food Assistance 2018: Preventing Food Crises. WoFA 2018
- Why Food and Nutrition Security Matters for Inclusive Structural and Rural Transformation. IFAD Research Series #6
- Revolution: From Food Aid to Food Assistance – Innovations in Hunger Solutions. Rome: United Nations World Food Programme. Food Assistance Revolution
- Private-Sector Investment in R&D: A Review of Policy Options to Promote Its Growth in Developing-Country Agriculture. Private Sector Investment in R&D
- Strategic Priorities for Agricultural Development in Eastern and Central Africa. Strategic Priorities for Ag Devt in ECA
- Bridging Research, Policy, and Practice in African Agriculture. Bridging Research-Policy-Practice
- Fertilizer Trade Under Market Liberalization: Preliminary Evidence from Kenya. Fertilizer Trade in Kenya
- Fertilizer Trade and Pricing in Uganda. Fertilizer Trade and Pricing in Uganda
Selected “Old but Gold” NGI Favorites
Agrifood
Bates, R., 1989. Beyond the miracle of the market: The political economy of agrarian development in Kenya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bates, R., 1981. Markets and states in tropical Africa: The political basis of agricultural policies. Berkeley: University of California.
Binswanger, H. and M. Rosenzweig, 1986. Behavioral and material determinants of production relations in agriculture. Journal of Development Studies 22: 503-539.
Dorward, A., J. Kydd, and C. Poulton (eds.), 1998. Smallholder cash crop production under market liberalization: A new institutional economics perspective. Wallingford: CAB International.
Fafchamps, M., 1992. Cash crop production, food price volatility, and rural market integration in the third world. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 74: 90-99.
Hunter, G., 1973. Agricultural administration and institutions. Food Research Institute Studies in Agricultural Economics, Trade, and Development, Vol. 12.
Johnston, B. F. and P. Kilby, 1975. Agriculture and structural transformation: Economic strategies in late developing countries. New York: Oxford University Press.
Johnston, B. and J. Mellor, 1961. The role of agriculture in economic development. American Economic Review 51: 566-93.
Schultz, T. W., 1968. Economic growth and agriculture. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Education
Abbott, A., 1992. What do cases do? In: C. Ragin and H. Becker (eds.), What is a case? – Exploring the foundations of social inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 53-82.
Cuban, Larry. 1993. How Teachers Taught: Constancy and Change in American Classrooms, 1890-1990. New York: Teachers College Press.
Shulman, L. 2005. “Signature Pedagogies in the Professions.” Daedalus 134 (3): 52–59.
Tyack, D. B. (1974). The one best system: A history of American urban education. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Other
Arthur, W. B., 1988a. Self-reinforcing mechanisms in economics. In: P. W. Anderson, K. J. Arrow, and D. Pines (eds), The economy as an evolving complex system. Redwood City: Addison-Wesley, pp. 9-32.
Edquist, C., L. Hommen, and L. Tsipouri, 2000. Public technology procurement and innovation. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Granovetter, M., 1985. Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91:481-510.
North, D., 1981. Structure and change in economic history. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
North, D. C., 1991. Institutions. Journal of Economic Perspectives 5: 97-112.
Olson. M., 1965. The logic of collective action. Cambrige: Harvard University.
Rosenberg, N., 1976. Perspectives on technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosenberg, N., 1984. Inside the black box: Technology and economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williamson, O., 2000. The new institutional economics: Taking stock, looking ahead. Journal of Economic Literature38(3): 595-613.