6th Class, 2011-2013
Field Placement: International Food Policy Research Institute, Kampala, Uganda
Lucy Billings provided research support to IFPRI programs and projects based in Uganda. She worked primarily with the Uganda Strategy Support Program (USSP), which partners with the Uganda Plan for Modernization of Agriculture Secretariat to provide relevant agricultural policy research to the Ugandan Government. Through her work with USSP, Lucy supported national nutrition policy initiatives, agricultural research activities, and communications activities. Lucy also assisted in implementing the fieldwork components of other IFPRI projects with research in Uganda.
Policy Placement: International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC
Lucy worked with IFPRI’s Development Strategy and Governance division where she provided research support for a number of IFPRI projects focused on evaluation of food security programs and assessments in a variety of contexts. The projects included an evaluation of how legal aid programs support women’s land rights in Uganda and Tanzania, an evaluation of the dissemination of biofortified crops through the Uganda HarvestPlus program, and an assessment of food security and vulnerability in Nigeria. The activities involved in these projects range from assisting with fieldwork and data collection to report writing and dissemination of research findings.
Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:
Lucy attended Tufts University, where she studied food and agriculture policy at the Friedman School and public health in the School of Medicine. She has worked on a number of projects related to food security and food access both in the U.S. and abroad. Lucy interned with the USAID economic growth project in Senegal, which focused on agricultural value chain development. As part of her academic studies, Lucy worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on a regional food hub project. Prior to graduate school Lucy served as an AmeriCorps volunteer where she developed a project to increase access to healthy food for underserved patients at a community health clinic in Oakland, California.