Shashidhara Kolavalli is a development strategist. As a Senior Research Fellow, he managed International Food Policy Research Institute’s strategy support program in Ghana for more than a decade. He was previously a professor at the centre for management in agriculture of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India, and a principal scientist at the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, India. As an independent consultant, he worked in eastern and southern African countries. He currently evaluates projects including for the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank.
An agricultural economist with a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he has researched on involving users in the management of watersheds, irrigation systems, and forests; dynamics of private firms in input supply systems and downstream activities; effectiveness of agricultural value chain interventions and market reforms, including extensive work on Ghana’s management of its cocoa sector. Having managed policy research and capacity development programs, he brings rich experience into organizing policy dialogues, training, and orchestrating dialogue among stakeholders including government, private sector and development practitioners.