Pries headshot

Leland Fellow

Alissa Pries

6th Class, 2011-2013

Field Placement: Helen Keller International, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Alissa Pries worked with HKI on the evaluation of the homestead food production program (HFP) in Cambodia. She led operations research to identify the influence of gender relations on HFP and how women’s empowerment impacts maternal and child health and nutritional outcomes. Alissa also conducted a cost-benefit analysis of HFP’s sustainability and cost-effectiveness and contributed to an evaluation framework designed to understand and strengthen HFP’s positive effects on nutrition and women’s empowerment. Read Alissa’s nutrition bulletin: HKI McAids Bulletin Homestead Gardens which outlines the impact of the E-HFP program on People living with HIV/AIDS in Battambang Province.

Policy Placement: Helen Keller International, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Alissa worked with Helen Keller International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Office on several projects related to the Homestead Food Production (HFP) program. She developed a manual for program monitoring and evaluation, which included standardized metrics and guidelines for country offices across the Asia and Africa regions. She also worked with HKI to develop an HFP program tool-kit. In an effort to build the evidence-base for HFP, she analyzed data from a recent HFP project in Nepal and produced an article on the program’s impact on child nutritional status. Alissa also assisted HKI in developing a proof of concept for HFP in urban areas by reviewing the literature on urbanization and home gardening/small animal husbandry and identifying how HFP can be adapted to improve maternal and child nutrition and food security in peri-urban and urban areas.

Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:

Alissa Pries received her MPH from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health while also working as an Evaluation Research Assistant for the Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In addition, she assisted with operational research for the Partnership for Revitalization of Routine Immunizations and Maternal and Child Health in Northern Nigeria. Prior to graduate school, Alissa worked in India, designing and managing a maternal and child health program operating across Northern India and also developing training materials for a maternal health hospital in Hyderabad. Originally from Minneapolis, Alissa received her BA in Medical Anthropology from McGill University.

 

Publications