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Oakland Institute: Our Take

Rigorous research and policy analysis on critical world issues from the Oakland Institute.

Fuel on the Fire: The World Bank’s Complicity in Duterte’s War on Farmers in the Philippines

Farmers lead protest against extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, January, 9th 2021.
January 26, 2021
Andy Currier

The government’s development strategy prioritizes a "modern" export-oriented commercial agriculture system that directly threatens farmers' and Indigenous Peoples' right to land and life. Those who organize and resist are killed or imprisoned with impunity in President Rodrigo Duterte's Philippines.

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  • A seed fair in Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Alexa Reynolds, ACF DR Congo

    Emperor Has No New Clothes

    January 30, 2020

    The EBA program was not created to help farmers. The Bank's claims to support farmers via the EBA is inherently contradictory to the own raison d'être of the program. The best way for the World Bank to assist farmers would be to disband the EBA program altogether.

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  • Flooded fields near the Shire and Linkhubula rivers in Malawi. The area is still recovering from the flooding after Cyclone Idai hit the country. Credit: GovernmentZA (CC BY-ND 2.0)

    The Failure of Input Subsidies and a New Path Forward to Fight Hunger in Malawi

    January 23, 2020 Andy Currier

    On October 15th 2019, Malawi’s Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development, Kondwani Nankhuma kicked off the 14th year of the country’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP). The program, which distributes vouchers to farmers that subsidize the cost of fertilizer and "improved" seed varieties, has been the dominant response to persistent food insecurity in the country.

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  • Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Credit: USDA, Tom Witham

    Feeding the Rich While Starving the Poor: Trump Administration’s Cuts to Food Assistance

    December 26, 2019 Andy Currier

    Early December, the Trump administration finalized a rule that will tighten work requirements to qualify for food stamps; a decision that will strip desperately needed food assistance from an estimated 700,000 people.

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  • Maasai villagers, their faces are hidden for their protection. Credit: Oakland Institute

    Tanzania's Withdrawal from the African Court on Human and People's Rights

    December 9, 2019 Anuradha Mittal

    A Wrong Move for the Country and for the Continent Maasai villagers, their faces are hidden for their protection. Credit: Oakland Institute When domestic mechanisms fail and there is no rule of law, independent regional and international mechanisms are essential to ensure accountability and human rights for all. This December 10th, recognized internationally as Human Rights Day, it is necessary to challenge Tanzanian President John Magufuli...

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  • Women holding banner reading in hindi, "If there are forests, there will be Adivasis. If there are Adivasis, there will be forests." Credit: Oakland Institute

    Haq Nahi to Jail Sahi

    November 23, 2019 Janhavi Mittal

    “Wildlife ki seva hi karni hai, aur aadmi ki nahi, toh inse kahiye ki election samay par vote bhi janvaron se lene jaye. Humein na toh adhikar milte hain, na insan ka darja.“ “If they want to only protect wildlife and not people, let them turn to animals for votes during elections. We neither get our forest rights, or even the most basic human rights.“ Anar Singh Bandole

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  • Forest view. Credit: Janhavi Mittal

    Dalit and Adivasi Women at the Forefront of the Forest Rights Movement in India

    September 9, 2019 Janhavi Mittal

    The Supreme Court of India is set to rule on a case, Wildlife Trust Vs the Union of India, which could result in the eviction of 1.9 million forest dwellers from the country's Indigenous and traditionally marginalized communities.

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  • As India celebrates independence day, a curfew pass for a resident of Srinagar serves as a reminder of the selective and paradoxical nature of this freedom as the valley remains in a state of lockdown. Photo: H Zargar.

    Legalizing Dispossession: A Tale of Two Indian Land Grabs

    August 15, 2019 Anuradha Mittal

    India's 73rd Independence Day merits introspection on the deep crisis faced by the world's largest democracy. Two recent attempts at perpetuating unprecedented land grabs, mark the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government's proclivity for legalizing dispossession and marginalization of the most vulnerable.

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  • Farmers prepare compost at a training at the Manor House Agricultural Center in Kenya. Copyright: MHAC

    We Need Bold, Ambitious Action to Address the Climate Crisis – and Agroecology is the Answer

    August 13, 2019 Elizabeth Fraser

    With the clock ticking and the window for change narrowing each day that goes by, it is clear that we need a bold and ambitious campaign to invest in agroecological solutions that build robust, diverse, and resilient food systems in communities across the planet. The good news is, just as is evident in the Himalayas, such bold action won't just help us address climate change--it also has the potential to address systemic issues like poverty and...

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  • Nivada Rana (R) and Roma Malik (L), one of the leaders of the All India Union of Forest Working People, with the author. Credit: Janhavi Mittal / The Oakland Institute

    Who is Afraid of the Forest Rights Act?

    August 5, 2019 Janhavi Mittal

    International civil society must continue to demand that the government of India not only defend the FRA, a progressive legislation that protects traditional forest dwelling communities, but also ensure its careful and widespread implementation.

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  • Image: Highland scene in Amhara, Ethiopia with US dollars overlaid. © The Oakland Institute

    A Response to Klaus Deininger’s Blog Post The World Bank’s Land and Poverty Conference: 20 years on

    March 22, 2019 Frederic Mousseau

    Dear Mr. Deininger, Your recent blog post surprisingly contradicts the prescriptions and policy guidance that your organization, the World Bank, gives to governments around the world, particularly in Africa. You stress the need “to base interventions on land, on solid empirical evidence rather than ideology.” Yet, when it comes to land and agriculture, the World Bank clearly follows an ideological blueprint, which focuses on...

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