Webinar will be interpreted in English and French / Le webinaire sera interprété en anglais et en français.

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The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) will host a launch webinar for the report, The Bank Takes the Lead? Making sense of the World Bank Group’s role supporting livestock projects in the Green Revolution in Africa, with a focus on East and Southern Africa. 

The report examines the growing role of the World Bank Group in shaping African agriculture, with a particular focus on livestock investments. It finds that World Bank Group financing for African agriculture has risen sharply in recent years, from around USD 1 billion per year between 2014 and 2020 to around USD 3 billion per year from 2021 to 2024. During this period, the World Bank Group committed approximately USD 12 billion to livestock-related projects in Africa. 

The webinar will explore what this shift means for African food systems, farmers, pastoralists, and public policy. While livestock remains vital to rural livelihoods, nutrition, pastoral economies and local food systems, the report raises concerns that World Bank Group financing often promotes productivist, industrial and value-chain approaches that risk deepening farmer dependency, strengthening corporate control, and marginalising agroecological and pastoralist alternatives. 

The event will bring together researchers, civil society actors, farmers’ organisations, pastoralist representatives, policy advocates and development finance experts to discuss the report’s findings and their implications for food sovereignty in Africa. We will also highlight Green Revolution alternatives rooted in agroecology, pastoralism, local feed systems, public extension, territorial markets and greater policy autonomy.

Register here