Publications

Pragmatic Perspectives from the Church

President Obama and Pope Francis discussed US immigration reform this morning at the Vatican during a nearly hour long conversation that touched on numerous social and economic issues. The Pope is compassionate for the plight of migrants, speaking out and calling attention to those who died crossing the Mediterranean from Africa when he visited the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa. In the United States, leaders in the Catholic Church also have been thinking hard and clearly about immigration, as seen at a recent conference at the University of Notre Dame.

Commentary Series: Context is Crucial for Impacting Land Rights

When people like me speak about land rights and access or when we write project descriptions for advocacy and research pieces, we typically will assert that strengthening the security of land rights through measures like land titling is important to achieving rural development goals such as increased yields, investment, environmental conservation, and access to credit.

Commentary Series: Securing Land Rights Amidst a Rising Demand for Land in Africa

While the vast majority of Africans rely on land-based livelihoods to survive and cite land as their most important resource, rights to this land are often unclear and insecure.

Commentary Series: The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure and Large-Scale, Land-Based Agricultural Investment

In 2012, the FAO developed and proposed the Voluntary Guidelines (VGs) in an effort to boost food security, reduce hunger, provide protection of legitimate rights in land and other resources, and prevent the ills created by the global trend towards large-scale, land-based investments (LSLBIs) in the developing world.

Commentary Series- Property Rights for Every Woman and Man

In the course of our work at USAID, we have observed that over the last several years, large capital inflows from the private sector to emerging markets—some projections estimate that $30 billion in private capital will be invested in farmland by 2015—have created challenges and opportunities for global agricultural systems and markets.

Standing Tall in History

Norman Borlaug now stands in Statuary Hall at the US Capitol, a man still at work. He stands in a stylized field of wheat, hat on his head, sleeves rolled up, notebook in his hand, a researcher for the ages.

External Commentary

Thanks to Vladimir Putin's Crimea Incursion, NATO Will Stand the Test of Time

External Commentary

Ukraine Update

External Commentary

Letter from Iraq

Commentary Series- Measuring Global Goals in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

As discussions continue around the shape of the post-2015 development agenda and how to measure progress towards achieving new global goals, it is useful to step back and consider the story of the drunkard and the streetlight.