Topic: International Development

1960s 1970s 1980s

The Rockefeller Foundation’s University Development Program

Launched in the 1960s, this program provided financial support for more than two decades to strengthen universities in the Global South.

1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s

Philanthropy and Good Government: The Rockefeller Foundation and Public Administration

Partnering with public agencies to encourage efficient administration in state, county, and local governments.

1950s

International Cooperation and Soft Diplomacy: The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center

Convenings at Bellagio have tackled global challenges of every sort, from trade and finance to public health, agriculture, and food security.

1960s

The Birth of International Agricultural Research Institutes in the Mid-20th Century

Rockefeller Foundation agriculture programs begun in Mexico achieved global reach through four major research institutes. Building them was the result of partnership.

1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s

Rockefeller Philanthropy and Population-Related Fields

As the scarcity of global resources became increasingly worrisome in the 20th century, these organizations more boldly approached work in population and family planning.

1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Agriculture Program in India

India was not the first country to take up the new seeds and methods developed by the Rockefeller Foundation, but the story of India’s adoption of them in the 1960s is dramatic.

1940s 1950s 1960s

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Mexican Agriculture Program, 1943-1965

The Rockefeller Foundation’s first intensive agriculture endeavor is now credited with launching the global transformation known as the “Green Revolution.”

Black and white image of the hands of Norman E. Borlaug holding a piece of "Norin" dwarf wheat.
1970s 1980s

For Small Farmers and Food Security: The International Agricultural Development Service

In the 1980s, critics argued that some groups had been left behind by the Green Revolution.

1930s 1940s

World War II & the Rockefeller Foundation

Saving threatened scholars and confronting a dramatically changed world.

Photo of crop-drying site in Nigeria. The one story building is located under palm trees.
1960s

The Rockefeller and Ford Foundations Navigate Civil War in Nigeria

What happened to a massive agricultural development program when war broke out?