About 84,000 Tanzanians affected by the World Bank-funded REGROW project around Ruaha National Park are still seeking redress, the Oakland Institute said on October 14.
The independent policy think tank, which is based in Oakland, California, issued the statement as the World Bank Group held its 2026 Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand. It said the question of accountability is missing from the agenda of the meetings.
Women threatened by the expansion of Ruaha National Park in Mbarali District, Tanzania (Photo: Oakland Institute) [file photo]
What the REGROW project was
REGROW stands for the Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth project. The World Bank Board approved it on September 28, 2017, to support tourism and the management of natural resources in southern Tanzania. According to the Oakland Institute, the World Bank put more than US$100 million into REGROW between 2017 and 2024.
The Institute says the project helped double the size of Ruaha National Park. It also says the project funded the park rangers of the Tanzania National Parks Authority, known as TANAPA. The Institute describes these rangers as a paramilitary force and links them to serious abuses, including killings and forced disappearances.
The Government of Tanzania asked to cancel the project, and it was cancelled on November 6, 2024. This followed an investigation by the World Bank’s own Inspection Panel, an independent body that hears complaints from people affected by Bank projects.
The Inspection Panel findings
The Inspection Panel issued its investigation report in September 2024. The World Bank says the Panel found that the Bank had not fully complied with several of its own policies. According to the World Bank, the Panel did not find evidence of involuntary physical relocation. However, it found that the Bank had not properly identified and addressed risks linked to possible resettlement, conflicts over park access rules, and the effects of those rules on people’s livelihoods.
The Oakland Institute says the investigation detailed “systemic violations” of the Bank’s own Operating Procedures and a “critical failure” in project planning and supervision.
What the Oakland Institute says
Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, represented the villagers in their complaint to the Inspection Panel.
“The park expansion effectively criminalized over 84,000 people on their own land, stripping them of their livelihoods by barring essential farming and grazing. The Bank’s REGROW initiative turned poor villagers into targets for park rangers. Despite clear evidence that the devastation it unleashed continues today, the Bank has completely failed to provide redress, compensate or support the communities whose lives it upended,” Mittal said.
In April 2025, the World Bank Board approved a Management Action Plan to respond to the Panel’s findings. The Oakland Institute calls the plan “largely insufficient and inadequate.” It says the plan ignored community demands for reparations and for the return of land. On September 4, 2026, the Bank closed the REGROW case after it found that all actions in the plan had been completed.
The release also quotes a local villager who filed the first complaint. The villager is not named.
“The World Bank has destroyed our lives. Since the project started, rangers have killed or disappeared 18 of us. We are banned from farming our lands and grazing our livestock. Thousands of our cattle were confiscated. We are still waiting for justice and reparations for our losses. How can the World Bank walk away after being found responsible for this catastrophe?” the villager said.
According to the Institute, many farmers are still barred from their fields today. It says herders still face threats and fines for grazing their cattle. The Institute says fatal shootings by TANAPA rangers have stopped since May 2025, after it drew international attention to the situation. It adds that the families of people killed by rangers, including 27-year-old Hamprey Mhaki and 20-year-old Kulwa Igembe, are still waiting for justice.
“The Inspection Panel presented undeniable evidence of the Bank’s wrongdoings, yet the Bank’s Board and senior management refused to take responsibility. Affected communities took monumental personal and collective risks to expose these abuses, offering the Bank every opportunity to correct course,” Mittal said.
She said that “management turned its back on the very people it harmed,” and that this left “a permanent stain on the institution’s credibility.” She added: “The Oakland Institute will continue to stand with communities in their fight for justice.”
The villagers are calling for international support to press the World Bank for urgent action. The Institute describes the Bank as Tanzania’s largest donor. It says the Bank has the leverage and the responsibility to end the abuses and provide redress.
The World Bank’s position
In a factsheet and question and answer page on REGROW, the World Bank says all actions agreed with the Government of Tanzania in response to the Panel’s findings have been completed. It says that in July 2026 the Inspection Panel independently verified that the Management Action Plan had been carried out. The Bank says its Group Internal Audit also reviewed the work.
The Inspection Panel published its verification report and the Bank management’s response on September 4, 2026. The Panel’s website now lists the case as closed.
In June 2026, the Boards of the World Bank Group approved a plan to join the Group’s three accountability mechanisms, including the Inspection Panel, into one Independent Accountability Mechanism. The World Bank said the new body will report directly to the Boards and will make the process simpler for people who file complaints. The Oakland Institute says these changes have not brought justice to the affected communities in Tanzania.
Mereja did not find a separate public World Bank response to the October 14 statement at the time of writing.
Sources
- The Oakland Institute: As World Bank Holds Annual Meetings, 84,000 Tanzanians Call for Justice (October 14, 2026)
- The Oakland Institute: Accountability Now, Tanzanian Communities Shattered by World Bank-funded Tourism Project
- The Oakland Institute: World Bank project cancelled
- World Bank: REGROW project page (P150523)
- World Bank Inspection Panel: REGROW case page (P150523)
- World Bank: Factsheet and Q&A on Measures to Address REGROW Challenges
- World Bank: Boards strengthen independent accountability mechanisms (June 9, 2026)