RVI is recipient of the 2017 Open Society Foundation New Executives Fund
All Regions  |  News from the RVI
RVI is recipient of the 2017 Open Society Foundation New Executives Fund
2017
The Rift Valley Institute is one of twelve non-profit organisations to be awarded an Open Society Foundation New Executive Fund grant in 2017. The grant, which is intended to assist newly appointed leaders to implement their vision for change, has been awarded to RVI’s Executive Director, Mark Bradbury, who has been in post since January 2017. Mark explained: 'I am delighted to receive this grant for RVI. The Institute was founded in 2001 by its former Executive Director, John Ryle, and works in several countries in Rift Valley region in social research, education and public information. We intend to use the grant to take forward the Institute’s organisational strategy, which involves moving the centre of gravity of the Institute to Africa... MORE >
Letter from Aweil
All Regions  | South Sudan Customary Authorities |  Letters from the Field
Letter from Aweil
2017
Aweil is lush and green with rains at the moment. Fields that I had last seen hard and crisp with dried seedlings, back in June 2015, are now months away from yielding. Aweil town continues to bustle, with football tournaments every evening at Independence Square, and donkey carts careering past pedestrians hopping puddles. It is often said that the former state of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal—which stretches from the borders of the Central African Republic across southern Darfur up to Abyei—is untouched by South Sudan’s on-going civil wars. It is certainly peaceful. Yet the rows of shops shuttered in the central market, the abandoned houses in the suburb of Maper Akot, and the near empty nearby village of Apada, are evidence that the region is... MORE >
The Hargeysa Book Fair turns 10
All Regions  |  News from the RVI
The Hargeysa Book Fair turns 10
2017
Founded in 2007, the Hargeysa International Book Fair will mark it’s tenth anniversary this year. The book fair provides a platform for discussion on social and political reconstruction through arts, literature and culture. The festival is a space for young and aspiring artists to interact, share knowledge and learn from celebrated figures in the field of arts, literature and music, and to showcase their work. MORE >
Inside of the former Nyandarua County Assembly chambers
East Africa  |  Letters from the Field
Women in Nyandarua County determined to make milestones despite obstacles
2017
But there was an air of optimism. In the various focus groups both women and men agreed that the affirmative action led to more women in positions of power and decision-making, and it was indeed a good thing that needed to be supported. One woman noted that the fact that women are in leadership positions in the county was motivation for girls in society to grow up knowing that they too could be in such positions. Some of the women MCAs continued to conduct women empowerment programmes and sponsored bills that targeted women.  MORE >
Land Matters in Mogadishu
Rift Valley Forum  | Horn of Africa  |  Research Reports
Land Matters in Mogadishu
2017  |  Land Matters in Mogadishu - RVI Rift Valley Forum and HIPS (2017).pdf  | IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE HERITAGE INSTITUTE OF POLICY STUDIES
Mogadishu has for more than two decades been one of the most highly contested cities in the world. Since the collapse of President Siyad Barre’s government in early 1991, it has been the object of both military and political struggles almost without interruption. This report considers the current state of land governance and the nature of continuing land disputes in Mogadishu, which remains one of the most difficult and sensitive issues of the capital’s long process of recovery and normalization. Land disputes are not simply a result of the conflict that engulfed the city following the 1991 state collapse—land administration was weak and open to abuse long before the outbreak of conflict, and poor urban planning had prompted the disorderly... MORE >
Rift Valley Forum  |  All Regions  |  Events & Courses
Superstate Africa: Kenya, Somaliland and the Ghost of Biafra's Past
2017  | 

Seminar Room | Laikipia Road | Kileleshwa | REGISTER HERE

On 28 September 2017, the Rift Valley Forum, in collaboration with Storymoja, will host lawyer and writer Chuma Nwokolo, to explore this year's Storymoja's theme, Black Peace. In... MORE >
Book review – South Sudan: A new history for a new nation by Douglas H. Johnson
Sudan & South Sudan  |  RVI in local and global media
Book review – South Sudan: A new history for a new nation by Douglas H. Johnson
14 September 2017  | 

SOURCE: Africa at LSE

There are precious few history books about South Sudan that look beyond its recent origins. South Sudan: a new history for a new nation is an excellent example of just such a work. Douglas... MORE >
Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim (1933-2017): emancipation as a craft
Sudan & South Sudan  |  Essays and Reviews
Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim (1933-2017): emancipation as a craft
7 September 2017  | 

SOURCE: STILLSUDAN

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, a Sudanese veteran communist politician and feminist, passed away in London on 12 August. She is survived by her son Ahmed with the late al-Shafie Ahmed al-Sheikh, a... MORE >
Hargeysa International Book Fair 2017
Horn of Africa  |  News from the RVI
Hargeysa International Book Fair 2017
17 August 2017
Academics, artists, authors, musicians, poets and lovers of their work gathered in Somaliland’s vibrant capital, Hargeysa, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Hargeysa International... MORE >
Dutch Embassy team visit to the South Sudan National Archives
Sudan & South Sudan  |  News from the RVI
Dutch Embassy team visit to the South Sudan National Archives
7 August 2017
On Thursday 3 August, the full eighteen member Dutch Embassy national and international staff team in South Sudan visited the National Archives as part of their annual team outing. Staff... MORE >