26-29 MAY 2025 THEME: TURBULENT WATERS IN THE HORN Led by Ken Menkhaus The Horn of Africa is entering a fifth year of extreme turbulence, a period that is testing the resilience of its states and citizens. The onset…
Education and Training
Watch the trailer above to learn more about RVI’s field courses.
RVI Courses
RVI’s field-based education and training courses aim to inform key constituencies working in eastern and central Africa about the people and communities in the countries where they work. The education programme includes the Annual Field Courses on Sudan and South Sudan, the Horn of Africa, and the Great Lakes, and bespoke courses tailored for a variety of international organizations.
RVI’s first field course took place in 2004 in Kenya. Since then, the three annual courses have taken place in Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, southern Sudan and Uganda, while bespoke courses have taken place in more than 15 countries in Africa and in the UK.
RVI courses are tailored to the needs of the organizations who participate and are taught be leading experts and practitioners in the fields of political science, economics, anthropology, history, security, development, humanitarianism, policymaking, media and activism. RVI courses utilize multiple teaching formats including lectures, panel discussion, working groups, interviews and video presentations.
Researcher Training
RVI is also committed to working with researchers from eastern and central Africa to develop skills, experience, and provide mentorship as participants pursue careers in the research sector. While researchers from east and central Africa play a central role in all RVI research projects, often authoring or co-authoring reports and papers, the Institute currently manages two projects that are specifically aimed at provided training for researchers from the region. The projects are the Research Communities of Practice project (RCoP), supported by the Carnegie Corporation; and the South Sudan Women’s Research Network (SSWRN), funded by the European Union in South Sudan. To find out more about these projects please visit RVI’s projects page.
More information on our courses and researcher training opportunities can be found below:
REGION
SEARCH
The Rift Valley Institute (RVI) is pleased to announce that applications are open for our 2025 annual field courses on the Horn of Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, and the Great Lakes. The RVI annual residential field courses, running since 2004, are taught by leading academics, researchers…
Applications are open for our annual field courses. This year our three courses on the Great Lakes, the Horn of Africa, and Sudan and South Sudan will be held at a tranquil location in Kilifi in Kenya. Our three-day residential courses offer critical…
This Year in the Horn of Africa: Latest Developments In Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Somaliland and Djibouti By Michael Woldermarian & Ken Menkhaus This briefing was written by Micheal Woldemariam and Ken Menkhaus, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift…
This Q&A explores the ecological crisis in the Horn of Africa, its impact on regional conflicts, changing foreign policies’ effects, shifts in donor priorities, and emerging strategies for refugees and internally displaced persons. It serves as a primer for…
In September 2022, the Rift Valley Institute in collaboration with Carnegie Corporation and the Open Society University Network launched the first cohort of the Early Career Researchers’ Training, part of the RVI’s Research Community of Practice (RCoP) project. The project…
By Liz Mahiri After a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, RVI held its first in-person residential course at the end of June 2022 in Naivasha, Kenya. The programme restarted with the popular Horn of Africa course, which…
This briefing was written by Micheal Woldemariam and Peter Chonka, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Horn of Africa Field Course, which will be taking place in Kenya from 27 June to 01 July 2022. Michael and…
The 2022 Horn of Africa Course examines the Somali-speaking lands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and northern Kenya. It explores the historical and contemporary features that make the Horn one of the world’s most crisis-ridden regions. The Q&A brief provides a contextualised…
This blog post was written by Michael Woldemariam and Jutta Bakonyi, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Horn of Africa Course, which will be taking place in Ethiopia from 17-21 June 2019. Michael and Jutta will be joined…
Recent Publications
XCEPT Local Research Legacy: Sharing the experiences of women amid agricultural transitions in the borderlands
March 19, 2025
I became involved in the Cross-border Conflict Evidence, Policy, and Trends (XCEPT) programme’s Local Research Network (LRN) at its inception in 2018. During the following years, the network introduced me to a wider community of researchers who share a similar interest
XCEPT Local Research Legacy: How collaborative research and mentorship approaches have shaped my research capacity and interest
March 19, 2025
I was first invited to join the Cross-border Conflict Evidence, Policy, and Trends (XCEPT) programme in 2019, having previously worked with the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) on research in South Sudan. This innovative project brought together international experts and early career researchers
XCEPT Local Research Legacy: Xogta xuduudaha (Knowledge of the borders)
March 19, 2025
In 2019, I became a local researcher with the Cross-border Conflict Evidence, Policy, and Trends (XCEPT) programme, run by the Rift Valley Institute (RVI), an independent non-profit organization seeking to foster local knowledge on social, political and economic development in Eastern and