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RVI Courses

RVI Courses

Watch the trailer above to learn more about RVI's field 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. 

More information on the 2022 Horn of Africa Course is available here and the 2022 Sudan and South Sudan Course here

Panelists on RVI's Horn of Africa Course
Panelists on RVI's Horn of Africa Course

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. ‘I dare say I have done nothing comparable in so comprehensive a package.’

Bob Snyder, Canadian International Development Agency, Horn of Africa Course.

 

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. RVIcourses utilize multiple teaching formats including lectures, panel discussion, working groups, interviews and video presentations.

ANNUAL COURSES BESPOKE COURSES

Yolande Bouka and Assumpta Migiraneza discuss reconciliation in Rwanda on the Great Lakes Course
Yolande Bouka and Assumpta Migiraneza discuss reconciliation in Rwanda on the Great Lakes Course

 

The 2019 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 the world’s most crisis-ridden region.

The Great Lakes Course covers the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, providing a deep historical and social context to the current political and humanitarian dynamics in the region. The Co-Directors of Studies for the course will be Yolande Bouka and Marco Jowell. They will be joined by a team of leading regional and international experts. These will be…

Over the last year, there have been several momentous and largely unpredicted changes in Sudan and South Sudan. In Sudan, after 30 years in power, Omar al-Bashir was ejected from the presidency following months of popular protests. This triggered an on-going re-ordering of the country’s political system with the outcome as yet unknown. In South Sudan, after five years of stop-start war, an…

The past year has seen unprecedented changes in the Horn of Africa. These followed the appointment of Abiy Ahmed as Prime Minister of Ethiopia in April 2018, who set about a series of internal reforms, as well as brokering a rapprochement between Ethiopia and Eritrea. This was coupled with the continuing involvement of the Gulf states in the Horn’s politial processes, with particular influence…

Western donors are struggling to maintain leverage on the increasingly authoritarian regimes in the Great Lakes region, whose desire to remain in power through formal, legal and informal means block efforts at governance reforms. While economic forecasts for most of the region are stable—due to rising commodity prices and the slowing down of inflation—it will remain a challenge to translate…

In June and July, the Rift Valley Institute will hold the 2019 annual field courses in Ethiopia. Now in their sisteenth year, each course examines a different sub-region within eastern and central Africa: Sudan and South Sudan, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa. They offer a dawn-to-dusk programme of lectures, seminars, panel discussions and debates. Bringing together new research, fresh…

The Institute recently wrapped up its fifteenth year of annual field courses, which were held this year in May and June in Kenya. The one-week intensive courses covered an array of historical and contemporary issues in the Horn of Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, and the Great Lakes regions. They were attended by 83 participants and taught by 32 teachers.

The Great Lakes Course covers the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, providing a deep historical and social context to the current political and humanitarian dynamics in the region. The Co-Directors of Studies for the course will be Yolande Bouka and Judith Verweijen. They will be joined by a team of leading regional and international experts. These will be…

Le Stage d’études sur la région des Grands Lacs 2018 offre une approche régionale et thématique de la gouvernance et de la sécurité en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), au Rwanda, au Burundi et en Ouganda. Il examinera l'évolution politique de ces politiques post-conflit et analysera leur retour en arrière vers l'autoritarisme. 

Le Stage d’études sur la région des Grands Lacs 2018 offre une approche régionale et thématique de la gouvernance et de la sécurité en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), au Rwanda, au Burundi et en Ouganda. Il examinera l'évolution politique de ces politiques post-conflit et analysera leur retour en arrière vers l'autoritarisme.