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 2023 Horn of Africa Course is available here.

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

Courses

Great Lakes

Great Lakes Course 2017

2017

The 2017 RVI field Course on the Great Lakes will focus on transitions in the region. It will examine the extent to which the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi have transitioned into democratizing, post-conflict polities, and the prospects for consolidation or backsliding in the months and years ahead. The Co-Directors of Studies for the course will be Jason Stearns and Yolande Bouka. They will be…

Courses

Sudan and South Sudan

Sudan and South Sudan Course 2017

2017

To make sense of current dynamics, this year’s Sudan and South Sudan Course, held from 4 to 9 June in Uganda, examines key themes of society, economy and politics in both countries at present as well as in their near and distant past. The Co-Directors of Studies for the course will be Magdi el-Gizouli and Nicki Kinderlsey. They will be joined by a team of leading regional and international…

Courses

ALL REGIONS

The Shading Tree Fund—scholarships for Eastern and Central Africa

2016

The RVI scholarship fund is relaunched this month as the RVI Shading Tree Fund. This follows a generous donation from the family of Ranald Boyle, a former District Commissioner in South Sudan. Since the Institute was founded, the scholarship fund has enabled young scholars and activists from Eastern and Central Africa to participate in RVI annual field courses and attend classes at…

Courses

Sudan and South Sudan

Horn of Africa Course 2016

2016

The Horn of Africa Course covers Ethiopia, the Somali regions, Eritrea, Djibouti, and northern Kenya. The social and political histories of each country in the Horn of Africa are examined to contextualise the continuities and transformations that are taking place across the region. A variety of disciplinary perspectives and new research is brought to bear on conflict, climate and…

Courses

Sudan and South Sudan

Sudan and South Sudan Course 2016

2016

The 2016 RVI Sudan and South Sudan Field Course will take stock of the world that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement made in the tenth year after it was signed. The democratic transformation promised by the CPA has not taken root in either country. In Sudan the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has further entrenched its position against a divided opposition while intensifying its military…

Courses

Great Lakes

Great Lakes Course 2016

2016

The Great Lakes Course covers the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi, providing a deep historical and social context to the current political and humanitarian dynamics in the region. In the DRC, the Course will look into the debates around the electoral process and the ongoing violence in the Kivus. For Burundi, the ongoing political crisis and its impact on domestic…

Courses

Sudan and South Sudan

This year in South Sudan (Part 2)

2016

In the parallel universe that has become South Sudan, negotiations between the government and the political and armed opposition groups have been just as problematic as Sudan’s internal peace talks, although international mediation from the AU, IGAD and others has been more successful in brokering an agreement. Early in 2015 the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Government (SPLM-IG) and…

Courses

Sudan and South Sudan

This year in Sudan (Part 1)

2016

In 2015, Sudan experienced a further escalation of wars, associated with gross human rights violations in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Despite numerous rounds of peace negotiations, no breakthrough has been made. The entire political landscape of Sudan continues in disarray. Both political and armed and opposition groups suffer from a lack of consensus and recurring political…

Courses

Horn of Africa

This year in the Horn of Africa

2016

In Ethiopia, elections in May 2015 resulted in victory for the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Front (EPRDF) with 100 percent of the seats in parliament. While met with incredulity abroad, this outcome meant that the EPRDF, despite the death of long-time leader Meles Zenawi in 2012, would continue to function as before. Meanwhile, peaceful protests around the issue of how the leadership of…

Courses

Great Lakes

This year in the Great Lakes

2016

Electoral season has hit the Great Lakes region and has brought with it an increase in contentious politics, open conflict and uncertainty. Last year, a violent crisis gripped Burundi after the ruling party announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza would run for a third term, despite arguments by the opposition that the bid was in violation of both the constitution and the Arusha Peace…

Where RVI Works

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RVI Courses

RVI Courses

Where RVI Works

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WHERE THE INSTITUTE WORKS