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Publications

Publications

The Institute publishes books, research reports, research papers, briefings and meeting reports in a range of formats. Publications cover policy, research, arts, culture and local knowledge in the countries of eastern and central Africa. Research publications—books, reports and papers—are peer-reviewed. Some RVI publications are also available in French and/or Arabic. Blogs can be read here.

The RVI is a signatory of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2001); all publications are free for download in PDF format under Creative Commons licences. Print versions of most books and reports, and digital versions in Kindle and other specialist formats, are available for sale from Amazon and other online retailers, and from selected bookstores. Proceeds from sales are allocated to the Institute's Scholarship Fund, which provides support to researchers and activists from eastern and central Africa.

The views expressed in books and reports published by the RVI are those of the authors, not the Institute.

2018

Depuis les années 1990, le concept de Réforme du secteur de la sécurité (RSS) fait partie intégrante des programmes de reconstruction post-conflit, de rétablissement de l’autorité de l’État et de développement. En République démocratique du Congo (RDC), la réforme de la police a joué un rôle essentiel dans les efforts d’édification de l’État et de renforcement de la gouvernance. Cependant,…

2018

Security sector reform has been a central component of post-conflict reconstruction and development programmes, and the restoration of state authority since the 1990s. However, these reforms have rarely been successful in the long run. In the DRC, police reform has been a staple of statebuilding and governance strengthening efforts. Despite some reform successes, however, the Congolese…

2018

Kenya’s 2010 Constitution introduced a quota system designed to increase the representation of women in elective and appointive bodies of government. Article 27(8)—known as the Gender Principle—states that ‘not more than two thirds of the members of elective bodies shall be of the same gender’. The 2013 elections resulted in the highest number of women in government in Kenyan history, with…

2018

In September 2014, a conflict erupted between South Sudanese and Ugandans in the borderlands of Kajokeji County, South Sudan and Moyo District, Uganda. Several people were killed, many more injured and thousands displaced. In Dividing Communities in South Sudan and Northern Uganda, the authors argue that the boundary dispute is not simply the result of a failure of governments to…

2017

This report is a record of a Forum event held on 5 November, before the 13 November 2017 election day. Election day itself was largely peaceful, and the international observer mission reported only minor irregularities on election day, including vote buying and violation of secrecy during voting. However, inflammatory and divisive rhetoric, and allegations of rigging by the opposition, led to…

2017

On 6 September 2017, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management of the Federal Government of Somalia, in collaboration with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Office of the Deputy Representative of the UN Secretary General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, and the Somalia NGO Consortium, convened a half-day workshop in Mogadishu with…

2017

In April 2015, protests erupted in Burundi when President Pierre Nkurunziza’s sought a third term in office. Protestors claimed this was contrary to the country’s constitution, but the constitutional court sided with Nkurunziza. After an attempted coup in May 2015, the government started arresting those it thought responsible. The political conflict that followed has spiralled into a…

2017

In April 2016, seventeen chiefs from different parts of South Sudan gathered in Kuron Holy Trinity Peace Village, in Eastern Equatoria, to discuss the role of customary authority in governance—past and present—and their own contribution to peacemaking and a future political transition. The Chiefs’ meeting at Kuron was the first time that traditional leaders from areas on opposing sides of the…

2017

The Rift Valley Institute’s study on the impact of war on Somali men looks into a previously under-researched set of questions: What are the enduring effects of more than two decades of war and violent conflict on Somali men and male youth, and what are the consequences of this for peace, stability and Somali society in general?

The project’s inception phase charted what it means to be…

2017

In early 2011, the scale of famine affecting the Horn of Africa was only just beginning to receive international attention, despite early warnings in the previous year. It was not until July that famine was formally declared. The famine killed 250,000 people in southern Somalia alone, and displaced and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of others. Many sought refuge in Kenya,…