Building Evidence into Policy and Practice in Kenya

Considerable time and effort are expended on monitoring and evaluation and on studies to improve humanitarian response in the East African region, but little is known about how the resulting evidence is used and valued by different  actors in the humanitarian system. In 2014, to shed light on this, DFID supported Development Initiatives to conduct […]

Peace and Security in North East Kenya

In 2015 the attack on Garissa University seemed to mark a new low for a region long beset by insecurity. As 2016 begins, there is hope that a new regional security approach, led by national officials with local roots, will help reduce violence in the region. Security in the North East is nonetheless a complicated […]

AMISOM in Transition

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is in a period of transition. After a year of military successes it needs a new mandate to support the new Federal Government of Somalia, which has identified provision of security across the country as a priority. Both the UN Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and […]

A Somali Spring?

Key points The so-called Arab Spring is not an appropriate analogy: there was no single authority to bring down and there was no popular uprising. The election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as President of Somalia was the culmination of a Somali-owned process and showed that the people of Somalia were eager for change. Military success […]

Rethinking state-building in Somalia

Key points The concept of a hybrid political order is useful in understanding post-conflict state formation, in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere. For policy-makers supporting the re-establishment of government institutions in Somalia, the example of Somaliland is instructive. Hybrid political orders are not an alternative model for state-building; they are the outcome of a […]

Hasty repatriation

Key points The Kenyan government’s hardening stance towards the return of Somali refugees and its recent directive to send all urban refugees to camps are a reaction to changing conditions in Kenya, in particular a series of security incidents and the forthcoming general elections, rather than improved conditions in Somalia.  Most Somali refugees remain ambivalent […]

Ethiopia after Meles

Key points Meles was instrumental in the political and developmental changes Ethiopia has undergone in the last two decades. The ruling EPRDF was boosted by the out-pouring of national grief on Meles’ death and Hailemariam Desalegn succeeded him as Prime Minister without controversy. There have been as yet no discernible shifts in government policy since […]

Somalia’s Jubbaland: Past, present and potential futures

Key points Due to its natural resources and location, Jubbaland has the potential to be one of Somalia’s richest regions, but conflict has kept it chronically unstable for over two decades. The regions of Jubbaland are not linked by road and have no history of shared administration. As an administrative unit, Jubbaland is not likely […]

Nuruddin Farah in conversation with Binyavanga Wainaina

Key points Fiction is a powerful tool through which one can map a place, expose its complex identity and people to a wider audience, and keep a place alive for the exiled writer. Local knowledge is key in understanding a place and her people, in particularly demystifying inventions about the place. African nations have a […]

Continuity and change in Somalia

Key points Hybrid political orders are a reality in Somalia and have played an important role in political recovery and stabilization, but can become an obstacle to democratization. War can serve as a tool of state-building and can create opportunities for women to be more active political players. Despite the mixed results of devolved government […]