Research Collaboration in Conflict
Although institutions in the Global North have awoken to the need for local and contextualized knowledge in research, less is understood—or operationalized—about the risks associated with the lopsided conditions under which local partners must operate in the field. How conflict is understood is strongly influenced by how conflict research is produced. On Monday 10 […]
Green Dreams, Local Struggles: ‘Seeing’ conflicts in and around large energy projects in Kenya
Unprecedented levels of investment in ‘green’ resources—hydropower, geothermal, wind, landscapes and wildlife—are a central feature of national development strategies across eastern Africa. Political and business leaders have welcomed this investment for the benefits it will bring to the national population and the local jobs created. Many of these resource development projects are located at the […]
Responding to Drought in the Horn of Africa
Drought is once again devastating the Horn of Africa. It has severely affected the food security of more than 13 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Although droughts and other climatic shocks are recurrent in the region, are humanitarians, donors and governments learning from the successes and failures of past responses? On 23 October 2019, […]
Book Launch: Benga, a Kenyan Kaleidoscope
As the process of globalization and digitalization intensifies, previously confidential music genres are now experiencing a heightened level of visibility. Access to new audiences, however, can also present challenges for these often peripheral cultures, related to their re-interpretation and the ethical, economic and cultural difficulties associated with their diffusion. As a genre often looked down […]
Somalia: In search of a workable 2020 electoral model
For the fifth time since 2010, Somalia is exploring options for an electoral model that will advance the country’s democratic process. Despite previous attempts to pursue democracy, Somalia has failed to shed its clan-based political system. So far, the Federal Government of Somalia and other key stakeholders have been unable to agree on a workable […]
Film Screening: Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas
On 17 October, the Rift Valley Forum in partnership with Human Rights Watch hosted the screening of the film, Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas by Joakim Demmer. Ethiopia has become one of the most profitable locations in Africa for foreign funded agricultural developments. Hoping for export revenues, the Ethiopian government leases millions of hectares of allegedly unused […]
Widow Inheritance and Contested Citizenship in Kenya
Introduction On 5 July 2019, the Rift Valley Forum launched the book, Widow Inheritance and Contested Citizenship in Kenya, by Dr. Awino Okech. The book explores the intersection between power, gender and sexuality, and the role of body politics in the construction of gendered subjects and nations. The book uses widow inheritance amongst the Luo of Kenya as […]
The Lure of the City: Rural to urban migration in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda
The Rift Valley Institute’s Rural to urban mobility project aims to better understand the dynamics of rural to urban migration and the ways in which this phenomenon impacts the social and infrastructural fabric of cities in East Africa. Although secondary cities have witnessed tremendous growth in the past few decades, playing an important role between rural and […]
Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine
Famine used to kill ten million people every decade but by the early 2000s it had all but disappeared. Today, famine is resurgent, driven by wars, food blockades, hostility to humanitarian principles and a volatile global economy. In Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine, Alex de Waal, author of Famine that Kills and […]
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