The Rift Valley Institute (RVI) is pleased to receive a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The grant will support early career African researchers to develop their skills in applied research and to develop research communities of practice around critical peacebuilding issues in East and Central Africa.
The grant will enable RVI to invest in the training and mentorship of young African researchers in South Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mark Bradbury, RVI Executive Director explains:
The peoples and countries in eastern and central Africa where RVI operates face multiple challenges for which African policy makers need evidence-based solutions. Too often solutions are conceived outside, with little reference to locally defined needs or knowledge. RVI aims to ‘make local knowledge work’ for the benefit of people of eastern and central Africa and so is investing in the development of African researchers where we work. In South Sudan young graduates have been trained in oral history and other research methodologies and are engaged and mentored through various research projects. Several have excelled as researchers and are now published authors. In Somaliland and Puntland we have supported the development of university research institutes, providing training in social science research methodologies. These institutes are publishing their own research, and again we have nurtured a network of Somali researchers through our research projects. In the DRC where we work with some excellent researchers and research partners we have assisted them to develop their writing skills and to provide outlets for publications.
The grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York will enable us to continue and develop this work in structured way, providing scholarships for training, supporting research that responds to locally defined needs and resources for publishing African voices. And we will continue to draw on our distinguished network of RVI Fellows to support collaborations between African and non-African research communities.
This is an exciting development for RVI, and we are grateful for the support from Carnegie Corporation of New York.
