In June and July, the Rift Valley Institute will hold the 2019 annual field courses in Ethiopia. Now in their sisteenth year, each course examines a different sub-region within eastern and central Africa: Sudan and South Sudan, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa. They offer a dawn-to-dusk programme of lectures, seminars, panel discussions…

The Rift Valley Institute is pleased to announce the seventh Juba Lecture Series under the theme of ‘Everyday Economies: Historical Perspectives and Present-day Realities in South Sudan’. The lectures will take place from 3:00pm – 5:30pm on 19 and 20 November 2018, in partnership with the Institute for Justice and Peace Studies (IJPS)…

Since early 2018, Ethiopia’s political context has been in flux, including a deep popular challenge to democratic centralism, and the prevailing political order. In this context, reforms which strengthen constitutionalism and the rule of law in the country are increasingly urgent.

The Institute recently wrapped up its fifteenth year of annual field courses, which were held this year in May and June in Kenya. The one-week intensive courses covered an array of historical and contemporary issues in the Horn of Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, and the Great Lakes regions. They were attended by 83 participants and taught by 32…

Over the last hundred years, the most powerful authorities—along with formal government—amongst the western Nuer communities have been individuals known as prophets. In Nuer society, men, and sometimes women, become prophets when divine beings choose to speak through them, bringing them renown and significant temporal power. One of the most…

This blog is the third part of the Navigating migration and the experiences of Congolese refugees in Nairobi series and will explore the reasons why so many Congolese refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya choose to live in Nairobi rather than the refugee camps in Kakuma and Dadaab, what the main challenges are for life in Nairobi, and…

RVI attended the Hargeysa International Book Fair in Somaliland, showcasing work on customary authorities in South Sudan. 

This blog is the second part of the Navigating migration and the experiences of Congolese refugees in Nairobi series and will explore the driving factors behind Congolese migration to Kenya, the demographics of those leaving the DRC and what is drawing Congolese migrants to Kenya.

At the beginning of 2018, an estimated 600,000 Congolese refugees were residing outside of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in sub-Saharan Africa. More than four million Congolese were displaced within the DRC. Since August 2016, the Kasai region of south-central DRC has been embroiled in conflict, displacing close to one million…

This briefing analyses research teaching and practice in Somaliland and Puntland, with a particular focus on the University of Hargeysa (UoH) and Puntland State University (PSU). It builds on a needs assessment that was carried out in conjunction with a research methods course of lectures offered by the Rift Valley Institute and funded by the…