The RVI’s 2015 annual field courses began in June in Naivasha, Kenya, in the heart of the Great African Rift Valley. The courses, now in their twelfth year, started with the Horn of Africa Course, which took place from…
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The Rift Valley Institute’s annual field courses will be held in East Africa in June and July 2016. Course applications are now open. ONLINE APPLICATION FORM Taught by teams of leading regional and international specialists, the three courses—now in…
Due to operational reasons beyond RVI’s control, this year’s annual Field Courses will now be held in Entebbe, Uganda rather than Ethiopia. Entebbe was the location of the first Great Lakes Course in 2010. RVI is excited to be…
This blog post was written by Jason Stearns and Yolande Bouka, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Great Lakes Field Course, which will be taking place in Entebbe, Uganda from 11–17 June 2016. Jason and Yolande…
This blog post was written by Douglas Johnson and Guma Kunda Komey, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Sudan and South Sudan Course, which will be taking place in Entebbe, Uganda from 25 June – 1 July…
This blog post was written by Terrence Lyons and Laura Hammond, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Horn of Africa Field Course, which will be taking place in Entebbe, Uganda from 9–15 July 2016. Terrence and…
This blog post was written by Douglas Johnson and Guma Kunda Komey, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Sudan and South Sudan Course, which will be taking place in Entebbe, Uganda from 25 June – 1 July…
Nimo-llhan Ali and Rashid Abdi discuss migration, the meaning of taahrib, and the challenges faced by returning youth in Somaliland and diaspora. The discussion took place on the 2014 Horn of Africa Course….
The RVI scholarship fund is relaunched this month as the RVI Shading Tree Fund. This follows a generous donation from the family of Ranald Boyle, a former District Commissioner in South Sudan. Since the Institute was founded, the scholarship…
This June, RVI hosted the Institute’s fourteenth Annual Field Courses in Entebbe, Uganda, covering Sudan and South Sudan, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa. The innovative, dawn-to-dusk programme of seminars, lectures, group discussions and special events covered…
Recent Publications

Writing Ethiopia into the World, Writing the World from Ethiopia
October 7, 2026
The Ethiopian Women Researchers Network (EWNET) hosted an online scholarly webinar on Friday, 30 January 2026, titled ‘Writing Ethiopia into the World and Writing the World from Ethiopia’. The webinar examined how Ethiopia has been represented within global knowledge production

The Political Economy of Coffee in the Kaffa–Bench-Sheko–Sheka Belt, Southwest Ethiopia Region
October 6, 2026
This study provides a critical political economy analysis of the coffee sector in the Kaffa–Bench-Sheko–Sheka belt in Southwest Ethiopia Peoples’ Regional State, the genetic and cultural heartland of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica). Based on 47 key respondent interviews, the study

The Political Economy of Coffee in the Jimma–Ilu Aba Bora–Buno Bedele Belt, Oromia Region
October 5, 2026
The findings of this study reveal a number of critical insights about the political economy of coffee in the Jimma–Ilu Aba Bora–Buno Bedele coffee belt. The coffee economy is shaped by a small number of influential actors, including state institutions,