In June the Nairobi Forum hosted a consultation on the future of humanitarian action in the Horn of Africa and East Africa with the Feinstein International Centre at Tufts University and InterAction. The Forum also held a book launch for The Golden Fleece:…
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‘Gatekeepers’ are siphoning off food aid intended for internally displaced people living in squalid camps in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, Refugees International said in a report on Thursday, calling on aid agencies to stop operating via remote control from…
The election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as President of Somalia on 10 September was a major event in the region, bringing to an end a deeply flawed, eight-year political transition. The election of an active member of civil society…
Since it declared independence in 1991, Somaliland has worked to develop a system of multi-party democracy. The result is a relatively complex but home-grown set of political arrangements, providing concessions to and incorporating different interest groups. This was the…
On 18 April, the Nairobi Forum, in partnership with Kwani Trust, hosted an evening with renowned Somali author Nuruddin Farah. Nuruddin is winner of the Neustadt International Prize for literature and the Lettre Ulysses Award, and has been nominated for…
On 18-19 February 2013, RVI and the Somalia NGO Consortium co-hosted a two-day 'Introduction to Somalia' course at the Lukenya Getaway in Kenya. RVI managed the first day's event, providing a brief introduction to the history, politics, and culture of…
Speakers at a Nairobi forum sponsored by the Rift Valley Institute expressed concern for the future of South Sudan following a ceasefire agreement brokered in Addis Ababa late last week. Participants also raised issues concerning the presence of Ugandan…
On Friday 10 January leading South Sudanese civil society institutions came together to discuss the current situation [in South Sudan]… According to David Deng, Director of Research at the South Sudan Law Society, human rights violations in the past and…
A report from IRIN, published in the Sunday Nation, on a meeting convened by the RVI Nairobi Forum to discuss plans for a Lamu Port and South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor. The LAPSSET project includes a port in Lamu, a 1,500km…
Recent Publications

2025 Year in Review
February 16, 2026
The 2025 Year in Review provides an overview of the Rift Valley Institute’s work over the past year across eastern and central Africa. The report highlights RVI’s research and publication outputs, education and training activities, and public forums and convenings,

Rethinking Aid in Sudan and South Sudan
January 28, 2026
The brief draws on a joint convening held in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2025, which brought together more than 45 Sudanese and South Sudanese participants representing more than 30 grassroots organizations and international NGOs. Its primary objective is to amplify

EWNET Writes: Writing Workshop Session I
December 18, 2025
The Ethiopian Women Researchers Network (EWNET) inaugural writing workshop series aims to not only provide women researchers with uninterrupted time for their scholarly projects, but also build a supportive academic community. The first session, entitled ‘EWNET Writes: Writing Workshop Session