The Institute invites applications for the following posts in London and Nairobi. Operations Manager in the RVI regional office in Nairobi, Kenya Programme Coordinator for the Nairobi Forum, in the RVI regional office in Nairobi, Kenya Assistant Programme Officer…
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With fighting continuing between rival factions of the M23 rebel movement in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the RVI’s Usalama Project presents a profile of one of the M23’s most important commanders, General Bosco Ntaganda. Despite his…
On 18 February 2013, RVI Fellow Douglas Johnson gave a lecture on the role of archives in nation building, based on his 40-year experience of working with Southern government archives and his recent work with RVI on rescuing, rehabilitating,…
On 13 March 2013, RVI published French editions of the Usalama Project’s latest reports on armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). L’UPC en Ituri: la militarisation externe de la politique locale dans le nord-est du…
The Sudd Institute, founded by RVI Fellow Jok Madut Jok, is a newly established research organisation that aims “to improve the quality, impact, and accountability of local, national, and international policy and decision-making in South Sudan.” The Institute’s first…
Janis Fitch, the Institute’s bookkeeper from 2005 until this year, died in London in November after a short illness. She was 74. A staunch atheist, Janis loved cats, bright clothes, jewellery and photography. Keith Blaxill, the RVI’s accountant, writes:…
The poet Maxamed Ibrahim Warsame ‘Hadraawi’, has been awarded the Prince Claus Award. The award was presented to Hadraawi at a ceremony in Hargeisa on 17 April by Joost Reintjes, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kenya….
Dozens of new images have been added to a website featuring more than 160 photographs, maps and drawings of Mogadishu, dating back to the late eighteenth century. Visitors to Mogadishu: Images from the Past are invited to add comments under each…
The Nairobi Forum and the British Institute in Eastern Africa co-hosted the launch of a special Somalia edition of the Journal of Eastern African Studies on 19 April. The meeting, entitled ‘Continuities and change: Social, political and economic dynamics in Somalia…
On 17 April 2013, Oxford Transitional Justice Research launched an online debate on the role of the UN Group of Experts (GoE) on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Opening arguments were made by RVI Usalama Project Director Jason Stearns (in support…
Recent Publications

Beyond the Beans: The Political Economy of Coffee in Ethiopia
September 29, 2026
A synthesis of three case studies in the Sidama–Gedeo–Guji, Kaffa–Bench-Sheko–Sheka and Jimma–Buno Bedele–Ilu Aba Bora belts SUMMARY The Ethiopia Peace Research Facility This report was written for the Ethiopia Peace Research Facility as part of its Knowledge for Peace series

The Political Economy of Coffee in the Sidama–Gedeo–Guji Belt, Southern Ethiopia
September 4, 2026
This report is part of a wider research project on the political economy of coffee in Ethiopia in the context of the political transition since 2018. It focuses on the Sidama–Gedeo–Guji coffee belt in southern Ethiopia, aiming to understand the

SHECONF 2026: International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities
July 9, 2026
Event report On 26 March 2026, researchers, practitioners and academics gathered in Addis Ababa for SHECONF 2026, an International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities in Ethiopia, the first of its kind convened by the Ethiopian Women Researchers Network (EWNET).