More than forty specialists on Eastern and Central African history, politics, economics and culture taught on the RVI’s annual field courses this year. Journalists and activists joined academics, humanitarians, and policy-makers for three intensive one-week events covering the Horn of Africa,…
News
SEARCH
NEWS TYPES
REGION
On 30 November the Rift Valley Institute announced a search for three new senior staff members, to be based in the London and Nairobi offices of the Institute. The RVI London office also has a vacancy for an intern from…
The Rift Valley Institute’s annual field courses will be held in East Africa in June and July 2015. Course applications are now open. Locations of courses will be confirmed in early 2015. ONLINE APPLICATION FORM Taught by teams of…
The RVI annual field courses feature teams of up to fifteen teachers composed of regional specialists drawn from the region itself and from Europe and America. The most recent additions include Laura Hammond and Berouk Mesfin on the Horn…
The Lamu-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Project is a large-scale development initiative that affects communities across Northern Kenya and bordering countries. Yet those most affected by LAPSSET have limited access to information about its impact on their lives. A new project…
How do so-called fragile states exercise and maintain political power? What actors and institutions are involved in this process? How do they distribute the spoils of power amongst the elite and the population at large? These questions lie at…
Jemera Rone, who died on 29 July 2015, in Washington DC, was an early supporter of the Rift Valley Institute, and one of the Institute’s first Fellows. She taught on the first RVI Sudan field course in 2004 and on…
The Rift Valley institute is currently seeking new staff in several locations: Nairobi, Hargeysa and London. The posts include two mid-level management positions and an internship. RVI Executive Director John Ryle said 'This is a chance to join one…
Philip Winter, a founding Fellow of the RVI, will be Acting Executive Director of the Institute from October 2015 to June 2016. John Ryle, the RVI Executive Director, will be on leave during that time as a Fellow at…
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…
Recent Publications

‘THE FUEL IS US’: WATER, OIL AND DEBT ON THE SUDAN-SOUTH SUDAN BORDERLANDS
February 18, 2025
South Sudan and Sudan’s borderlands are run by a patchwork of armed authorities. Since early 2019, when opposition forces were effectively wiped out, these zones of control have remained relatively fixed, even as the war in Sudan drew close to

Conflict, displacement and children in paid work in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands
February 17, 2025
In this blog, Manal examines the pressures forcing many displaced people, including children, to seek paid labour to supplement dwindling support mechanisms in camps in South Sudan. The author draws on her research in 2024 as part of the XCEPT

DOMINANT PATTERNS AND DYNAMICS OF URBAN CONTESTATIONS IN HAWASSA
February 12, 2025
Studying urban contestations in Ethiopia’s secondary cities can help us understand how the urban centres outside of Addis Ababa are evolving during an ongoing period of significant socio-economic and political change. In this regard, Hawassa in Sidama region provides an