This blog post was written by Alden Young and Naomi Pendle, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Sudan and South Sudan Course, which will be taking place in Ethiopia from 24-28 June 2019. Alden and Naomi will be…
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This blog was written by Irène Bahati and is part of RVI’s Research Collaboration project in partnership with the Groupe d’Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine (GEC-SH) and funded by the Knowledge Management Fund of KPSRL. The project examines the political…
Puntland’s Bari region is remote and mountainous with few roads and an increasingly distant relationship with Garowe, the state capital. The inaccessibility of the interior, where Islamists militants are active, has meant that coastal communities—more easily accessed by sea…
The Somali diaspora has been a lifeline for people in Somalia for many years, responding to major humanitarian emergencies and everyday crises. The ways in which this humanitarian response is mobilised, channelled and delivered to people in Somalia is the subject of…
The city of Goma, in North Kivu province, is home to numerous former child soldiers. After leaving armed groups that are active in rural areas, they often go to the city. This is because the communities where they used…
This blog was written by Elisée Cirhuza and is part of RVI’s Research Collaboration project in partnership with the Groupe d’Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine (GEC-SH) and funded by the Knowledge Management Fund of KPSRL. The project examines the political…
The city of Uvira in South Kivu province has long been a hotbed of armed criminality. The victims of these attacks are primarily small-scale economic operators, such as shopkeepers, money changers and those selling phone credits. In this blog, Juvénal…
South Sudan’s borderland region with Sudan, in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, is a hard place to make a living. Jobs are scarce, livelihoods insecure and movement across the border is heavily regulated. The region’s women often bear the heaviest burden as they…
In the months following the inauguration of the new provincial government of South Kivu in October 2017, the city of Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo was witnessing a series of burglaries and violent attacks. The…
This blog post was written by Michael Woldemariam and Jutta Bakonyi, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Horn of Africa Course, which will be taking place in Ethiopia from 17-21 June 2019. Michael and Jutta will be joined…
Recent Publications

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Post-2018 Ethiopia: Navigating church–state and inter-religious dynamics
April 4, 2025
This report examines the complex and shifting situation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) in post-2018 Ethiopia, highlighting its struggle to maintain influence amid political, social and religious changes. In addition to examining both the current EOTC relationship with

Thinking about Borderlands: Observations and implications from XCEPT programme research
March 31, 2025
Do the ways in which policymakers and national governments view borderlands reflect how the communities living there experience them? Building on this, can a better understanding of the characteristics of borderlands help in promoting development, improving governance and making more

Digital Governance and Security in the Horn of Africa
March 28, 2025
While digital finance—including mobile money—has developed unevenly across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, such technologies are nevertheless transforming everyday economic activities. In some cases, borderlands and cross-border financial flows are central to these digital developments and are driving further innovation. From