The Ethiopian Women Researchers Network brought together authors, reviewers and researchers at Addis Ababa University to critically engage with books and research by women scholars, and to reflect on the wider journey from research and writing to publication. On…
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Research from a Rift Valley Institute project features in the latest issue of Africa Spectrum—Volume 61, Issue 2 (August 2026)—as part of a special issue on ‘Giving in Somali diaspora humanitarianism in Africa’. Guest edited by DIIS Senior Researcher…
Research from a Rift Valley Institute project features in the latest issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies—Volume 20, Issue 2 (May 2026)—as part of a special collection on ‘Religion and Politics in Post-EPRDF Ethiopia’. This collection—guest edited…
Rift Valley Institute’s Somali Dialogue Platform (SDP) worked closely with Somali Public Agenda (SPA), a leading Somali think tank, to produce a new study: Navigating Political Transition: Citizens’ Views on Elections, Legitimacy, and Governance in Somalia. SPA’s strong local…
The Ethiopian Women Researchers Network brought together scholars from across Ethiopia to examine how gender, power and knowledge production are shaping contemporary research and public debate. On 26 March 2026, researchers, practitioners and academics gathered in Addis Ababa for…
CONFERENCE | KENYA | 1-5 SEPTEMBER 2024 The Diaspora Humanitarianism in Complex Crises (D-Hum) research project is organizing a small international conference in Kenya on vernacular humanitarianism in a global perspective – and we have just a few spots…
After a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, RVI held its first in-person residential course at the end of June 2022 in Naivasha, Kenya. The programme restarted with the popular Horn of Africa course, which focuses on the…
This briefing was written by Micheal Woldemariam and Peter Chonka, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Horn of Africa Field Course, which will be taking place in Kenya from 27 June to 01 July 2022. Michael…
Historically the production of knowledge reflects a history of unequal power relations and the economic domination of the Global South by the Global North. Africa sits at the centre of this inequality. Accordingly, the production of knowledge on African…
RVI’s partner in Somaliland, the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) at Hargeysa University, has released two compelling new publications. These are: the latest volume of the Somaliland Peace and Development Journal; and a new report, ‘Partners or Competitors: The…
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,