The Usalama Project is a field-based, partner-driven research initiative that aims to examine armed groups and their influence on Congolese society (Usalama is Swahili for safety or security). It constitutes a source of reliable and public information for a wide audience from policymakers to civil society activists, both in the Congo and beyond.

The Rift Valley Institute’s Impact of War on Somali Men (IWM) study is a project which fills a critical knowledge gap on the impact of war and state collapse on Somali men and manhood. It provides important insights for national Somali-led policy and practice, and supporting international interventions. It also widens the lens on gender in conflict to understand the vulnerability of men and…

A growing youth population, high levels of unemployment and limited opportunities for vocational training have led to a steady increase in the number of young Somali men and women seeking higher education courses that will provide them with skills for employment. This demand has led to a proliferation of over fifty colleges and universities in the Somali regions that offer an array of courses…

When Kenyans voted in favour of a new constitution in the 2010 referendum, they endorsed many considerable changes to the country’s political, legal and institutional landscape. This included the introduction of a quota system intended to limit the domination of political offices by one single gender. Known as the Gender Principle or Rule, Article 27(8) of the constitution limits the…

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 the heart of a new research programme on political settlements in conflict-affected states funded by the UK Department for International Development (…

The Rift Valley Forum for Research, Policy and Local Knowledge, previously the Nairobi Forum, was established in 2012 to provide a new space for critical discussion of political, economic and social issues in Eastern and Central Africa. The Forum is a venue for dispassionate examination of contested terrain, where researchers, practitioners, officials and activists–from the region and beyond–…

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the 2010 presidential elections on peace and security in Somaliland and suggest areas where external assistance could be of value. The report, Securing the Peace in Somaliland, was the outcome of collaboration between the Rift Valley Institute and the Academy for Peace and Development (APD) involving Somali and international researchers.…

In the lead-up to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement—and in response to the earlier signing of the Machakos Protocol (2002)—an increasing number of ethnic and regionally based groups in north and south Sudan began to make claims for political representation and a share of development resources. This project aimed to provide a baseline record and preliminary contextual analysis of “people-…

The Contested Borderlands reports are authoritative studies of borders and border communities in Eastern and Central Africa, informed by historical archive work and anthropological field research. The series brings local knowledge and academic rigour to urgent questions of the present, with practical recommendations for those working in the region at policy level and in project implementation…

Based on extensive interviews with litigants, chiefs, and court officials, the project report Local Justice in Southern Sudan by Cherry Leonardi, Leben Moro, Martina Santschi and Deborah Isser (2010) argues that the role of the chiefs’ courts has evolved to the point where the line separating them from government courts is blurred. The final report provides an empirical account of everyday…