Why are the majority of refugees in Kakuma and Kalobeyei refugee camps in north–west Kenya resistant to the Kenyan government’s new official policy of integration with the local community? This paper explores this question through personal interviews and focus…
RVI publishes books, research reports, research papers, briefings and meeting reports in a range of formats. Publications cover policy, research, arts, culture and local knowledge in the countries of eastern and central Africa. Research publications—books, reports and papers—are peer-reviewed. Some RVI publications are also available in French and/or Arabic.
The RVI is a signatory of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (2001); all publications are free for download in PDF format under Creative Commons licences. The views expressed in books and reports published by the RVI are those of the authors, not the Institute.
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This paper explores how agency and livelihoods are articulated and shaped in the overall picture of refugee life as a whole, specifically in Kakuma refugee camp in north-western Kenya. It digs into the details of how refugees exercise self-reliance,…
This paper investigates the coping and adaptation strategies used by women in Kakuma refugee camp in response to water scarcity, a pressing issue worsened by climate change. Qualitative data collection methods, including focus group discussions, interviews and observations, were…
This paper explores how precarity shapes life for Somali refugees in Kakuma refugee camp, north–western Kenya. Contrasting contemporary precarity with the uncertainty that previously shaped livelihoods and social structures in Somali pastoralist communities back home, the study asks not…
- By Gelizako Juwiva Chrinjalinya
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This blog reflects on the academic writing experiences of early career researchers in East Africa, building on discussions and writing diaries developed in the context of a British Academy-funded Writing Workshop in Nairobi (Kenya), in February 2024. The workshop encouraged participants…
CORONATION ACCOUNT OF KING ATOROBA OF THE AZANDE KINGDOM This essay was written by Isaac Waanzi Hillary, who attended the coronation of His Majesty, King Atoroba Peni Rikito Gbudue in Yambio, the capital of Western Equatoria State, on 9…
SUMMARY The outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023 has created immeasurable suffering and damage, threatening critical institutions across the country. Amongst these is Sudanese higher education, which has faced not only the destruction of critical facilities, but…
SUMMARY The Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of Addis Ababa University and the Peace Research Facility (PRF) of the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) jointly organized a seminar on the theme ‘Rethinking Ethiopia: A Seminar on Youth Voices’,…
SUMMARY In rural South Sudan, markets for food, labour, and land are expanding, leading to increased workloads for women. Historically, rural women had two primary labour burdens: producing food for home consumption and providing essential life-giving labour such as…
SUMMARY • Across South Sudan, women of different socio-economic backgrounds and experiences are fighting to take up positions of authority at all levels. This process is uneven, non-linear, and socially complex.• The ways in which women are organizing for…
Recent Publications
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).
State Capture in Africa: How elite networks undermine democracy, development and security
June 24, 2026
Key points State capture has been increasingly recognized as a major governance challenge due to the way it helps to drive many of the most pressing problems facing contemporary states, including democratic erosion, corruption, economic exclusion, insecurity and declining trust
The New Geopolitics of Eastern Africa
June 17, 2026
On 20 May, the British Institute of Eastern Africa (BIEA), Chatham House, and the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) convened a group of experts to discuss the ‘The New Geopolitics of Eastern Africa’. The closed-door roundtable considered the ongoing transformation of