During the past decade, northern Kenya’s peripheral border counties have become key to the central state’s political and economic agenda. This synthesis report therefore uses the concept of ‘restructuring the margins’ to unpack the findings of two case study…
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 report examines the effects of infrastructure development and shifting political conditions on trade and conflict at the Kenya–Ethiopia border, including on gender dynamics. In doing so, it focuses on how small-town cross-border traders in the town of Moyale,…

- By Robert Aharanya Claudio
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This blog examines the social impact of the shifting course of the Nabek River in Kakuma refugee camp where, when the river overflows and changes direction, it sweeps away homes, forcing refugees to migrate internally. By Robert Aharanya Claudio…

- By Youniyas Abdurahman Seliman
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This blog explores how water scarcity affects women and girls, especially in their daily tasks, safety and health in Kakuma refugee camp, which is located in Kenya’s hot and semi-arid Turkana region. By Youniyas Abdurahman Seliman Introduction As climate…

- By Tamanji Logodi
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The research for this blog found that locally led women’s microfinance groups provided financial security and opportunities for refugee women who could not get funds from banks or NGOs. By Tamanji Logodi Introduction Originally a temporary home for South…
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…
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…
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