Book Launch: The Dissent Channel
In South Sudan, a peace deal was signed in September 2018 to bring an end to a conflict that has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of people since 2013. However, progress towards implementing the agreement has been slow, and transitional justice and accountability have been almost entirely overlooked. On 20 January, the Rift […]
Understanding Hussein Abdel Bagi: South Sudan’s vice-president from the borderlands
Key points • Hussein Abdel Bagi’s appointment as the third Vice-President of South Sudan is an important building block for the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU), particularly its relations with Khartoum. Hussein’s long experience of Sudanese politics, and friendships with members of the Sudan Military Council, will likely be very useful to President Kiir. […]
Release of new documentary: And The Country Still Needs Us: A Story of the Chiefs of South Sudan
Over the past five years of RVI’s South Sudan Customary Authorities (SSCA) project, the Institute has built a strong level of trust with customary authorities across the country. Continued engagement with chiefs is essential, particularly in finding ways to support and present the views and interests of their communities at the national level, and to […]
Doctoral studentship in history: Constitution-making in Sudan
Applications are invited from eligible candidates for a doctoral studentship on the history of constitution-making in Sudan since the 1950s. The doctorate will be supervised by Justin Willis (Durham University) and Willow Berridge (Newcastle University). This funded doctoral studentship is supported by the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Centre and will run for 42 months […]
RVI researchers organize public health messaging in South Sudan
By Mimi Kuer Bior In April 2020, when COVID-19 reached South Sudan, many of RVI’s South Sudanese researchers decided to return to their hometowns to avoid what they believed would be a large outbreak in the country’s capital, Juba. Following discussions with friends and family, the researchers proposed that RVI work with them to […]
Breaking Out of the Borderlands: Understanding migrant pathways from Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, South Sudan
Breaking Out of the Borderlands is the second report by Dr Nicki Kindersley and Joseph Diing Majok on South Sudan’s changing borderland economy. The first report in the series—Monetized Livelihoods and militarized Labour in South Sudan’s Borderlands—described the protracted state of social and economic crisis that has gripped the borderland region of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal. […]
Trading Grains in South Sudan: Stories of opportunities, shocks and changing tastes
Displaced Tastes is a research project run by the Rift Valley Institute in partnership with the Catholic University of South Sudan under the X-Border Local Research Network. The project examines the changing tastes for food in South Sudan in the context of the country’s economic transition and place in the regional, cross-border economy of grain. […]
Community Approaches to Epidemic Management in South Sudan
This briefing summarizes findings from the mid-point of the Community Approaches to Epidemic Management in South Sudan research project. The project is run by the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) and funded by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) via the East Africa Research and Innovation Hub (EARIH). The project, which began in response […]
Research from the South Sudan National Archives: Uncovering compensation claims following the 1965 ‘Juba Massacre’
The Rift Valley Institute works in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Museums and National Heritage (MoCMNH) on the preservation and digitization of the South Sudan National Archives (SSNA). Under the current project, funded by the Government of Norway, through UNESCO, various activities are underway to showcase the information available in the archives to […]
Fuelling Poverty: The challenges of accessing energy among urban households in Juba, South Sudan
In South Sudan, access to energy is crucial for survival, recovery and resilience in what is an extremely challenging economic and security environment. Fuelling Poverty—a product of the Energy on the Move project—examines the challenges of meeting everyday energy needs for the urban population of Juba. Recent urbanisation, conflict and economic crisis have fundamentally reshaped […]