Every year since 2008, the world had become less peaceful. In the Horn and Central Africa, conflict threatens and destroys the lives, homes and jobs of millions of women, men and children, trapping them in a vicious cycle of violence, poverty and inequality. Efforts to address and prevent conflicts and disasters face serious obstacles. In these countries, civil society space is shrinking as…

The 2017 Kenyan general elections are scheduled for 8 August. Currently, politicians and political parties are in the midst of their campaigns. While the last elections were largely peaceful, allegations of voter-bribery, a challenging election timeline and questions over the IEBC's capacity to manage the elections have increased concerns for violence.

Conflicts produce large-scale humanitarian crises and are often characterized by high levels of instability and volatility. Nonetheless, humanitarian workers are expected to operate in these high-risk areas, where their security and performance are sometimes compromised. On 6 April 2017, the Rift Valley Forum launched the findings from the Secure Access in Volatile Environments (SAVE) study in…

Since hostilities began in South Sudan in 2013, over 3.5 million people have fled their homes, of which 1.8 million have sought refuge from violence and food insecurity in neighbouring countries. A National Dialogue, launched in May 2017, has seemingly not yet managed to reduce the intensity of the violence, while the country’s economic situation worsens. On 6 July 2017, the Rift Valley Forum…

On 28 September 2017, the Rift Valley Forum, in collaboration with Storymoja, hosted lawyer and writer Chuma Nwokolo, to explore this year's Storymoja's theme, Black Peace. In this wide-ranging conversation, Nwokolo, a survivor of a massacre during the Biafran war, mapped a path through the minefield of politics to a renascent Africa, using case studies from Kenya's devolution to…

On 7 November 2017, the Rift Valley Institute (RVI), Social Development Direct (SDD), Forcier Consulting, University College London (UCL) and Nagaad Network hosted a panel to discuss the challenges and opportunities for women’s political participation and leadership in Somaliland in collaboration with Presidential Election Observation Mission (EOM).

On 13 November 2017, Somalilanders will go to the polls in the third presidential election. Once again, international observers—coming from 25 countries—will participate in verifying the credibility and fairness of the electoral process. On 5 November 2017, the Rift Valley Forum and the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Hargeysa hosted a panel of international and…

On 1 November 2018, the Rift Valley Forum, in partnership with Human Rights Watch, will host a screening of the film This is Congo by Daniel McCabe. The film follows four compelling characters—a whistleblower, a patriotic military commander, a mineral dealer and a displaced tailor—documenting their lives amid the country's continuing conflict.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's first six months have dramatically changed Ethiopia’s political landscape. The Ethiopian government looks younger, more representative and radical than it has in a generation. Political red-lines have been crossed, and taboos addressed, including one of the most intractable and untouchable issues: the frozen relationship with Eritrea. 

South Sudan recently celebrated a new peace deal, hoping to bring an end to a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people since 2013. However, with a number of peace deals being signed in the past, with limited success, some remain sceptical of the ability of the new agreement to hold.