This event—part of the Rift Valley Institute’s work on ‘Remittances and Vulnerability in Somalia’, in partnership with the World Bank—explored the key features and the marked variations of the remittance landscape in Somalia. It also analysed how remittances are used by families to improve food security, particularly through access to credit, and the cross-continental networks of trust that…
On 23 January 2019, the Rift Valley Institute launched Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming Kenya, a book that presents a unique contribution to the debate on digital democracy. The book explores how traditionally marginalised groups, particularly women and people with disabilities have used digital spaces to build new communities which transcend…
Based on research in the area in December 2018, the event will help understanding of how local authorities manage militarised labour and food markets, and how local people navigate and conceptualise their precarious livelihoods within this political economy. It will reflect on the implications of borderland conflict economies for South Sudan’s post-agreement reconstruction.
On 3 April 2019, the Rift Valley Forum hosted an exhibition of photographs and testimonies from displaced people across the four Somali cities of Baidoa, Bosaaso, Hargeisa and Mogadishu. This was part of the ‘Security on the Move’ project carried out by Durham University, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and the Somali civil society organisation SOWELPA, in collaboration with UN-Habitat…
On 14 February 2019, the Rift Valley Forum will host a panel discussion to disseminate a new report —Participation, Voice and Governance in Investment Corridors in Africa: the case of the Lamu Port and South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor Project, LAPSSET—produced by the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies of the University of Western Cape, in partnership with the…
On 17 April 2019, the Rift Valley Forum hosted a panel discussion to launch the fourth issue of Women in Islam, a journal by the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA). The journal engages critically with issues affecting Muslim women in the Horn of Africa and beyond. It aims to provide Muslims and non-Muslims from all walks of life with space to discuss the political,…
Little attention has been given to the gendered dimensions of radicalization and violent extremist organizations, yet extremist leaders demonstrate how gendered norms and expectations versus individuals’ realities and lack of power can play into recruitment push and pull factors. On 8 May 2019, the Rift Valley Forum, in collaboration with Promundo, hosted a panel discussion to share…
On 14 May 2019, the Rift Valley Forum hosted a panel discussion to launch The Struggle for South Sudan: Challenges of Security and State Formation. The book discusses solutions to the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, bringing together essays from international and South Sudanese political scientists, economists and practitioners. The Forum reflected on key…
On 27 May 2019, the findings from that study were disseminated through the launch of a special issue of the Journal of Eastern African Studies: Has Kenya changed? The 2017 elections and the impact of constitutional reform. The event examined the main research findings from the special issue, including key governance issues, the 2017 elections and prospects for the 2022 elections.
On Monday 10 June, the Rift Valley Forum will host a panel discussion to disseminate findings from a Rift Valley Institute (RVI) project on research collaboration, in partnership with the Congolese research institute, Groupe d'Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine (GEC-SH) and funded by the Knowledge Management Fund of KPSRL. The project examines the political economy of knowledge…
