Unprecedented levels of investment in ‘green’ resources—hydropower, geothermal, wind, landscapes and wildlife—are a central feature of national development strategies across eastern Africa. Political and business leaders have welcomed this investment for the benefits it will bring to the national population and the local jobs created. Many of these resource development projects are located at…
Drought is once again devastating the Horn of Africa. It has severely affected the food security of more than 13 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Although droughts and other climatic shocks are recurrent in the region, are humanitarians, donors and governments learning from the successes and failures of past responses?
On 4 September 2019, the Rift Valley Institute, in collaboration with the British Institute in Eastern Africa, launched the book, Benga, a Kenyan Kaleidoscope, by the Flee Project. The book invites readers to consider the intensification and digitalization of exchanges and their impact on artistic practices, the obsession with authenticity and cultural appropriation.
For the fifth time since 2010, Somalia is exploring options for an electoral model that will advance the country’s democratic process. Despite previous attempts to pursue democracy, Somalia has failed to shed its clan-based political system. So far, the Federal Government of Somalia and other key stakeholders have been unable to agree on a workable electoral model for the 2020 parliamentary…
Ethiopia has become one of the most profitable locations in Africa for foreign funded agricultural developments. Hoping for export revenues, the Ethiopian government leases millions of hectares of allegedly unused land to foreign investors. However, the dream of prosperity has a dark side: massive forced evictions, small scale farmers losing their livelihoods, repression and a vicious spiral…
On 5 July 2019, the Rift Valley Forum launched the book, Widow Inheritance and Contested Citizenship in Kenya, by Dr. Awino Okech. The book explores the intersection between power, gender, and sexualities and the role of body politics in the construction of gendered subjects and nations. The book uses widow inheritance amongst Luo of Kenya as a case study and unpacks how ‘respectable…
On 9 July, the Rift Valley Institute will host a panel discussion on rural to urban migration in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The panellists will present findings from their research on rural to urban migration as well as key findings from the project's synthesis report, The Lure of the City.
Famine used to kill ten million people every decade but by the early 2000s it had all but disappeared. Today, famine is resurgent, driven by wars, food blockades, hostility to humanitarian principles and a volatile global economy. On 3 July, the Rift Valley Forum hosted the launch of Mass Starvation followed by a panel discussion on famine and humanitarian response in the Horn of…
On 6 December 2012, the RVI's Nairobi Forum hosted a seminar on ‘Rethinking state-building in Somalia: Negotiated statehood and hybrid governance’. The first discussion was led by Dr Marleen Renders, author of Consider Somaliland: State-Building with Traditional Leaders and Institutions, who said: ‘There can be no equitable or sustainable state-building in the region until policy-makers accept…
On 21 June 2013, the Nairobi Forum and the Kwani Trust hosted Nadifa Mohamed, the Somali-British author, in conversation with Ellah Allfrey, Deputy Editor of Granta, which listed Nadifa among the best young British novelists. Born in Hargeisa and raised in South London, Nadifa’s first novel, Black Mamba Boy (2010), was inspired by the life of her father, who was forced to leave Somalia and set…
