Rift Valley Institute

Fifty years ago, most households in South Sudan produced the grain they ate, organizing agricultural labor and distributing small surpluses mostly through kinship and other social networks. Now, the majority of households buy most of their food. This transition from self-sufficiency to market dependence took place during long wars, which transforme… Read more

The legacy of Somali piracy, the threat of terrorists transiting between Yemen and Somalia, and the deepening conflict in Yemen mean international actors tend to view the Gulf of Aden through a security lens. This Rift Valley Institute Report outlines the local social and economic relations that crisscross the maritime border between Yemen and Soma… Read more

Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, like much of South Sudan, is in a protracted state of social and economic crisis, rooted in generations of armed conflict, forced resettlement, and a shift towards a cash and market economy. Since the 1980s, family units and livelihoods have been destroyed, displaced or reworked by conflict and most people have been forced… Read more