Since its founding, OSSREA has been striving to realize its objectives by formulating and implementing various research-related activities, programs and projects, either independently or in collaboration with its partners. Such activities include:  

1.      Annual Research Grant Competitions

• Small Grant Research Competitions in Social Science and Gender Issues (for young scholars)
• Senior Scholars Research Competitions (for senior scholars)

2.      Thematic Workshops, Conferences, and Congresses, namely:

• National Workshops 
• Discipline-Focused Workshops in Social Science
• Project-Related Workshops  
• Regional and International Conferences
• Triennial OSSREA Congress

3.      Training and Research Support

• Research Methodology Institute
• OSSREA Professorship in Social Anthropology
• OSSREA Documentation Center
• Distinguished Visiting Scholars Programme

4.      Research Projects

• Integrating Gender issues in Multidisciplinary Research in Africa

• Post-Doctoral Fellowship Competition Programme

• Sabbatical Research Grant Programme

• The HIV/AIDS Challenge in Africa

• Dryland Husbandry Project

• Cross-Border Trade and Food Security Research Project  

• Rural Water Tenure in East Africa

• Post-Drought Recovery Strategies among the pastoral Households in the Horn of Africa: A Literature Review 

• Human Adaptation in East African Drylands Project

• Pastoral Resource Competition Project  

• African Conflicts: Management, Resolution and Post-Conflict Recovery and Development  

• Good Governance and Wider Civil Society Participation in Eastern and Southern Africa

• Capacity Building for Monitoring, Evaluation and Social Analysis in Natural Resources Management 

5.      Networking

• Land Tenure Networking in Sub-Saharan Africa (LandNet Africa)
• Environmental Forum
• Pastoralist Network for Eastern Africa (PNEA)

6.      Publishing