Riva Africa - our story

Who we are 

Riva Africa is the Pan-African platform of Riva – an international network of systems leaders driving change that transforms lives through resilient national systems and public services. We are the network’s continental platform, working across African countries on the reforms that require multi-country authority. We work on reforms that no single country can carry alone, anchored in water and sanitation and extending to the public services that shape daily life. We are trusted advisors to nation builders across Africa – the political leaders, decision makers, wealth generators and citizens who are remaking the systems that shape people’s lives. Locally led and globally connected, our network draws on more than fifty years’ experience in international development and on the knowledge, relationships and trust we have built in Africa for more than two decades. 

Where we came from 

We began as IRC Africa, part of an international development agency which had been working in Africa for many years. Our current team working for and with IRC to tackle the root causes of systems failures. In 2020 we set up our Pan-African programme so we could work more directly with continental authorities to achieve the Africa Water Vision. We are now an African-led advisory unit within the Riva network and hosted in Riva Ghana. 

The work that shapes us 

Our founding work was built alongside the institutions that carry reform: Pan-African institutions, African governments and ministries, regulators and public utilities, and the development partners – among them AMCOW, the African Union Commission, AfWASA, ESAWAS, UNECA, The African Development Bank – who shape the direction of water and sanitation systems. Over our first decade we convened the continent around shared ambition, accompanied national systems toward stronger performance, and learned a defining lesson: across Africa the challenge is no longer ideas or pilots, but turning political commitment into credible, durable institutions. That lesson made us who we are – a catalyst, and architect and a partner in both innovation and implementation. 

We believe that water is the quiet force behind everything a nation hopes to become: a gateway to resilient public services, social justice and sustainable development. And while our background is in water, our work now flows through every essential system that shapes people’s lives.