Approach
Growing systems leadership
Every functioning public service depends on a system most people never see. Institutions, regulation, finance, planning, monitoring, human behaviour: all working together, and connected to other systems. When any part is missing or broken, services fail across the board. Pumps run dry, utilities collapse, clinics lack water, and children are kept from school. Systems leadership starts with making that invisible architecture visible.
Riva developed its understanding of systems through water and sanitation – one of the world’s most complex and underfunded public service challenges. At any given time, roughly a third of water pumps across Africa are not functioning. The technology was there. But people focused on building things, not sustaining services. What was missing was understanding the surrounding system – ownership, maintenance, finance, accountability. That insight transformed how Riva and its partners approached their work. Systems strengthening became the organising philosophy of a generation of reform.
Systems leadership goes further. It challenges and reshapes structures, rather than filling gaps within them. In Ghana, it pushed safe water and sanitation services onto the agenda of the head of state - bringing eight government departments together around a single presidential compact and moving finance ministers into conversation with water ministers. It requires patience, coalition-building and a willingness to work at a scale that no single organisation can manage alone.
We describe this evolution as a journey: from systems blindness – where practitioners do not see beyond their own project – through systems thinking and systems strengthening, to systems leadership. Each step deepens the ambition: from fixing a pump, to reforming a utility, to reshaping the political economy of public services.
We offer practical support at every stage – through direct engagement with governments, service providers and reform coalitions through our network members in Africa, Asia and Europe, through the WASH Systems Academy, and through our body of research on systems change. Our goal is to build the leadership that outlasts our involvement.
Resources
The most direct entry point to Riva's thinking on systems leadership is our interactive essay on systems leadership [systemsleadershipessay.com] – an accessible, evidence-grounded account of how the concept evolved, what it means in practice, and how it applies across the public service landscape. You can find the intellectual foundations of moving from pumps and pipes to systems in our peer-reviewed Trends in Rural Water Supply: Towards a Service Delivery Approach. For the nine building blocks that together determine whether a WASH system can deliver safe services sustainably, read Building Strong WASH Systems for the SDGs. For a practitioner's account of how systems leadership is built in the field – including more than fifteen years of evidence from Ghana and Uganda – see How to Use Learning Alliances to Achieve Systems Change at Scale.
If you or your colleagues would like structured learning to transform your work, the WASH Systems Academy has a new course launching in July 2026 - Driving Systems Change for Universal Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services. The Academy also offers fifteen other free, interactive courses to help you with sustainable systems, finance, district planning, climate resilience, advocacy, and more.
