Look at me when I smile - my brown teeth have a story to tell
Arjen Naafs, Riva Associate
Born in the leprosy mission ALERT in Ethiopia, where my father served as a doctor, I drank water with excessive levels of fluoride in my younger years — enough to leave my teeth brown and brittle, hard on the outside, soft and fragile within. This daily reminder while brushing my teeth is one of my drivers to change the system. Providing good basic services such as safe water, decent sanitation and good hygiene secures a more dignified life with white smiles and less leprosy. After all, prevention is better than a cure (apologies Dad, for not becoming a doctor!).
As a hydrogeologist, my first job was finding water and drilling boreholes for remote communities in Uganda. Great, rewarding work. However, quite soon I noticed that the boreholes stopped working. Spare parts were unavailable. There was no maintenance budget. No technician. It was never just one thing; it was a whole range of interlinked aspects. That put me on a 25-year journey: from hydrogeologist to systems thinker, from field practitioner to data strategist. I now work with governments, national utilities and district leaders who want to understand how best to provide services that last.
Having been fortunate to have lived in seven, worked in 15+ countries, I thrive on facilitating change across cultures — running a consultancy in Mozambique for a decade, directing WaterAid's technical programme across five South Asian countries, and working as hydrogeology lead with mWater. Now as an associate with Riva, I work at the intersection of water resources, climate change and water and sanitation services. I have shaped climate-resilient strategies with national utilities in Rwanda and Malawi, and drive change through data. I do this with energy, passion and a knack for creating an understanding which lever of the system need to be shifted.
- Senior water and climate leader with 25+ years’ experience of working across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Lived in Mozambique and Uganda, and lead multi-year programmes in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan and Rwanda.
- Learning, knowledge & evidence champion, supporting external accountability (annual monitoring reports), strengthening national monitoring systems (SINAS Mozambique, Guinea Bissau). Translating programme evidence into guidance (WaterAid’s frameworks on Water quality, Sustainability and Disasters).
- Inclusive and dynamic facilitator, with a strong track record in training (both in-person and virtual training sessions such as masterclasses on Climate Resilience for the Global Centre for Adaptation), and former chair of Riva’s Global and Netherlands Staff Council.
- Dynamic innovator, as managing partner build consultancy company from zero to US$ 800,000 annual turnover; delivered 100+ projects including developing groundbreaking water coverage maps and creating world-first sustainability checks with UNICEF.
- Author or co-author of 20+ publications on Climate (e.g. Climate change, water resources and WASH systems, IRC), Hydrogeology (e.g. “Hydrogeology of Mozambique, BGS) and Life-cycle Costing (e.g. “The Cost of Capital”, IRC)
- Globally oriented and multi-lingual in five languages - English, Dutch, German, Portuguese and Spanish. Additionally strong, nerdy level, digital and analytical skills. MSc in Hydrogeology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam