It’s important to have spaces for coordination and learning with people who share our vision. Where people with different experiences and thinking come together. That’s how you leverage and influence policy
Jane Nabunnya Mulumba, CEO, Riva Uganda
Before Jane Nabunnya Mulumba joined Riva, she spent a decade helping civil society organisations across Uganda find their voice – learning how to document evidence, engage local government and hold public institutions to account. She brought that understanding with her when she joined, and it shapes everything she does: systems don't transform because of better plans. They transform because the right people are involved and heard.
Jane connects grassroots-level evidence with the policy tables where decisions are made – helping Uganda's institutions build the accountability structures that make services work for everyone. She’s equally at home moderating a national planning dialogue with government ministries as she is helping local leaders find their seat at the table. What she brings to both is the conviction that the least-heard voices should shape what happens next – and the skill to make that happen.
Twenty years of being embedded in Uganda's public service landscape have given Jane a depth of relationships and understanding that goes well beyond her formal roles. Recognised among the Top 100 African Women Leading Africa’s Water and Sanitation Future in 2026, and as one of the women influencing change in Uganda in 2015, she holds three Master’s degrees – in Communication, in Public Policy and Management, and in Public Health Leadership. She is based in Kampala.
A few highlights
- 15 years building systems leadership and institutional reform in Uganda – from district networks to national planning tables
- Country Coordinator, Triple-S initiative in Uganda – multi-country systems change programme supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Member of the National WASH Steering Committee – cross-ministerial body working to break institutional silos and strengthen accountability for service delivery
- Board of Directors, UWASNET – the national civil society network for water and sanitation, representing a unified voice for policy influence
- National Coordinator, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) – a UN-hosted global membership organisation
- One of the Women Influencing Change in Uganda, UWASNET, 2015
- One of the 100 women leading Africa’s Water and Sanitation Future, the African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA) and Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN), 2026
- Working languages: English and Luganda