Evidence changes practice when it reaches the right person at the right moment with enough credibility to shift their thinking. Getting those three things to align is harder than it sounds — and more important than almost anything else we do
Dr John Butterworth, Senior Advisor, Global and Regional Programmes
Good evidence rarely changes practice on its own. John Butterworth has spent three decades working on what it takes for knowledge to travel from research into the rooms where decisions get made and systems designed.
He works at the intersection of evidence and influence – generating the research that gives governments and investors a clearer picture of what works, and then making sure it reaches the right people in a form they can act on. His particular focus is the sustainability of essential services over time: what it costs to run them across their whole life, how climate change is rewriting those calculations, and how systems can be designed to adapt. He represents Riva in the alliances and platforms where sector thinking is shaped – the Sanitation and Water for All Heads of State Initiative, the Agenda for Change executive committee, the One For All Alliance, and UN-Water – bringing Riva's evidence base into conversations that set the agenda for governments and funders globally.
Twenty years with Riva, preceded by research positions at the Institute of Hydrology and the Natural Resources Institute, have given John a long view of how the sector has evolved – and what has changed it. He was part of the team that established self-supply as a recognised and scalable complement to formal water systems. He has co-authored books and journal papers that practitioners still reach for. A geographer by undergraduate training, with an MSc in soil and water management and a PhD in water resources from the University of Reading, he brings a scientist's rigour to questions that are, at root, about institutions and human behaviour. He is British, based in Lodz, Poland, and works in English.
A few highlights
- 20 years with Riva generating evidence, tools and research to drive systems change – including landmark work on water and sanitation self-supply, government-led monitoring, multiple-use water services, and climate resilience
- Riva's representative in the Sanitation and Water for All Heads of State Initiative, the Agenda for Change executive committee, the One For All Alliance influence team, UN-Water and the Millennium Water Alliance board
- Programme Director, All Systems Connect 2023 – our flagship global symposium linking water, health, climate and social justice
- Country Director, IRC Ethiopia (2016–2019) – leading country programme through a period of significant institutional development
- Co-author of more than 30 journal papers, books and practitioner guides; editorial roles including Water Alternatives journal
- PhD, Water Resources Management, University of Reading; MSc, Soil and Water Management, University of Reading (Distinction); BSc Geography, University of London (First Class)
- Working languages: English