We have launched Riva: a network of independent, locally led organisations, working together to help nation builders put water and sanitation at the heart of the systems their countries depend on. If you have worked with IRC, rest assured that you are working with the same people and the same commitment — now becoming a network with local leadership at its heart. What do we mean by a network?
A network of members. Our vision is of a network of members (legally defined as ‘Participants’) — independent organisations, each rooted and governed in its own country or context: Riva Netherlands, Riva Ghana, Riva Uganda, Riva Ethiopia, Riva Sahel, Riva Rwanda and others over time. Each with its own local leadership, governance and accountability - decisions about the work in a country taken by the people closest to it. The network is taking shape now — some participants already established, others forming over the coming period. But from now we will refer to all as members. This is an evolution, not an overnight switch: a continuation of the organisations you know, under a new name, with more to come.
Self-governing and mutually accountable. This is not a franchise, nor a headquarters with branches. Members sign up to a common Charter and Participation Agreement — a shared purpose (supporting nation builders to create the systems that deliver water, sanitation and other vital public services), a shared brand, and shared standards on quality, ethics and safeguarding. Being held and holding each other accountable for these common values is what makes an organisation a Riva Member, wherever it is.
Who decides what. Three things work together. The Members set direction collectively: through a Participants Council, that agrees the network's shared strategy and the standards they hold one another to; each member is then responsible for delivering the strategy in their own country. A global Network Board provides independent oversight — safeguarding the mission and holding the network to account. And a Secretary General, supported by a Deputy, leads a secretariat, serving the network day to day: convening the members, coordinating shared work, setting and supporting common standards, raising resources, and representing Riva in the world.
Why we built it this way. We believe that leadership belongs close to the people and governments driving change — locally led — but that those leaders are stronger when connected to something bigger — globally connected. A federated network delivers independence where it matters and shared strength where it counts.
Launching Riva is the beginning. The vision is agreed, the direction is set and we are already governing ourselves as a network. The actual building of the full network — member by member, in law as well as in spirit and practice — is work now under way, unfolding over the coming months and years. Throughout, the organisations you work with, and the commitments we have made between us, will continue.