About
IRC, an international development organisation founded on water, sanitation and hygiene work, was preparing for the biggest change in its history. They were about to rebrand as Riva, a federated network of independent, locally-led national organisations working in Ethopia, Ghana, Netherlands, Rwanda, Sahel, Uganda and across Africa, Asia and the world, and within water, sanitation but also beyond, in cross-cutting areas such as health, education, and climate.
This was more than a change of logo and image. It was a complete repositioning – away from being seen as a single-sector NGO delivering aid, and towards being understood as trusted advisors to the governments and institutions building lasting public services.
They asked me to help develop and guide the new voice from early stages to launch, working with the comms, leadership and country teams over the course of 18 months.
See previous work for IRC:
Copywriting and developmental editing for communications and fundraising
Strategic communications, marketing and copywriting for international symposium
Copyediting, writing a proofreading for online learning academy
How I helped
My work spanned:
- Developing key messages, brand voice and language guidelines (what Riva says, what it doesn’t say, and why)
- Copywriting and editing and providing guidance for documents such as the Brand book, FAQs, the Riva 2026–2030 strategy,
- Copywriting and editing thought leadership blogs
- Writing senior leader biographies, country office origin stories, impact stories, and creating templates for all, for country offices to use themselves
- Writing website copy, including home page, services, and link copy
- Writing launch communications, including blog copy in the Chair’s voice, a phased LinkedIn campaign, film scripts for senior leaders, and a media release marking the rebrand
Where we are now
The rebrand launched under the strapline ‘Trusted advisors to nation builders’. It’s too early to assess the impact, but initial feedback has been hugely positive. The work continues – with network members now creating new change stories, ongoing website refinement, and writing their own bios and stories using the templates and guidelines built during this project.