In transforming from a single Northern NGO into a federation of independent, locally led organisations, Riva partnered with South African brand consultancy KANAKA with the aim to redefine how a global brand communicates.

Instead of delegating African teams to localise a pre-approved Northern concept, KANAKA was brought into Riva's global board room with the aim to build the identity from the inside out. It marks a pivotal shift in creative ownership: moving from designing for Africa to designing from Africa for the world.

"The world has changed. The old model of aid — the North funding delivery in the South — is fading. Something better is taking its place," says Marc Jaffrey OBE, Director of Strategic Communications and Influencing at Riva.

"We're a federation of locally led members connected globally, with leadership rooted in the majority world, mainly Africa and India. We needed an identity that captured our role as advisors to nation builders, and as citizens of the countries we serve," adds Jaffrey.

The Real Risk in a Rebrand Like This

Business structure and brand identity don't move at the same speed. A federation's governance can change, its funding model can change, its relationship to national governments can change — and none of that requires a single new word to be written or a single new asset to be designed, says the agency.

It is entirely possible to restructure an NGO from the inside and have it still read to everyone outside it, exactly as it did before. That can be the risk in a project like this. Not that the identity looks dated, but that it misrepresents the company, adds the agency.

So the harder problem to solve wasn't visual. It was finding a single, honest way for a federation with no central voice to describe itself, says the agency.

From Designing for Africa to Designing From Africa

A South African team stood right in the room with Riva's global board, forging the vision from the inside out, says the agency.

"The brand development was not something done for us, it was something we created together," says Jaffrey.

According to the agency, African brand consultancies and agencies have spent years being trusted to localise — to adapt a strategy someone else already wrote for an African audience. This was different: an African perspective inside the thinking itself, not applied to it afterward.

"This wasn't execution work. It was a seat in the room where the organisation was deciding what it wanted to become," says Sapho Dlangamandla, Co-Founder and Creative Director at KANAKA.

The agency says that strategy, storytelling and brand aren't garnishes on global business; they're part of how organisations raise money, earn trust and recruit talent. If African creative talent is only ever hired to execute someone else's thinking, the continent stays a market. 

The Human Layer

A brand framework can succeed if its creative expression resonates on a personal level. Film Director Kgomotso Neto, Sanaa Films, aimed to capture this spirit in the manifesto film by drawing on real-life perspectives.

"I grew up somewhere where access to water wasn't always easy, and that shaped how I approached the film," says Neto. "Transformation doesn't need a big before-and-after; it can live in a child running into a puddle. Small, but full of freedom. That's what moved us away from the traditional NGO feel, toward something more honest."

The Bigger Point

As development decentralises, creative leadership must follow. Riva aims to represent a fundmental shift: moving from Africa as the testing ground for global solutions to the origin where they are imagined, says the agency.

The project aims to raise a broader question for the creative industry: what changes when African consultancies are involved in shaping global brands, rather than simply adapting them?, concludes the agency.

For more information, visit www.kanaka.co.za. You can also follow KANAKA on LinkedIn, or on Instagram.

*Image courtesy of contributor