Source: Amnesty International –
Riva Jalipa is a Researcher and Adviser in Amnesty International’s Economic and Social Justice team leading our work on financing for human rights.
Spurred on by the progress she has seen in civil society activism in Kenya over 15 years of advocacy, she is a firm believer that change can happen and that everyone has a part to play.
Following the Fourth Financing for Development Conference in Seville in July 2025, Riva makes the urgent case for reforming global financial systems, reparative justice and economic and fiscal sovereignty for low-income countries.
My dad was a humanitarian doctor, so I was born where he was working at the time, which happened to be a Thai refugee camp amongst people fleeing the Khmer Rouge. Our family moved from crisis to crisis following my father’s work: the famine in Ethiopia, the civil war in Mozambique, the collapse of Somalia.
The dichotomy of my own personal comfort in the context of so much suffering brought out a sense of social justice in me. I needed to be a part of change.
Through my work in governance and accountability, I became increasingly interested in long-term development solutions and how budgets can influence the realisation of rights. It became ever clearer that money is at the root of everything: who has it and who doesn’t and why they don’t.