National Chapters Coordinator
Riva’s involvement in the area of youth development began in 1997 when he became a project officer in “Segar Jakarta-ku” (My Fresh Jakarta). It is an awareness campaign to help society realise the importance of clean air in Jakarta.
After obtaining his degree in Industrial Engineering in Trisakti University, Jakarta, he decided not to pursue a career in the industrial sector. In the pursuit of his passion, he worked for Swiss Contact to lead its school campaign for clean air and sustainable lifestyle. In the year 2000, he joined Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa (YCAB) as Campaign Manager. This job led him to engage deeper with the issue of drug prevention education and opened him many opportunities to help design and develop programmes that support the youth population and the community at large.
Since 2001, Riva has taken many specialist courses in project management, mobilising youth and training of trainers in the field of drug prevention education run by Colombo Plan and UNODC both in Bangkok and Vienna. Riva was also selected as MIT Global Young Leader Classroom (2004-2006) and became a Certified Master Trainer of Quantum Learning from QLN on Stanford campus in the year 2006.
During his time at YCAB as Programme Manager, Riva took the opportunity to craft his leadership and skills by managing various youth projects. In 2001, he initiate and conceptualised the first Asian Youth Congress (AYC). At that time Riva had developed a youth programme that would be refined year after year and which ultimately resulted in the funding of ten youth congresses from 2001-2013. Continuing the success of AYC, in 2004 the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime appointed YCAB to lead the Global Youth Network programme in South East Asia and selected Riva as Programme Leader (2004-2006). These two major initiatives opened up a bigger opportunity for Riva to learn more about youth development as he was given responsibility to run the UNICEF programme on youth prevention in seven provinces in Indonesia and the ILO-IPEC Programme on vulnerable youth.
Riva’s track record of innovation and leadership led him to be nominated by the Government of Indonesia for the position of Director Drug Advisory Programme (DAP) in the Colombo Plan, an international organisation headquartered in Sri Lanka. From 2001-2015 Riva worked closely with INL – U.S. Department of States to implement U.S. Foreign Assistance in more than 42 countries.
Before finishing his term at DAP Colombo Plan, he launched the first society for drug treatment and prevention professionals in the world. The International Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals (ISSUP) was born, when Riva coordinated bringing together four international organisations (UNODC, WHO, OAS, DAP-CP), two Thai Government agencies (ONCB and Ministry of Health) and representatives from 61 countries to develop a strategic plan.
Upon conclusion of his term as DAP Director, he was appointed by five international organisations to serve on ISSUP’s Board of Trustees in the new role of forming National ISSUP chapters around the world and coordinating this new network.
Riva is married with two children and is currently pursuing a Master degree in Community Entrepreneurship at Trisakti University.