We believe in equal access to public services, reliable infrastructure and a safer environment for everyone. We are convinced that this will happen faster if governments and non-governmental organisations become more effective, accountable and collaborative.
Since 2008, we’ve worked with over 20 governments and 200 organisations in more than 70 countries to improve the way they implement development projects and make decisions using data. We call them partners.
With our combination of tools, services, local expertise and sector knowledge, our partners improve the management of water, sanitation and agriculture, with a strong commitment to accelerating the progress of the sustainable development goals.
This is why we go to work every day. This is why we created Akvo.
Our story
Akvo, meaning water in Esperanto, was ignited in 2006 when a hydrogeologist and an open source pioneer met at Stockholm World Water Week. They questioned the lack of transparency in the development sector, asking why open source technology wasn't embraced to address the world's most pressing issues.
Ever since, we've been looking for ways to disrupt and rejuvenate development aid. We operate on a "not-for-profit, not-for-loss" basis because we only want to create sustainable change. We build open source software because we believe in collaboration. We’re immensely proud of our team, because we know that people are essential in reaching impact.
With our unique approach to development, we help our partners design their projects so that they can capture and understandreliable data which they can act upon.
Our team
We're a mixed bunch here at Akvo, and our diversity is key to our success. The team is made up of over 100 bright minds and passionate hearts, from software developers to monitoring and evaluation specialists; from data scientists to water quality experts.
A thorough understanding of local context is key in providing partners with the best possible support. That’s why we have regional hubs in five continents to provide local knowledge and expertise to our partners. The rest of our team work remotely from places like Sweden, Bangladesh, Colombia, Spain, Australia, the United Kingdom, Nepal and Uganda.