How do we evaluate shifts in leadership when success relies on how people build trust, listen deeply, and navigate complexity together?
Relational leadership moves away from the burden of single-hero narratives toward shared, trust-based stewardship. Grounded in joint reflections and evaluation data from the 10-month Bopa DiPeo Fellowship with network leaders across Africa, this session explores how a mixed-methods evaluation can capture this evolution. We explore how the fellowship enabled participants to cultivate inner capacities (such as Autonomic Regulation or Feelings & Needs Expression) and applied capabilities (like Facilitation) to shift leadership practice.
We will dive into two core strands:
From Heroic Execution to Embodied Stewardship: Examining empirical evidence of how inner development leads to strategic agency, enabling leaders to shift from operational firefighting to relational stewardship.
Capturing Intangible Shifts via Mixed-Methods: Exploring a mixed-methods evaluation design that combines quantitative baseline/endline assessments with light-touch, participatory tools—such as Most Significant Change stories and Ripple Effect Mapping—to track trust and emergence without creating reporting burdens.
What You Will Walk Away With
In this session, you will gain practical perspectives and tools for evaluating relational leadership in your own context:
Holistic & participatory evaluation design: Practical examples of how to integrate data collection into program rhythms—using tools like Professional Development Plans and brief advisor logs—so measurement actively enriches participant learning.
Linking inner capacities to real-world practice: Clear concepts and evidence showing how inner capacity growth (e.g. Autonomic Regulation) directly enables applied capabilities (Context of Care, Facilitation) and organizational impact.
The Methodology for Credible Claims in Complexity: Practical tactics for applying a 4-layer methodology that weaves quantitative survey metrics and qualitative stories into compelling, verifiable claims for funders, boards, and partners.
🕒 A Note on Format: This 90-minute interactive gathering features a natural 60-minute soft exit. If your schedule only allows for an hour, you can drop in for the core case input, breakouts, and initial Q&A without missing the primary harvest!
Whether you nurture leaders in organizations, design cohorts, or evaluate complex network initiatives, you are wholeheartedly welcome to join us. We look forward to practicing out loud together!
Background about the community & event series
This gathering is part of Experiments in Regenerative Evaluation, a public event series hosted by Unity Effect and the global Regenerative Evaluation Community of Practice—an open network of over 250 practitioners, researchers, and network leaders shifting measurement from extractive compliance toward life-affirming learning. Further events of the series include:
Co-Host bios
Nono Sekhoto (Circle Generation)
Nono is an experienced network coordinator, facilitator, and stakeholder engagement manager. She has a long history leading at the intersection of Africa’s agri-food system, finance, and systems change. For nearly two decades her work has combined collaborative relationship building with curating enabling environments to foster co-learning, opportunity sharing and value creation. Nono has co-designed and co-facilitated various gatherings over the years partnering with organizations and networks, including Small Foundation, Danida Fellowship Center, Sustainable Agriculture Network, the African Leadership Academy, Generation African (a division of AGRA), and African Food Changemakers.
She is based in South Africa with a global network in agriculture and network practice ecosystem. She holds a BCom in Financial Accounting, a few certificates in business management and development, and a masters in international agribusiness.
Carri Munn (Circle Generation)
Carri is a systems strategist and masterful facilitator who partners with systems change leaders to cultivate thriving organizations and impact networks. Her clients include regional and global networks, coalitions, and executives. She brings a bright spirit of generosity, detail-orientation, and a patient, caring essence that facilitates a relaxed state among individuals while navigating change.
She is based in Portland, Oregon and enjoys working globally. Carri holds a BA in Political Theory and a MA in Public Administration and Nonprofit Management. She is certified as a True Purpose Coach for individuals and organizations. Carri designed and launched the Bopa DiPeo Fellowship alongside Nono Sekhoto. This fellowship, the first of its kind in the world, cultivates capacities of African network leaders to facilitate systems change.
Jannik Kaiser (Unity Effect): Jannik is the Co-founder and CEO of Unity Effect, leading the development of Regenerative Measurement & Evaluation. He bridges complexity science, human sense-making, and ecosystem weaving to advocate for shifting evaluation from a compliance burden into a life-affirming practice.
