My experience is in leading, managing and facilitating development processes all around the world. I have worked with governments, businesses, universities and NGOs in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and Europe.
Initially, my academic background was in biochemical engineering (PhD) and business administration. However, in the past 25 years, I indulged myself in complex organisational and social challenges. I am fascinated by complexity, and how to create something fundamental in such settings.
With a sharp and open mind, I intend to invite you to look beyond the commonplace, be courageous and let (com)passion drive progress. I use inspiring processes to enable individuals to commit to their chosen target and be open to surprises. I use large group methods such as Future Search, Open Space Technology, World Cafe and Appreciative Inquiry and have worked with the founding fathers and mothers of these methods.
I am married to Lisette, who is also a partner at Perspectivity, and have two daughters (who are both born on the 13th, just like me, my father and granddad). I love open water swimming and I play the piano and the didgeridoo. I also find it hard to choose between living in the city and living in the countryside.
Expertise
- Large scale interventions
- Leadership development
- Envisioning and innovation
- Knowledge (re)generation
Examples of what I do
Are you ready to move on?
Perspectivity’s Han Rakels delivered a Future Search training for iCRA, and some Perspectivity colleagues joined the training. Here are our reflections on the 3-day training.
Transformative Futures for Water Security initiative
Water security is key to our collective future, yet many places in the world experience severe water insecurity. We have to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (SDG 6). Perspectivity facilitated this initiative for the Global South on the future of water security in the lead-up to the UN 2023 Water Conference.
Stories about the energy transition
People share their experiences about the energy transition, and discuss what this means for the local policies. Using the Sprockler methodology, we collect citizens’ stories and facilitate dialogue sessions about the local energy story.
Women’s Economic Empowerment in Kenya – Future Search Conference
How can women-led enterprises strengthen themselves and expand their businesses to contribute to a sustainable growth of the economy in Kenya? In a Future Search conference, this question was addressed by all stakeholders involved.
Appreciative Inquiry ‘Summit’ for collective action around SDG 7
The past July, some 30 people representing 15 organisations convened for 2 days in The Hague as front-runners in the NL Energy Compact. The summit was co-hosted and facilitated by MVO Nederland and Perspectivity’s Han Rakels. While their stakes were very diverse,...
The future of nature-inclusive Netherlands
In this Future Search project, various stakeholders came together in an old monastery and co-created a national agenda for a nature-inclusive society.
Putting Egypt on the IT world map
A participatory online roundtable to shape together the future of the Egyptian IT Outsourcing workforce.
Storytelling in complexity (Sprockler)
Do you want to use storytelling to make sense of a complex issue? And are you looking for a method that enables you to collect a large amount of stories, and quantify the key patterns in the stories? Then Sprockler is the perfect tool for you. Register for this training to learn about the methodology and how to apply it in your work.
Building the future of international development
What could the future of international development look like? Which future scenario is the most desirable? What does this mean for the strategy development by Dutch development organizations? Various stakeholders from the Dutch development sector went to work with these questions. Perspectivity designed and facilitated the six-months-long process.
Facilitate collaboration on local water management in Mozambique
How do we make use of the water resources of the Zambezi valley taking sustainability into account? This is the key question of a project of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in collaboration with the Agency for the Zambezi Valley and eight institutes for higher education in Mozambique. The project, sponsored by Nuffic, aims to increase the (educational) capacity around integral water management in the Zambezi valley. The TU Delft consciously chooses not to fly in experts, but rather to tackle the issue from the bottom-up with directly involved local stakeholders. Perspectivity was asked to facilitate this.