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

Examples of what I do

Are you ready to move on?

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.

read more
Transformative Futures for Water Security initiative 

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.

read more
Stories about the energy transition

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.

read more
Storytelling in complexity (Sprockler)

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.

read more
Building the future of international development

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.

read more
Facilitate collaboration on local water management in Mozambique

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.

read more