I am an impact advisor and researcher. My work revolves around stories — around what happens behind the numbers, and what those experiences teach us about how social change actually takes hold.

Over more than 25 years in the international and Dutch public domain, I have learned that this other part — what people experience, notice, and pass on — is often where change really lands. Stories from people themselves make visible what otherwise remains hidden: the patterns, the friction, the unexpected effects.

I mainly work with narrative methods, such as Sprockler and Narrative Outcome Harvesting. With these methods I help organisations in (youth) care, education and the cultural sector to make their impact visible in a way that does justice to complexity. Previously I worked as an evaluation specialist at Oxfam Novib and as a researcher at Movisie. I advise, conduct evaluations, deliver trainings, and speak about this work.

Alongside this, I am developing a method around The Laws of Nature: a way of understanding social systems through the logic of living systems. It is a framework I have encountered in my practice and that I am now developing through blogs and a book.

I hold an academic background in Business Information Systems (University of Amsterdam), which has given me an analytical ability to read systems and grasp complexity. I live with my two daughters in Amsterdam Zuidoost, and I recharge most on long walks in nature with my dog Timmy.

Expertise

• Narrative research
• Sprockler
• Outcome Harvesting
• Principles-Focused Monitoring
• Social change in the public domain

Examples of what I do