To assist our clients and partners, we offer a unique combination of strategic advice and systemic organisational coaching. Within a continuously evolving environment, our goal is to transform the organisation’s value propositions, and to ensure it becomes and remains ‘fit for purpose’. All along the process, we leverage the human capital available in an organisation and/or its supporting network. We believe it is essential to ensure that people’s mindsets are aligned with the agreed upon strategy, while allowing new ideas to emerge and strategies to adapt and improve.

Using scenario-based thinking we help teams and the involved stakeholders to introspect and identify the conditions of success for alternative and complementary pathways to achieve their ambitions. We assist them in strategizing and planning about setting priorities; this could imply settling for fewer but realistic and achievable ambitions, all the while utilizing innovative thinking and partnerships which allow to fully leverage the organisation’s assets and potentials.

We bring ample experience in applying the above approaches in support of governmental institutions, non-governmental or civil society organisations and private sector alike. We have experience with the design of public sector policies and strategies; formulation of development programmes; optimisation of intervention strategies, result chains and theories of change; drafting long term strategies with not for profit organisations, networks and stakeholder platforms; business model design for impact enterprises; strategies for effective corporate social responsibility; etc.​

C-lever.org applies an integrated and systemic approach, in which monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning are embedded into the planning and control cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) to review and enhance the social and environmental return of interventions compared to resources invested; while also improving accountability towards stakeholders.

Systemic understanding of the broader context in which an intervention takes place, by analyzing the environment (actors, forces, interactions, mechanisms…), is essential to design a MEAL-system, with a focus on learning and continuous improvement.

We reposition MEAL systems to be motivating tools at all levels, by removing frustrating bureaucracy, shifting indicators to what is really important, and appropriately embedding these in result and impact oriented empowerment and accountability of individuals, teams and organisations.   

C-lever.org experts and teams have provided support for designing MEAL systems and conducted evaluations of policies, projects and programs in more than 40 countries and through more than 200 assignments.​

Becoming a ‘positive impact’ organization and optimizing impact for people and for the planet is not in contradiction with generating profit. On the contrary, the capacity to generate and demonstrate positive impact has become increasingly essential in the war for talent and for capital. Employees, investors and clients today want to engage with organisations that consciously mitigate negative impact and pursue positive impact. Doing so requires innovated thinking on ambitions, business models and modes of operation.

At C-lever.org, we strongly believe that any organization, business, initiative or project should be aware of how it impacts people and the planet. Applying the ‘do no harm’ principle and mitigating negative impact remains an essential first step; going further is recommended. We assist any type of organization in optimizing its impact for people and the planet.

Where appropriate, we draw upon  principles and tools as propagated by the Impact Management Project ; simplified concepts of Social Return on Investment ; approaches for assessing SDG Impact ; etc.​

When pursuing their goals, organisations and initiatives progressively need to operate in networks and partnerships. The challenge is to build successful win-win collaborations where everyone contributes by leveraging their comparative strengths. Therefore,  it often makes sense to look at collective impact instead of isolating the impact of each actor individually. This requires collaborative processes, that unleash collective intelligence, and innovative thinking. It implies valuing and managing collective impact, while consciously avoiding blockages, underperformance or overlap.

The C-lever.org team brings ample experience and coaching capacity for tackling such issues, while aiding the management of the cost-effectiveness of investments in networks, platforms and partnerships.​

Stakeholder engagement is essential in strategy development and decision-making processes. Meaningful stakeholder engagement is inclusive, responsive, agreed, accountable, appropriate, timely and actionable.

The C-lever.org team was a key member of an OECD funded Peer Learning Partnership (PLP process in 2021-2022) fostering such meaningful stakeholder engagement . We believe it is crucial to move beyond the often seen, but counterproductive , “checking the box” or mainly bureaucratic, stakeholder consultation practices.

Meaningful stakeholder engagement successfully leverages insights of stakeholders and results in broader support for better decisions. It applies paradigms and practices of co-creation and can lead to innovative solutions that transcend polarization around conflicting interests. To allow meaningful stakeholder engagement we must overcome  lack of engagement skills. We do so by encouraging: (a) targeted training on stakeholder engagement, (b) access to (international) good practices and (c) (further) development of tools tailored to the particular needs of different types of actors and  stakeholders.

Transparency and governance are core elements of any responsible organisation. Actively engaging and empowering stakeholders to participate in holding your organisation accountable is not only part of ‘responsible management and governance’ but will also generate competitive advantage through early warning by and innovative co-creation with the (potentially) impacted stakeholders.

We design and implement quantitative and qualitative surveys, employing robust mixed-methods to generate meaningful and actionable insights. Generally, we conduct surveys and other research as part of larger assignments (e.g.: evaluations, policy / programme design, strategic studies, institutional / organisational development, baseline and/or context analysis, stakeholder engagement and relations management, …), after careful examination of expected insights, the data already available, and the intended use of additional data. 

We regularly employ digital survey / data collection tools such as Medallia Survey Platform or Kobo Toolbox. We make extensive use of online surveys as they allow cost-effective contributions from large groups of respondents. We successfully use online surveys with well-designed questions to map respondents’ (and thus stakeholders’) experiences, opinions, level of satisfaction, level of support for a proposal, statement, etc. Likert scale type of responses (often using a range of 1 to 6 ) are typically used to capture respondent’s input on qualitative topics as a basis for quantitative and statistical analysis. We also offer options for more detailed responses, including facultative open answers. We abide by privacy requirements, such as GDPR, while applying Data-User-Centred (DUC) and Respondent-Centred Design (RCD) whenever appropriate. Surveys are deployed and communicated in multiple languages, with a helpdesk contributing to high response rates.

As needed, complementary data collection is conducted by well-instructed enumerators on the field; a survey lead and tested data cleaning processes ensure the quality of our data and the subsequent analysis. Key informant interviews and/or focus group discussions or interactive stakeholder consultations are often used to complement survey results and leverage stakeholders’ collective intelligence towards conclusions and recommendations that are co-created and meaningful. Where relevant we use tools such as Tableau to present and interactively consult / interpret research results for respondent groups, situations, areas, etc.

Recognizing that people’s experiences are shaped by overlapping factors such as gender, age, socio-economic status, ethnicity and race, we adopt an intersectional approach in what we do. In line with the "Leave No One Behind" principle, we assess whether policies or interventions affect or effectively benefit vulnerable and marginalized groups. To do so, we map and engage underrepresented voices, particularly women, youth, marginalized communities, migrant workers etc. We promote inclusive diversity, actively valuing and leveraging differences in identity and background, a well as related perspectives, insights, and talents. In doing so we foster more equitable, relevant, and effective organisations, strategies, and interventions.

We bring targeted expertise in youth policies with a focus on youth employment and participation, and explore how programmes best support young people in accessing sustainable livelihoods and leveraging their full potential in society, including in fragile and conflict-affected situations.

With a focus on contributing to gender-transformative outcomes, we invest in mainstreaming gender perspectives and gender-responsive approaches throughout the work we do, and in the projects and organisations we support. Some examples of gender-specific assignments comprise our evaluation of gender-related strategies in Panama and Benin, and the evaluation and design of 5-year gender policies in Morocco.