Our Portfolio

FLOCERT is the independent Fairtrade Certification body offering Fairtrade certification services to clients in more than 120 countries. The collaboration between FLOCERT and Unity Effect dates back to 2018. Since then, we have continued to support FLOCERT in the areas of teamwork, leadership and organisational development through: 

• the conceptualisation and development of a new service portfolio, implemented via OKR methodology
• consultation to set up a new approach and unit for system-wide innovation and service development
• designing and facilitating a workshop on “giving and receiving feedback” for auditors

Additionally, several employees have joined our Leadership Journey. Working with different units across the years has enabled us to gain an in-depth understanding of FLOCERT’s work, and we are well placed to respond quickly and effectively to arising needs.

We support Helga Brüggemann (Systemische Beratung Düsseldorf) in hosting bi-annual training for senior leaders joining Bosch. Over two days onsite at the Bosch headquarters, we provide background information on the onboarding process from a systemic perspective, facilitate exercises, invite guest speakers, and most importantly: create a space for participants to connect with each other and build peer relationships. 

The training is part of Bosch’s overall hiring and leadership strategy, and we are delighted to work with such an expert on the topic. Helga published her book on onboarding in 2020, which also marked the beginning of our collaboration. The virtual book launch that we hosted together won “Innovator of the Year” award, and was the first opportunity to bring our complementary experiences together. 

The association migration_miteinander was founded in April 2017 by a group of young people united in the goal of forging cooperation between migrants and local populations, and of promoting a Europe based on solidarity and mutual support. 

Unity Effect has supported the organisation through thematic consultancy, including: 

• Improving the onboarding process for new team members (in particular with the shift towards hybrid teamwork).
• Assessing internal meeting structures and processes, as well as general communication, in order to make recommendations and work on underlying challenges. 
• Setting up a structure for employee appraisals and feedback conversations, namely: clarifying their purpose and underlying intention, embedding the structure in the internal capacity development approach, sharing relevant methods, developing customised materials and guidelines, and supporting implementation. 

Golde Ebding, member of the executive board, also joined our Leadership Journey.

Over the years, we have worked with a wide range of organisations sharing a passion for contributing to a better world. Further examples of capacity-building formats we have provided for clients and partners include: 

• Planning and facilitating a two-day retreat for the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC) with 60 participants – reconvening for the first time following the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Co-hosting a workshop on resilience with Students for Future Wuppertal and Germanwatch. 
• Offering a Changemaker Journey for Regional Coordinators of the Bosch Alumni Network – a case study is available here. 
• Hosting a workshop on “Decision-Making in Teams” for the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg as part of a larger start-up event for students and founders. 
• Planning and facilitating internal team and strategy workshops for GIZ – the German Development Cooperation – on their Reducing Inequalities Worldwide global project from 2020 to 2023. 
• Facilitating two internal workshops for Bridge for Billions on the topics of “Working with Questions Instead of Answers” and “Empowering Decision-Making in Teams”. 
• Co-hosting full-day team events for Rock Tech (with 40-55 participants) in 2022 and 2023, together with our partner Helga Brüggemann. 
• Facilitating a team workshop on “Trust and Collaboration” for BOOKBRIDGE. 

In 2022, the Social Entrepreneurship Network Germany (SEND e.V.) received a grant from Google.org to “create new standards for an inclusive social enterprise sector in Germany”. The main pillars of the project are (1) setting up local chapters, (2) initiating and strengthening the Meta Actor Network (MAN), and (3) redistributing funds to organisations that implement support programs for social entrepreneurs from disadvantaged groups. Unity Effect’s role is to evaluate the entire project. Final and public results (in the form of a report) can be expected in early summer 2024.

The approach we apply is highly participatory, drawing on our Impact Garden and other practices from “Regenerative Measurement & Evaluation”. Our shared goal is not only to demonstrate changes, but also to develop the internal evaluation capacities of SEND e.V. and key stakeholders, foster dialogues about key insights, and indicate pathways forward for the sector. As such, the process of evaluating the project empowers actors to create a truly inclusive social entrepreneurial sector.

Unity Effect has been working with the Kofi Annan Foundation since June 2022, both designing and facilitating online and in-person sessions for the Changemakers Initiative, and evaluating the impact of the program. A more in-depth case study on the first year’s evaluation is available here. 

A key intention is rooted in our regenerative approach to measurement and evaluation: empowering participants and deepening the experience of the program. This is why coaching calls with the changemakers and an annual report with key insights and recommendations are at the heart of our collaboration. Working together across the years has enabled us to gain an in-depth understanding of the Kofi Annan Foundation’s work, build trust, and contribute in a meaningful way to the improvement of the Changemakers Initiative. 

FLOCERT and Unity Effect have been collaborating since 2018. One of their key working areas is impact evaluation. Since 2020, key projects and milestones have included: 

• The first year’s impact report with Fairtrade Germany and ALDI Süd, titled “Building Trust. Creating Impact”: Developing the methodology in a multi-stakeholder setting, guiding data collection, and leading on the analysis. 
• The “Landscape Monitoring Framework of the socio-economic dimension” with Max Havelaar Switzerland and the ISEAL Alliance: Developing a methodology, indicator library and framework to measure social change at landscape level, and writing a guidance document to support the implementation of the framework. 
• An internal project to develop a methodology and service description for impact claims. 

As well as bringing in our thematic expertise, we based all projects on the principles of participation and power-sharing. Here, we could draw on our experience in Learning Experience Design to create psychological safety and honest communication among all parties involved. 

In 2021, members of the Bosch Alumni Network initiated a series of workshops to bring representatives from academia and the social impact space together. The intention was to foster science-practitioner collaboration. And how well that worked! 

In our project “Rethinking Impact”, we collaborated with two researchers from the University of Delaware and Radboud University and a project leader from SINGA Deutschland. Jointly, we developed a methodology and assessed how social entrepreneurs perceive impact evaluation, and where leverage points are, in order to rethink impact evaluation to become more meaningful and relevant. 

To do so, we had the chance to engage with participants from SINGA’s project Shaping Inclusive Societies. Being together in person with the participants, we conducted focus group discussions, facilitated a workshop, and collected further data through surveys. 

At the start of 2023, around 40 participants joined our Purpose Journey: a six-week deep-dive into personal purpose and values, reconnecting with inspiration and finding clarity for the path ahead. 

To understand the impact of the Journey, we conducted a systematic evaluation based on our regenerative approach. You can read further details and insights in our blog article: “Leading change from the inside out: Evaluating the impact of our Purpose Journey”. 

A key takeaway was that, through our approach to and methodology for measuring inner capacity development, we were able to give language and words to the shifts that many could experience throughout the program, such as a deeper connection to oneself. Furthermore, we were able to show that these inner shifts significantly contributed to decisions and actions. 

All too often, creating impact is not about doing more, but doing things differently.