One Project, Five Countries, Dozens of Dialects — One Virtual Room
Client Context
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), part of CGIAR, commissioned us to design and deliver a set of virtual inception workshops for the Improved Livestock Production Systems in Zimbabwe (LIPS‑Zim) project.
Around 50 participants were expected, joining from universities, research organisations, NGOs and financial partners across Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Switzerland and France.
The work took place during the COVID‑19 crisis, with participants joining from home, offices and remote field locations with highly variable connectivity.
ILRI’s objectives were clear:
Engage stakeholders across all participating organisations.
Agree collaborative tools and working methods.
Establish next steps to maintain project momentum.
The Challenge
This was a complex, multi‑stakeholder environment. Participants came with different levels of digital access, varying familiarity with virtual collaboration tools, and different working cultures. We needed to create sessions that were engaging, inclusive and productive — despite distance, bandwidth limitations and the constraints of remote delivery.
The challenge was to balance structure with flexibility: enough clarity to bring 50 people together coherently, with enough adaptability to accommodate inconsistent tech and uncertain attendance at the asynchronous pre‑work stage.
Core Question
How do we design and deliver virtual workshops that engage diverse stakeholders, align working methods and create clarity — across five countries, multiple institutions and varying levels of digital access?
Our Approach
We broke the inception process into three digital workshops, each between 90 minutes and two hours. Pre‑work was included for every session to maximise time together, with the design deliberately accounting for the reality that not all participants would complete it.
Working closely with ILRI, we identified the essential content for each session and developed detailed running orders using SessionLab. ILRI owned the presentation content; we designed the visual and collaborative tools using MURAL, ensuring all activities were accessible and easy to navigate.
Session One focused on introductions, connection and agreeing working methods.
Session Two centred on project objectives and forming the working groups.
Session Three invited discussion and input on the project’s logical framework.
Each workshop balanced plenary discussion, short presentations and breakout groups — designed to keep energy high and ensure all voices were heard. During delivery we facilitated the process, managed time, hosted the breakouts and ensured clarity throughout, allowing the ILRI team to focus fully on content and contribution.
How We Worked
Our role was to create process clarity and psychological safety in a highly technical, distributed group. We designed sessions with simple, intuitive steps, supported participants through digital tools and adapted the process quickly as we learned more about participants’ technology constraints.
We worked iteratively between sessions, refining the design each time to better support engagement, flow and technical reliability.
Contribution from Participants
Participants brought openness, expertise and strong commitment to the programme’s aims. Despite joining from multiple countries and sometimes challenging field locations, they engaged actively in discussion, collaborated across institutions and contributed constructively to shared tasks.
Their willingness to learn new tools, adapt to virtual formats and participate fully across cultures and disciplines was central to the success of the sessions.
Key Findings
Early in the process we realised that the group had widely varied access to technology, requiring swift adjustment to the tools and pre‑work approach.
We also observed that forming working groups organically in a large virtual setting was more complex than expected. In future, we would introduce more structure and predefined group formation to streamline the process.
Overall, the iterative approach between sessions allowed us to refine and strengthen the design as the series progressed.
Emerging Impact
The three‑part workshop series successfully met ILRI’s inception objectives. Participants left with:
a shared understanding of the project
clarity on roles, working groups and contributions
agreed collaboration methods
a clear set of next steps
Many remarked on how much progress could be achieved virtually — especially across such a wide geographic and institutional spread. The success of this work led directly to further assignments with ILRI and additional CGIAR‑aligned organisations, including the African Development Bank.
Why LEEWAY
We bring structure, clarity and human‑centred facilitation to complex, multi‑stakeholder environments. Our approach helps global teams think clearly, collaborate effectively and make real progress — even under challenging circumstances. This project is a strong example of how thoughtful digital facilitation can accelerate alignment and momentum in ambitious international research programmes.