Welcome to Broadleaf

 

We bring insights and curiosity through our planning, facilitation, training and evaluation services. We support activities and processes that are effective, inclusive and sustainable, with well-founded plans, meaningful evaluation and learning frameworks, and relationships with partners and networks that enhance outcomes.

We are results-driven and have a clear understanding of the challenges facing organizations working within a context of uncertainty. Founded on principles of sustainability not as a practice of asceticism, but rather as a means of improving livelihoods and supporting a rich cultural and environmental legacy, Broadleaf values innovation and local capacity.

 

Planning 



orient to vision & unleash potential


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Training



build capacity & energize solutions


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Evaluation



reflect, learn & innovate


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Facilitation



flow with your own dynamics


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About Broadleaf


Our First Commitment is to Help Clients Thrive


 


/ˈbrôdˌlēf/ 

Broad structure tailored to natural patterns, often a facilitator in new or changed environments, preparing the ground for a complex environment to exist.


 


We work with government, public agencies, crown corporations, foundations, not-for-profits and community-based organizations. We work primarily in health and system transformation, including primary care, community care and services, mental health and substance use, specialized services to meet the needs of vulnerable populations, interprofessional collaboration, networks and partnerships, investment alignment and climate adaptation.

Our products include evaluation frameworks and strategies, evaluation reports, terms of reference for governance structures, capacity building workshops, training materials, business plans, strategic plans, roadmaps for investment, and operational plans and budgets.

  • “Thorough understanding of our organization’s needs, timely responses, effective communication, excellent support and resource sharing.” -Client
  • “Attention to detail, ability to build trusting relationships, knowledge of local context and history - these are just some of the strengths [of Broadleaf]. [I appreciate t]he clarity of writing & effective communication in all the evaluation products to date as well as the ability to condense findings to serve different user groups/target audiences. Sarah also excels at presentations of material both in person and over videoconference... Sarah worked to generate a report with clear, actionable findings to help advance the work.” Andrew Leyland, Senior Analyst, Doctors of BC
  • Sarah was delightful to work with. The ideas and insights she brought were creative, innovative, and very pertinent to our goals and needs. Sarah was always very prompt in responding to us, and was highly collaborative in all aspects of our work together. She was very professional, patient and flexible in her role. Sarah not only brought a wealth of expertise and skill to our work together, but she is also a very warm, kind, and considerate individual. -Client
  • Sarah's ability to hear our story, pull together all of the qualitative and quantitative data and compose a report that is clear, accurate and can inform future learnings and activities. She was also able to articulate some of the issues that were highly political, with sensitivity and political astuteness. -Client
  • I had a great experience with Broadleaf, who was always open to rapid iteration based on feedback. Isabel Cascante, Program Director, Evergreen
  • “Broadleaf was amazingly responsive to our needs as a small funder of non-profits around the province.” -Jennifer Alsop, Evaluation Analyst, Community Action Initiative
  • “Responsive to my organization and the program needs and delivers quality projects.” -Jennifer May, Program Manager, Community, Partnership & Quality, Doctors of BC
  • “Very open and collaborative…anchors work solidly to meet the objectives.” -Katie Hill, Director, Shared Care Committee, Doctors of BC
  • “Knowledge of evaluation planning is really good. Honest, transparent approach and style. Good facilitator.” -Leanne Sexsmith    
  • “Excellent knowledge of evaluation, helpful strategic suggestions, excellent evaluation report, responsive to requests.” -Liza Kallstrom, Manager, Government Relations and Policy, BC Chiropractic Association
  • “Creative, flexible, organized, responsive and knowledgeable.” -Melanie Conn, Threadworks Project Team member, Threadworks
  • "[Sarah was] professional, helpful and [provided a] quality product. I value her ability to work together, add value to my own expertise and help us find new ways to look at data. I would definitely recommend Sarah and hope to work together again!" -Michelle Laurie, Lead Facilitator, Trail Area Health & Environment Committee
  • "Sarah's ability to help us create a framework and make sense of the often "messy" health system redesign work we deal with." -Susan Papadionissiou, Executive Director, Sunshine Coast Division of Family Practice
  • “Very personable, great communication and easy to work with. Very responsive to requests and flexible approach.” -Tracy Miyashita, Project Manager, Ridge Meadows Division of Family Practice
sarah farina picture

Founder & Principal

Sarah Farina, MA, MCIP, RPP, CE, is the creative force behind Broadleaf Consulting, catalyzing transformative change in planning, governance, and evaluation. With a Master's degree in Planning and as a Credentialed Evaluator and Registered Professional Planner, she is committed to inclusive and authentic approaches to build resilient communities and systems. As an empathetic leader and adept facilitator, Sarah empowers nonprofits, government entities, and funders to turn aspirations into reality. Her influence extends beyond borders, as chair of the Task Force supporting a UN Resolution on Evaluation co-sponsored by 24 member states and she has contributed to the evolution of the field through key leadership roles as President of the Canadian Evaluation Society, and Treasurer for the International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation and EvalPartners.

Speaking

Selected Speaking

1Accelerating progress towards the SDGs: How VNRs and evaluation can help
Side event to the UN High Level Political Forum, New York, 2023
2Working with Senior Leaders to Move the Agenda; Facilitation for Evaluators
Conference, presentation, Canadian Evaluation Society conference, Quebec, 2023
3Evidence Matters: Towards a Renewed Global Evaluation Agenda
Eval Café, Western Michigan University, virtual presentation, Michigan, October 2021
4Use of Evidence from Monitoring and Evaluation Systems for Decision Making
International Evaluation Conference 2021: “The use of evaluation for decision making”, National Academy of Evaluators of Mexico (ACEVAL), virtual panel, Mexico, March 2021
5Engaging Evaluation; A Facilitative Approach to Inquiry & Inclusion
Evaluation Toolbox 2.0; Innovation, Inspiration, Insight, CESBC Conference, presentation, Vancouver 2020
6Global Evaluation Professionalization
Paths to the Future of Evaluation: Contribution, Leadership, Renewal, American Evaluation Association Conference, panel, Minneapolis, 2019
7Decoding Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning to Support Organizational Effectiveness
Associations Decoded; Clarify, Resolve, Achieve, Canadian Society of Association Executives, presentation, Vancouver 2019 (with Dr. Marla Steinberg)
8Why Evaluation Matters
2019 City of Richmond Diversity Symposium, panel, Richmond 2019
9The Role of Evaluation in Multi-Actor Systems Change Initiatives
Evaluation for Transformational Change; Third International Conference on Evaluating Environment and Development, International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS), Prague, Czech Republic 2019

Selected Workshops & Seminars

1Collaborative Approaches to Research and Innovation in Evaluation
Part of the Thai Fiscal Policy Research Institute Foundation seminar series on the development of a national research and innovation evaluation framework
2Evaluation Bootcamp
For staff of health care partnership
3Stories of Change in Action
For health care organizations
4Measuring Collaboration
For evaluators

 

Past presentations in Canada and internationally include topics such as using evaluations for project managers, evaluation budgeting, digital platforms for collecting patient experience and quality improvement data, building a culture of transparency, managing evaluation of complex interventions, evaluation and implementation science and knowledge translation, informality and evaluation in community-based organizations, participatory data analysis, stakeholder engagement, evaluating collaboration, and evaluation planning.

  • “Sarah was excellent at simplifying complex concepts and making the material accessible to everyone in the room regardless of their evaluation experience.”  
  • “Sarah was lovely and engaging and presented information in a way that was easy to absorb.”
  • “She kept everyone engaged.”
  • “She was knowledgeable of the material; her communication was concise. I felt at ease and learned a few tips from the evaluator's perspective.”  
  • “Great facilitating skills and time management.”
  • “She was very pleasant, personable, informed on our need for this data, and a Subject Matter Expert on evaluations.”
  • “Sarah was a wonderful facilitator and kept the group engaged.”
  • “This safe open and authentic dialogue, that creation of a place where people feel confidence in sharing truths, this is so important.”  
  • “Sarah Farina was excellent. She kept us on track in a engaging way.”
  • "The workshop was great. I really liked how the instructor explained things very simply and with humour!"
  • “As always, great facilitation. I know some of the conversations are tough…”
  • “As always, great facilitation. I know some of the conversations are tough…”
  • “[I Liked best] the level of engagement between Sarah as facilitator and audience.
  • "Sarah was excellent at simplifying complex concepts and making the material accessible to everyone in the room regardless of their evaluation experience."
  • “Sarah was a very effective facilitator.”
  • 'Activities were relevant and engaging as well as having direct applicability to work."
  • "Great presenter on a difficult concept and topic."
  • "I liked the presentation itself and that it was designed to engage people in the conversation. The presenter is clearly well-versed!"
  • “Sarah did a WONDERFUL job at changing things on the fly and allowing lots of time for conversation and networking. She allowed us to converse about whatever came up event if it was somewhat off topic and didn’t get flustered.”
  • "I liked how the presenter tried to integrate discussion throughout the presentation."
  • "Sarah had such a wide range of experiences to share and was able to pull out relevant examples in response to audience questions. She also made the work seem doable for multiple contexts."

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