Sethu Nguna.
Simulation design & facilitated learning

Complex systems.
Consequential practice.

I design the conditions for people to practise decisions: authority, evidence, constraints and consequences. Then I build the platform or facilitate the experience.

13 projects shown

AidData / William & Mary

AidData Training Hub

Launched / ongoing delivery

A custom learning environment supporting AidData’s international training initiative.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: WordPress-based architecture with bespoke plugins, integrations, storefront functionality and financial processing support.

Delivery: Flagship credentialed course and international cohort delivery.

Explore project & walkthrough ↗
University of KwaZulu-Natal

UKZN Design Sprint

Faculty development & design standards

A five-part faculty development workshop series connecting instructional design principles with practical module development.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Practice cycles drawing on ADDIE, SAM and multimedia learning, within institutional digital learning priorities.

Delivery: Instructional design team leadership, design standards and the inaugural UKZN Instructional Design Expo.

Explore project & resources ↗
University of Zululand

UNIZULU 101

Cross-faculty pilot / remote transition

A core curriculum intervention integrated across four faculties, ten programmes and two campuses.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Curriculum architecture, institutional coordination and delivery support involving 40+ postgraduate assistants.

Delivery: Maintained 75%+ engagement among 1,200+ students during the emergency remote learning transition.

Explore project & delivery examples ↗
SSG / Gates Global Policy Center

Plenum

Exercise delivery & ongoing development

A digital platform operationalizing SSG’s statecraft education simulation methodology.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Multi-role decision workflows, facilitator and White Cell support, adjudication and after-action reconstruction.

Delivery: Supported Fractured Order preparation and delivery, alongside student training in playtesting, facilitation and platform workflows.

Explore Plenum ↗
Independent project · 2026

Sovereign Futures Lab

Presented & facilitated / ISS 2026

A bounded decision-simulation workshop translating development finance research into institutional decision practice.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Role-specific authority, visible evidence and uncertainty, structured decisions, deterministic consequences and facilitated counterfactual review.

Delivery: Presented and facilitated at the ISS African Futures Conference on 14 October 2026.

Explore Sovereign Futures Lab ↗
Data Command — Global Democracy Fellows project visual

Photo: Presidential Precinct · via AidData

AidData / Presidential Precinct · 2026

Data Command — Global Democracy Fellows

Designed & delivered / 3-hour simulation

Research-informed governance practice grounded in AidData’s open-government research.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Conflicting reports and a fixed health-system handover deadline required participants to assess evidence and negotiate commitments.

Delivery: Designed and delivered for the 2026 Global Democracy Fellowship; participants developed a joint public statement.

Read the delivery account ↗
Data Command project visual
AidData / Presidential Precinct

Data Command

Delivered / 2024 & 2025

A role-based decision experience for Mandela Washington Fellows, combining data interpretation, competing priorities and crisis response.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Multi-team roles, time constraints, stakeholder negotiation and changing conditions.

Delivery: Designed and delivered for two Mandela Washington Fellows cohort cycles.

View simulation deck ↗
Development Data Detectives project visual
AidData / Rappler · Manila

Development Data Detectives

Delivered / 2024

A collaborative investigation of development financing patterns, turning datasets into audience-focused visual stories.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Specialist teams, a four-step analysis method, pattern recognition and peer challenge.

Delivery: Delivered in Manila in partnership with Rappler for journalism and civic-tech audiences.

View workshop deck ↗
The Missing Classrooms project visual
AidData / CEJ

The Missing Classrooms

Delivered / 2025

A multi-team digital investigation of fictional education programme mismanagement.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Specialist investigative teams, differentiated information, JSON datasets and a simulated desktop with evidence files and email.

Delivery: Built and delivered as a data journalism investigation experience.

Watch project video ↗
African Mandate & African Mandate RPG project visual
Independent projects

African Mandate & African Mandate RPG

Prototype / continued development

African Union–centered strategy experiences exploring Sahel security, coalition politics, legitimacy and external influence.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: An intelligence-informed model distinguishes observed historical evidence, latent scenario conditions and player knowledge, with explicit data and validation boundaries.

Delivery: Prototype development; not presented as an operational forecasting system.

African Mandate source ↗ RPG source ↗
Beitbridge project visual
Independent policy simulation

Beitbridge

Prototype

A branching trade experience that makes operational barriers to cross-border trade tangible through choices and resource constraints.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Narrative decision points, capital and time depletion, and structured policy insight.

Delivery: Browser-based prototype connected to published AfCFTA commentary.

Play Beitbridge ↗ Read the article ↗
Capital & The Other project visual
William & Mary

Capital & The Other

Playtested / grant awarded

An educational economics board game exploring how identity shapes access to resources and economic opportunity.

Design & delivery evidence

Design: Board-based decisions, identity as a structural variable, emergent outcomes and facilitated debrief.

Delivery: Playtested with W&M students; awarded the 2024–2025 Learn, Discover, Innovate Grant; presented at the 2025 Teaching & Learning Symposium.

View project site ↗ View symposium presentation ↗
The learning logic

Practice the judgment.
Reconstruct the decision.

A simulation becomes a learning intervention when participants can connect what happened with how they reasoned.

I connect actor roles and constraints with evidence, decisions and consequences, then use facilitated review to examine the alternatives. The design makes uncertainty visible and keeps the boundaries of the model explicit.

Read about the approach ↗
Start a conversation

Build the capability.
Make it work in practice.

Learning strategy, institutional systems and decision practice.

sethnguna@gmail.com ↗