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Final Report Sexual Violence in Schools in South Africa (SeViSSA) - A Reflection and Learning Event 1
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Page 1: Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund - Nelson Mandela …€¦ · Web viewThe SeViSSA project is an intervention aimed at tackling the drivers of sexual violence against girls in South African

Final Report

Sexual Violence in Schools in South Africa (SeViSSA) - A Reflection and Learning Event 

4-7 March, 2018, Johannesburg

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Introduction

The SeViSSA project is an intervention aimed at tackling the drivers of sexual violence against girls in South African schools. The project is funded by Comic Relief and implemented by the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and its partners across four provinces, namely Western Cape, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Limpopo. During the last three years that the five-year project has been under implementation to date, NMCF’s partners have reported a reduction of violence as a result of their interventions.

However, eliciting verifiable and concrete evidence from the implementing partners has so far proved a challenge for NMCF. This is despite implementation of the reported activities and budget expenditure.

A facilitated learning and reflection event was convened from 4-7 March 2018, for all implementing partners to surface the outcomes, changes and impact from the project.

Intervention objectives

Facilitate a process of reflection and learning for SeViSSA partners in order to draw out concrete evidence and the impact of the programme.

Facilitate sharing and peer review of the specific project intervention strategies developed and employed by each partner, that is the practical procedures and methods, and the outcomes thereof. This will help in developing evidence-based and replicable strategies for SeViSSA and duly acknowledge the respective partners as well as ‘patent’ their methods.

Stakeholder analysis in order to identify influential and supportive anchors for systemic change within the different systems the partners are working from.

Facilitating a space to surface the partners’ perceptions to the multiple possibilities and ways of understanding and practicing monitoring, evaluation and reporting as a way of growing and learning constantly.

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Allowing participants to discover their own energy and meaning in learning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, and give them the confidence and space to discover that they can take charge of and responsibility for defining and shaping reflective learning practices that serve their needs and nurture their own development and growth.

Methodology

The workshop used an appreciative inquiry and it was framed as a joint learning process to identify, share and validate the experiences and evidence from the partners’ projects. The workshop methodology comprised a range of facilitator-led discussions in plenary and in small groups; writing/journaling; peer reflection/peer coaching; experiential exercises and reflection; right-brain/creative exercises; checking in and out of the day; debriefings; and presentations from participants in plenary. The experiences and perspectives of the participants were incorporated in the discussions.

Aim of the ReportThe report is meant to capture the creative nature, energy and mood of the event with the hope of inspiring the participants further by recording some of the key strands of the conversations and energies that were generated during this period.

The report also aims to highlight the key questions raised, the core insights gained, and further thoughts of the participants on the way forward. It is hoped that participants can share the conversations and emerging insights with their respective organisations and carry some of the thinking and inspiration on reflective learning and development into other spaces. This way, the inspiration, energy and creativity that was generated at the event is meant to live on and inform an enduring learning practice in the partnership of SeViSSA.

Interactive Format of the ReportThis is an interactive report format. Participants are urged to add their thoughts, reflections and comments and share their understanding of what came out of the event. Please send your comments to [email protected] so that we can incorporate your thoughts and highlights for future debate and development.

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Overview of Proceedings

Day 1: Seeing what is…

Session 1: Entry session - Getting into flow

Overview: Welcome, introductions, intentions and programme, social contract

Intentions: Familiarise participants with the intentions, ways of working and the envisioned process for the 3 days, get to know one another,

agree to ways of working/social contract and commit to quality attention and joint care for process Anchoring the process Finding and holding the energy

Official welcome by Mampe on behalf of NMCF Since SeViSSA started, this is first Learning and Reflection event. Key areas that need to be addressed are the reporting elements and demonstrating evidence of impact of the amazing work being done.

Facilitators introduce themselves. Overview of methods and facilitation as container:o Seamless co-creation/co-facilitationo Various streams of conversationso Free writing/journalingo Peer reflection/peer coachingo Experiential exercises and joint reflectionso Right brain/creative exercises

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o Check in and check out daily

Introductions (each person introduce themselves and their organization, province) and check-inParticipants checked in in with the overall feeling that is in their body, mind or spirit at that moment.

Intention and processParticipants were asked to write themselves a welcome note to the workshop, comprising 3 sentences. They were also asked to set their own intentions for the workshop, thus at the end of the 3 days, if this workshop has been a success and worth my time x, y and z should have happened for me.

Overview of the intentions shared by participants…o To learn new ideas, skills, and tools from others and share stories and experiences;o To participate fully, be energetic, cooperative, have fun and a positive attitude;o Learn what others are doing and be inspired;o To engage, ask questions, give feedback, listen and reflect;o To assess if on right track, identify ways to improve or grow the work and fill gaps;o To see how to take back and implement new knowledge;o To process, unpack and learn lessons from the work;o To improve on report-writing (tell the stories of impact);o To be able to single out a SeViSSA child from the rest;o To explore different issues and context of different coalitions and also best practices;o To explore good communication with each other and share different strategies;o To feel confident in the work that is being done;o To learn about self-care strategies (emotional wellbeing) from others;o Identify a way forward beyond SeViSSA;o To celebrate all the work and acknowledge the knowledge and experiences;o To treat each other with respect;o Improve ways of working and enable achieving of results;o To move from activity to impact in reporting (change made is missing);

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The following Social contract (agreement on ways of working) was agreed with the participants; o Trust allowance, emergent processo One meeting, one forum (speak through the facilitator)o Take responsibility for co-creationo Principle of 50:50 – give and takeo Take responsibility or personal care and comforto Embrace diversity – different ways of looking and seeo Time management – use time efficientlyo Being respectfulo Ease up and have fun and colour in processo Phone on silent/vibration (answer responsibly and respectfully)

Each day participants volunteered for roles as process facilitators, time keepers and energizers. Sharing of these roles between the lead facilitators and participants helped (i) to maintain a tight energy container for the workshop, and (ii) to underscore the joint responsibility for a successful event.

Session 2: Understanding the context of the work

Overview: To provide some insight into the beneficiaries that SeViSSA work with and also key issues emerging from the context

Intentions: To build a common understanding of the SeViSSA woman or child; To highlight key challenges or questions emerging from the work to date;

Empathy Map as entry point to understand context and issues of the beneficiariesPartners were asked to unpack what they considered would be what a SeViSSA child or non-SeViSSA child would think, say, feel or do. They also had to do this for a SeViSSA woman and non-SeViSSA woman.

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A SeViSSA woman:

Thinks: I have power over the situation of abuse Better understanding of what is happening There is hope for the future I can take initiative

Says: I am empowered because of the training, I know my

rights I am a leader My voice will be heard My children must learn lifeskills

Feels: Worthy, as if she belongs, confident and she can take

control

Does: She stops abusing alcohol She takes practical steps to implement the program Reports abuse Participates in leadership development She takes action

A SeViSSA child:

Thinks: I can do things. Has a changed mindset

Says: I will speak out and report abuse Empower others Shares info

Feels: Appreciated, valued, acknowledged, confident, safe.

Does: Take up issues at school Perform better at school Make better choices Respects other girls Is a leader at school and other activities

A Non-SeViSSA child

Thinks:

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Its ok to sleep with a sugar daddy to get money for toiletries My parents don’t support me I can do what I want I don’t know what to do I am bad, I deserve what is happening to me, it is my fault This relationship is not good (does not know its an abusive relationship)

Says: I am on my own Its better to drop out of school I am doing things my way They say I have rights but I don’t know how to get them

Feels: Lonely, scared, abandoned, disempowered, alone

Doing: She leaves school She joins a gang Falls pregnant Take anything coming her way

Discussion about the context of the work and issues emerging following the empathy map exercise

Partners indicated that the exercise was useful in starting to consider what might be different about the women and children that the programme comes into contact with and what are other issues that the work has surfaced over the course of the programme implementation in the various provinces. Below are some key categories of issues that emerged from the conversation:

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The environmento The individual cannot be separated from the environment, system or context they exist in. Whilst it is useful to look

and understand the users’ thoughts, feelings, emotions, actions and even motivations, the reality is that that simply working with them and not doing anything about the environment is irresponsible.

o The empowerment that happens for women and girls are important and necessary and part of the empowerment framework. This framework focuses on their power within, however, once these women and girls have been empowered with knowledge about their rights, in some contexts there is not the requisite services for them to access to realize these rights.

o The current reality in South Africa is that the criminal justice system is overstretched and unable to deal with current volume of abuse cases. There is also a feeling that the policies and stakeholders working in this area is somewhat stagnant (fatigued) by the persistence of violence.

o It highlights a gap between the gains of SeViSSA versus the law/policy arena.

Issues of sustainability….o There is a sense that the programme is now starting to see changes within the context as a result of the interventions,

and a feeling of satisfaction with the outcomes of SeViSSA.

o A key issue is what would happen beyond the funding of NMCF or Comic Relief.

o It is important to acknowledge the various resources that are available and make some critical decisions of what is possible to do given the lessons learnt thus far.

o On another level, issues of sustainability have to also be taken into account in the strategy. Here the empowerment framework is important so that the SeViSSA beneficiaries themselves are given voice, visibility and capacity to start speaking out and addressing issues beyond the organisations that are currently doing the work.

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Now that the SeViSSA programme is at this point, so what?

o Partners are still learning about the beneficiaries. The issues that impact them, the victim/perpetrator dynamic, the dynamics of poverty and power etc.

o Partners may need to share the models and stories;

o Partners may need popularise the empowerment framework and how it has worked or not worked in the SeViSSA context;

o Partners may need to do better at showing the impact of the work so that others could take on some aspects in their existing strategies;

What is missing?o Critical consideration of the sustainability challenges, how are the beneficiaries involved in strategy and priority

identification?

o Balancing the rights and responsibility aspect in the delivery of the interventions.

Implementation Challenges……..

o The context of work on sexual and gender-based violence seems to be driven by events rather than strategy. This often is fragmented and sometimes organisations allow it because they may consider the possibilities of developing longer term relationships with government and other key stakeholders. Also makes it difficult to hold these stakeholders accountable.

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o SeViSSA has opened up hope and space and the response from the communities are overwhelming and it puts pressure on the organisations who are not always able to respond or follow up every single case.

o There seem to be exploitation and abuse of SeViSSA partners by some government departments that rush to showcase partners’ work on important occasions and gain mileage out of it yet they do not render any meaningful support towards such work. This is also part of the rhetoric that is at play.

o Too many hands in the cockpit: government, private sector, civil society and religious groups.

o There is a challenge in building effective relationships, and ample room for sharing of strategies among partners.

Emotional impact of the SeViSSA work

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o Most of the organisations indicated that there is a need for regular debriefing, but this is not budgeted for currently;

o A key emerging question for the programme to engage is, “who cares for the carers?”

Session 3: Portraying the SeViSSA projects

Overview: To provide an overview of the different organizational interventions in relation to SeViSSA

Intentions: To build the collective picture of the different interventions and how they contribute to the SeViSSA outcomes To surface emerging lessons from implementation by different partners;

Organisations were asked to answer the following and present it to the whole group:

Name of organization What are they doing in SeViSSA (What is the model or theory of change) What have they learnt thus far? What else is there still to learn? What have they been really good at? What are they grappling with? What would they do differently and why?

Below is an overview of the presentations from the different provinces

Gauteng Coalition

Afrika Tikkun Childline Education with Enterprise Trust (EWET)

SAYPro

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Focus: Fighting against sexual violence in schools

Model: Using different methods to capacitate youth to say no to GBV and advocate for their rights.AV Buddies/ClubsLesson Plans and CAPSChild Protection ProjectNational School Safety FrameworkTree of LifeDiversity and Human RightsLeadership skillsDeveloping young people from cradle to careerSay no to GBVStrengthening working relationships among coalition members

What have we learnt?Our interventions work best when led by young people themselves.

Want to learn how to sustain program beyond funding.

What have we been good

Focus: Providing psycho-social support for abused children and strengthening families

Model: Provide therapeutic sessions that are child centered and empower parents with skills and knowledge.

Empowered with information that will help them make informed decision and help them heal from traumatic experiences and provide good support and be role models to other children. l

One on one sessionTherapeutic groupsParenting Groups

What have we learnt?We need to work more with parents because if they lack knowledge and skills this affects their children (we depend on them to accompany and believe in the program)

Focus: Providing entrepreneurship education to educators and learners

Model: Participation in coalition with SAYPRO. A standard base for purpose of M&E reporting. Interlinked and shared activities. Institution capacity by partners.

What have we learnt and we are good at?Good at facilitating for provision of entrepreneurial education (EE) – learners starting own businesses and practically manage them. We do teacher training on EE, learner leadership training and good at formation and nurturing of learning partnerships for purposes of facilitating EE. Establishment of stakeholder collaboration and meeting forum.

What are we grappling with?As we scale up, we grapple with partner facilitating the EE program and implementation

Focus: Poverty2Jobs by changing the way young people think about themselves. (Partner with EWET)

Model: Providing entrepreneurship education in 3 schools.

What have we learnt?How to deliver the EE programHow to sustain relationships with beneficiariesThe importance of nurturing and supporting learners and engaging parents.

What have we been good at?We are good at facilitating and guiding YES clubs – engaging learners in practical and focused programs. Providing educational support.

What are we grappling with?Efficient communication and delivering on the action plan and decision-making.

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at?Building and strengthening relationship with other stakeholders such as parents, health facilities, SGBs, religious communities, schools, local municipalities.

What are we grappling with?Involving families and the communities.

What would we do differently?Developing interventions that will enable us to strengthen our relationships with parents and other community stakeholders, including gatekeepers.

What have we been good at?For the children who have been to sessions, parents come back to us and thank us for what we have done.

What are we grappling with?Finances, we can’t help everybody and sometimes transport costs prevent people from coming for help.

What would we do differently?Provide therapy from schools because it is cheaper and you can attend to many children from one school

as per activity plan.

What would we do differently?Further develop capacity to take over the management of the programs on the ground until the partner is fully versed in implementation processes. Also to involve parents and SG in facilitating skills development of the learners.

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Western Cape Coalition

Women on Farms Project FASFacts Goedgedacht FarmFocus: Reducing historical social injustices and inequalities in rural communities

Model: Empower and build capacity to claim rights and advocate to access services

Life skills (math classes, career guidance, book clubs, financial support)Rights and Access to Services (radio program, action plans, community dialogues, educational drama)Psychosocial wellbeing camps, support groups, referrals)

What have we learnt?Review and revive strategicImportance of community participationDocument and analyseBuild safety and participationIntegrate women in other groupsMEL effectively

What have we been good at?Being flexibleBuilding agencyTaking a systems approach.

Focus: Tackling Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Model: Building awareness and empowering communities, prevention and providing support to pregnant women.

BOB program (Experiential learning and responsibility)Mentorship Program (providing support to pregnant women)Parenting skills (coping mechanisms and getting young mothers to complete school)Training of TrainersAdopt a CopCP and CD (better education, better future)

What have we learnt?Communities are in need of support and safe spaces. Collaboration with other NGOs in making a difference.The importance of creating more awareness of FAS

Want to learn advocacy and community dialogues.

Focus: Path out of PovertyTransforming rural communities (sustainability and self-development)

Model: Life skills and Chicken tractor

What have we learnt?That we need to be more focused – the small will have an enormous ripple effect.Capturing every momentWays of communicating with participants so that they can open up more with communityUnderstanding and working with the budgetFocus more on planningWorking on stakeholder relationships

What have we been good at?Communicating with the communities and building relationships.

What are we grappling with?Seasonal times – struggling to get participants to workshops.

What would we do differently?Focusing more on working in schools –

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What are we grappling with?Resources

What have we been good at?Building relationships with mentors and cops and the impact on our success. Community involvement means people go beyond what the program can do (mentors). Collaborate with other partners. Linking schools with mentors.

What are we grappling with?To capture positive stories, reporting and debriefing (teambuilding)

What would we do differently?Target more communities and run parenting course in more schools. Work with parentsUnderstanding better why girls get pregnant Measure impact from early onGenerating income activities for mentors and pregnant women.

so many different issues affecting children’s lives.

Eastern Cape Coalition

Khula Community Development Project UMTAPO CentreWorking with 80% girls and 20% boys. 22 schools in 9 villages.Focusing on quality teaching and learning (section 29 of the constitution). Right to education.

Key areas:Access to social securityAccess to education (scholar transport)

Model: Conscientisation, popular education, empowerment, mobilisationLeadership camps (learners, women in community, Ubuntu community farm)Community dialoguesIntergenerational dialogues (men)Women seminars

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Profiling families to do audit and design intervention plan. Training on positive parentingIdentity child headed households to offer support

Balancing access to justiceLegal clinicsChild rights representationsReading materialConsolidation of policiesHolding those in position of power accountable through litigation (et scholar transport, school infrastructure, issues on grants, issues of id documents or birth certificates, child friendly colours)

Also issues of forced marriages and trafficking in Eastern Cape.

Community roadshows or campaignsStakeholder forumsSports tournaments

What have we learnt?Entry point – tribalThe importance of site visitsUse of media

Want to learn ways of updating ourselves and using the right tools for reporting.

What have we been good at?Community mobilizationDocumentationFormation of forums

What are we grappling with?Bridging the gap between service provider and forums

Limpopo Coalition

Far North Community Care and Development MOLTENOModel: Economic strengthening and psycho social support

Achievements:Women taking initiatives Children’s basic needs are metGBV cases are identifiedGood working relationships with stakeholders (referrals)Self esteemCooperatives established

Model: Capacitate the teachers, SMT, principal to deal with the school curriculum

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Most achieved:Establishment of support groupsWorking relationships with the women organisationsSupporting the cooperativesWorking relationship with school

Challenges:Women organisations collapsedLack of support from relevant service providersTracking children who receive SeViSSA program in secondary schools

Do differently:Involvement of men in the initial stages (cultural aspects)Stakeholders involvement (clear picture and teachers) Learnt?

A victimized learner needs support to continue school effectivelyTracking SeViSSA learners.

Done well?Teacher equipping

Grappling with and could do differently?Reporting

Synthesis It is important to build and support young people to lead interventions. This is more sustainable and also has greater odds of

succeeding as young people are able to reach out to other young people in their context. Individual interventions are necessary as part of the continuum of social change, however, organisations have to take care to

build self-reliance so that they do not become dependent on the organisations delivering the interventions. Sustainability is a constant issue and concern for all the organisations working in SeViSSA. These are at the level of

financial, but beyond it as well.

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It is important to engage a spectrum of other actors such as parents, cops, church, teachers, media and traditional authorities as this creates a conducive environment for the ultimate outcomes envisaged by SeViSSA.

Legal and advocacy approaches are necessary to support the work of building the individual. Once people are aware of their rights, they may need advocacy support in claiming such rights.

The importance of flexibility and adaptiveness when doing these kinds of interventions means that the interventions will always be shaped and responsive to what is needed in a particular context.

Organisations have to systematically collaborate with one another as one organization alone cannot address the deluge of issues that contribute to gender and sexual violence.

Day 2: Going Deeper …

Session 1: The Relationship between NMCF and the SeViSSA Partners

Overview: An exploration of the key issues or dynamics at play between partner organisations and NMCF

Intentions: To surface the experiences of the partner organisations in their relationship with NMCF To highlight aspects that are working and that could be improved Anchoring the relationship in the spirit of learning and reflection

Participants were asked to answer 3 questions: What is working? What is not working? What could be done differently? Each person had to write down their responses to these questions anonymously and the responses were then aggregated on a wall. Following this, representatives nominated by the participants synthesized all the individual responses and presented them to NMCF.

Below are the key points as extracted from the synthesis:

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What’s working What’s not working What could be done differentlyCapacity building and support

Training Field visits Financial support and

guidance Guiding coalitions to

reach their goals Learning and sharing

space Good communication Coalition strategy Acknowledge Mampe’s

contribution

Communication Short notice and not clear Sometimes harsh and intimidating Control how program should run

Process on how SeViSSA started had a negative impact on organization

Baseline was done in the middle of implementation MEL and TOC was also communicated in middle of

implementation. Lot of consultants were used and this created

confusion

Relationships are based on “fear” not respect Anxiety whenever there is going to be a meeting

with NMCF One size fits all documents, i.e. questionnaires not

customized for our areas/learners

Lack of field visits and not attending coalition matters immediately

Lack of appreciation for effort Unplanned work activities not budgeted for make it

difficult for organization, i.e. travel

Documentation tools to be introduced

Partners should be trained on these tools.

Give feedback on activity executed and reports

Clear and open communication and instructions.

Communication plans on time to afford partners to plan.

Documents should be simplified.

Coalition reports should be shared amongst others for learning purposes.

All the above issues were acknowledged by NMCF with an undertaking to follow them up with email communication.

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Session 2: Reflection on dynamics within the different coalitions

Overview: To get participants to explore the different dynamics within each of the provincial coalitions

Intentions: Provincial coalition members share what their experiences are in working with one another To provide a space to share best practices between the provincial coalitions To reinforce the spirit of learning and reflection beyond implementation to include ways of working

Below is an overview of key issues highlighted by the different coalitions:

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Session 3: Social Change Dashboards

Limpopo Coalition

Working wellOur coalition meetings

Project Manager plays her role wellFunding

Integration of basket of services for coalition

partnersNot working well

Keeping time frames (reporting)

Distance for meetingsQuarterly meetings for

coalitionFollow ups

Do differentlyWe need to involve each

other in our activities

Eastern Cape Coalition

Working wellSupport systems

GrowthVariety of services

Our work compliments each other

What is not working well?Meeting deadlines

What could be done differently?

Have meetings more frequently

Western Cape Coalition

Working wellCoalition meetings,

communication, lead organisation, assistance,

reporting format.Not working well

Long distances, different focus points (approaches)

Chaning of documents, complicates workSkills, capacity and

understandingStaff changes

Collaboration (has improved)

Do differentlyTo create openness and safe

spacesContent of coalitions' program of activities

Integration - filling gapsRelationship (sustainable)

Gauteng Coalition

Working wellCollaboration

Improving communication and teambuilding (good

relationships) - awareness of SeViSSA

Implementation of advocacy and M&E improving

Stakeholder involvment improvement

Not workingParental involvement and

other stakeholdersStruggling to tell stories

betterIntegrating and adapting of reports and case studies not

working wellBudget constraints affect

support and relationship as partners

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Overview: To provide an overview of the provincial SeVISSA strategy

Intentions: To build a pictoral overview of the strategies for SeVISSA at the provincial level To reflect on the articulation of strategy by partners vs what is written (consistency)

Each organisation was asked to complete their social change dashboard. See annexure for completed social change dashboard. Following this exercise, they were asked to present the overview of the provincial coalition’s intervention. Below is a synthesis of the different presentations. From the presentations and assessment at a provincial, the following emerged:

Area Western Cape Gauteng Eastern Cape LimpopoFocus of work Farming communities Working with youth in

Diepsloot and other townships?

Working in Pedi Working in two villages (and schools in those villages)

Approaches Helping groups to make informed choices and build self-esteem, promoting self-reliance, capacity building, empowerment and awareness of gender-based violence

Empowering youth with skills and knowledge to make informed decisions, promoting financial independence and mental wellbeing as contributors to reducing gender based violence

Interventions to assist girls to report incidents of sexual violence and supporting empowerment and activism of different members of community around sexual and gender based violence

Supporting education system (educators, school management and curriculum support) and community engagement and empowerment

Interventions Educational support (aftercare, career planning)

Life skills and psychosocial support

Supporting women and girls leading local

Entrepreneurial education

Educational support Leadership camps and

skills Anti-violence buddies Awareness and

Leadership camps Community school –

peace clubs Community dialogues Awareness

campaigns Stakeholder forums

Curriculum support Training of

educators and SGBs

Work to create positive environment for

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initiatives Awareness and

prevention activities (including campaigns, community dialogues)

prevention activities Teacher training and

curriculum support Competitions YES Clubs

Intergenerational dialogues

Assistance to victims of violence

Advocacy interventions

learners Leadership camps Self help groups Community

dialogues (including intergenerational)

Engagement with service providers

Session 4: Free writing/drawing/meditation

Intentions: To explore participants’ associations with learning, monitoring and evaluation and reporting and link it to their work on the

SeViSSA programme To get participants in touch with their own associations and experiences of reporting, evidence and impact

and create a tapestry of images/expressions on learning, monitoring, evaluation in the group

For 5 minutes, and using journals, participants were asked to freely write/draw and think on what comes to their minds when they hear about: impact, evidence and reporting. They were encouraged to journal, meditate and draw without limiting or censoring whatever came to their minds. Thereafter, the participants paired up to share with the next person and consciously notice what drew their attention from their peer’s sharing, and what caught the attention of their peers from their own sharing.

Following the individual reflections and free write/draw/meditation, volunteers were invited their reflections in plenary as well as highlight what had struck them from what their peers had shared with them. The plenary debriefing focused on: what has struck you? What collective picture emerges from our experiences, views and reflections? What is impact/evidence and reporting all about for us? Finding and grappling with our own definitions What do we all learn from the exercise, from the reflections and sharing and what does this mean for us in the context of SeViSSA and our everyday work, our conceptions of social change and impact, reporting and evidence?

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Following the journaling, reflection and sharing exercise, participants felt connected to their own impressions and experiences of monitoring, evaluation, reporting, evidence, impact and learning.

They began to develop a sense of shared facets and patterns in how learning, reporting and evidence are experienced in the programme.

Reporting is the process of communicating what has taken place, and the opportunity to share successes, challenges, and what the lessons are for future plans. Reporting can be written, audio, visual as it accounts for programme implementation.

Evidence are verifiable results, tangible proof that show that the change has taken place. These include stories, data and pictures.

Impact refers to the quality of change, how to measure it. It can sometimes be intended or unintended impact. Assessing impact allows organisations to assess whether they are on right track or whether they need to change their focus or continue.

In the conversation what emerged particularly was reflecting who reporting is for? Is reporting for donors or is it for the beneficiaries?

Very often when thinking about impact or report, organisations forget that they are accountable to the context or the groups they work with as they are so focused on fulfilling donor needs for evidence.

Conclusion - partners are learning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting all the time anyways, though not always conscious of it. Monitoring and evaluation is about learning and improving but we often think/sense it is about proving (that I am good at this, that I am not stealing money, that what I do has impact, that I am worthy).

Therefore, in the context of SeViSSA participants were encouraged to not try too hard or imagine something too sophisticated when it comes to learning, or seek and provide evidence for the impact of their work.

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Day 3: Consolidating …

Session 1: Conceptions of Social Change

Overview: Explore the partners’ existing conceptions and ways of understanding social change as a foundation for thinking about the

strategic entry point and types of change impacts they aim to achieve through SeViSSA

Intentions: To introduce some of the conceptions of social change To develop an understanding of how social change works To grapple with some of the complexities of social change interventions Learning the seeing and reading of impact from multiple angles and perspectives

The session started with a short input on conceptions of social change and a brainstorming on participants’ conceptions and assumptions about social change.

Various streams of conversations were generated by participants from the first day of the workshop identified a number of pillars or dimensions around which the outcomes, impact and changes being effected by the SeViSSA programme are observed.

The pillars were represented by a conceptual framework built around four main systemic issues - dimensions or quadrants of change, namely: cultural, relationship, individual and structural/system shown in the quadrants of change figure below.

To deepen participants’ understanding of the systemic issues and dimensions around which the SeViSSA programme is impacting and transforming women and children, the facilitator took the participants through a change quadrant exercise outlined below.

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The different quadrants of social change were represented on the floor, and participants had to locate themselves where they felt their work is targeted at.

Following an explanation of each quadrant/pillar or dimension of systemic change and the key issues it focuses on, each participant was then invited to step into the quadrant box that best represented the dimension of change they believed their organization has focused its energy, resources and capacity on in implementing SeViSSA and justify why.

Selected participants within each of the quadrant/s were asked to share with others the reasons that placed them in a particular quadrant/s. They also shared on, (i) why they believe that that quadrant to be the key and most effective one for implementing the SeViSSA programme and bring about the change their beneficiaries should seek to achieve, and then (ii) identify the relationships between all the different quadrants and how they will address them in the remaining period of SeViSSA.

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Volunteers argued and justified their chosen change quadrant as the most strategic entry point for SeViSSA, with a view to convince fellow participants to change their quadrants. Most participants felt strongly about each of the quadrants and argued out their cases resulting in some of the participants shifting from their original quadrants after being convinced by their colleagues.

The following insights emerged from the quadrants of systemic change exercise; It is not easy to rally everyone, determine and agree on the resources, capacity and the key entry quadrant of change for

SeViSSA.

It is often difficult to address only one systemic dimension of change because all four quadrants are equally important. Many participants agreed that they need to be the change they wish to see in their own communities and country hence starting with oneself as an individual is paramount and a top priority entry point.

The four dimensions/quadrants of change are blurred and interconnected e.g. systems/structures and culture are related and sometimes get in the way of the other.

The four dimensions/quadrants of change are all related and depending on various factors and key social triggers and context, different quadrants of systemic change are pronounced differently in any given system/community.

The way people/communities perceive and understand SeViSSA and the associated social change processes determines their thinking and views of the quadrant in which they see change as most prominent.

At the end of the day, the work that partners are undertaking to bring about social change through SeViSSA ultimately affects or shows up at the level of the individual, even though that may not be their chosen strategic focus or entry point.

Session 2: Walking into the Future

Overview: To allow participants to share concrete images and ideas of what success could look like at the end of the SeViSSA programme after 2019

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Intentions: To get each of the SeViSSA partners to imagine a rich picture of the change they would like to see as a result of their

interventions To highlight what the different pieces would look like together, and the role of each SeViSSA partner

Participants shared the following images and rich pictures of the success they envisaged and imagined at the end of the SeViSSA programme in 2019. Below are examples of some of the images drawn by the participants which struck a strong code with the entire group.

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Session 3: Evaluation

At the end of the workshop participants were asked to evaluate their experience and facilitation of the three days’ event along the following categories – what worked well, what did you learn, what did not work well and what else would you need moving forward, and they had the following to say;

What worked well The daily check in and check out was great The safe space created by the facilitators was excellent Facilitation was excellent and the facilitators engaged with the group very well…and taught me new ways of facilitating Design thinking, though not part of the official programme, was exciting The clarity and insights brought about by this workshop The manner and approach to facilitation was interactive and excellent The facilitation tools used by the facilitators worked well and gave me deeper insights about my own organization – please avail

the tools use to us The facilitation methods and exercises worked really well Good facilitation skills, please keep it up Facilitation style and the activities done

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The workshopping process was much appreciated – thank you The participatory approach used by the facilitators – use of rich pictures, drawing and sharing of lessons The patience of the facilitators, the feedback sessions from coalitions Facilitators’ insights and flexibility to discard a pre-determined programme The entire workshop, there is nothing I can fault – thank you! You are super Excellent tools, methods and facilitation approach Participatory tools used, very clear process The safe space from checking in and checking out worked well Linking of the sessions and activities The room layout and sitting arrangement Drawing on participants’ energy and knowledge Thank you very much facilitators for your insights and expertise Facilitators accommodated everyone Respect among the participants Content was relevant for learning and sharing Participatory facilitation methods used and techniques for all sessions Checking in and out of processes, energizers, empathy and portraits Time well spent, invested and worthwhile Facilitation was excellent, the safe space created and conversations were honest and participatory Constructive feedback Learning and sharing Great workshop and facilitation Checking in and out Empathy mapping The activity of what is working, what is not working and what could be changed within the SeViSSA partnership The information, knowledge, approaches and tools shared

What did you learn? I learnt a lot about other coalitions Design thinking methodology

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New facilitating skills Shamillah and Munya are the best facilitators I have met With the new insights gained, I still need more personal time to reflect on self and my organization I understand the theory of change better, and can now report better than before The quadrants of social change and design thinking… Better understanding of theory of change, report writing and better understanding of impact and evidence The SeViSSA child and woman – emotional mapping, the quadrants of change The centrality and importance of evidence of impact and our work in general New concepts and practices around planning, implementation, reporting and evaluation The quadrants of social change, design thinking Writing reports in context I identified the gaps in my report writing The importance of understanding context and content of work and the environment I learnt a lot about other SeViSSA partners and I will write better reports going forward Lots of knowledge Conceptions and understanding of social change Empathy mapping The outstanding work that still needs to be done How to interpret my and other partners’ work Improving gaps in our work Understanding myself Design thinking Understanding the full and clear picture of what is need for SeViSSA Too much to mention

What did not work well Participants coming in late Having to rush over presentation and group work due to time constraints caused by late coming The workshop was short, and the limited time impacted on the learning The Monday sessions were rather long and participants were tired

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Accommodation and the food The feedback session between NMCF and partners Time was too short Ecosystem mapping NMCF’s interactions and dishonesty Time was too short, there was lots to learn and share Nothing

What else would do you need moving forward? Please send us the materials, hand-outs and tools of the sessions Please invite us to follow up workshops for more professional growth and organizational effectiveness Partner with us all the way, and send us the materials shared in the sessions Well-being workshops are essential going forward Follow up reflection meetings and planning for the future beyond SeViSSA Self-reflection and review without any external probing or pressure More information on Shamillah’s book

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Annexure 1: Organisational Social Change Dashboards

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Annexure 2: Workshop Programme

Name of Session/Time

Intention/Purpose Activity/Process Envisioned Outflow Needs/Who

Conceptions of social change 1,5 hours

To introduce some of the conceptions of social changeTo develop an understanding of how social change worksTo grapple with some of the complexities in social change interventionsTo link theories of social change to impactLearning the Seeing and Reading of impact from multiple angles and perspectives

Short input on conceptions of social change

Introducing Theories of Change

Brainstorming on pax conceptions and assumptions about social change

Revisiting the Ecosystems MapWriting in a different colour: what do you see now that perhaps you did not see before?

Overview over existing conceptions and ways of understanding social change as a foundation for the rest of the seminar

Pax are familiarized with Theory of Change language

Exploration at which levels of change the impact is taking place

Munya

Day 3 – Exploring Practice at the CoreName of Session/Time

Intention/Purpose Activity/Process Envisioned Outflow Needs/Who

Walking the Future

To go silent in order to experience Presencing - to allow the future to

It is the end of 2019, the SeViSSA programme has been a great success, I am proud to have been a part of it all, we really have made

Pax have images and/or concrete ideas of what success looks like for (i) each of the

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call on us an impact, what has happened?

Go out silently and walk this question. Go alone. Do not talk to anyone. Use this as a walking meditation, walk very consciously. Observe, observe, observe what happens around you and within you. Observe your own resonance, when you feel like walking slow, brisk, etc. What is coming at you. Allow your thoughts to surface and recede. Do not hold on to anything.

SeViSSA partners (ii) collectively – joining the different pieces together

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Annexure 3: Workshop Participants

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