Thought Leadership Archives - Page 10 of 14

The hard and soft skills in children’s school life

“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”
Charles Dickens, Hard Times

Impact investing in South Africa: setting the eco-system up for success

If you are a philanthropist, grantmaker, financial advisor or involved in private equity, you have probably come across the term “impact investing” in the past few years. It’s a relatively new concept all over the world, but a particularly nascent one in South Africa.

Systemic Social Investing (SSI): A pioneering way of thinking

In late 2013, Tshikululu Social Investments conceptualised the idea of Systemic Social Investment (SSI) and presented it to some of its leading clients. At the time, talking about social investment and systems change in the same sentence was something very new – both to ourselves, our clients and other stakeholders. Up until then, systems change “thinking” was very far from traditional corporate social investment approaches. It represented a fundamental (if not radical) change to how social investors should think about their social investment and its potential to drive large-scale change.

Development through (em)power(ed) relationships Part 3

Development through (em)power(ed) relationships Part 1

An unshakable reality in the work of any social investor is the power-dynamic inherent in any benefactor-beneficiary relationship.

Development through (em)power(ed) relationships Part 2

In reflecting on Tshikululu’s experience over the past two decades, we have been able to transcend through and beyond the “power over” dynamic.

Development through (em)power(ed) relationships Part 3

Recently Tshikululu has been assisting some of its clients to invest in initiatives that drive more purposefully towards definable impact and even achieve systems change. These clients are not satisfied merely addressing symptoms when they could be tackling the underlying causes of the challenges society faces.

Development through (em)power(ed) relationships

Tshikululu has found that even after successfully convening a forum committed to achieving collective impact, and even with a robustly debated and jointly agreed end goal, we sometimes don’t see the anticipated movement towards achieving that goal. The energy does not flow as one might have hoped. We’ll have the right people in the room, representing the right stakeholders with already approved budgets and mandates that align to the common goal. Yet we are met with inertia between meetings.

Fee-free education not a panacea to higher education challenges

Since the announcement of fee-free education by former President Zuma in December 2017, many people and organisations in the Post School Education and Training (PSET) system have grappled with the practicalities of “adequately” funding students. The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) currently finds itself dealing with a new wave of student protests linked to this at some level – from issues related to historic debt to registration, tuition, meal allowances and accommodation. In light of all these challenges and the ever-changing environment, private donors, corporate foundations and development institutions are asking themselves hard questions about their role and purpose in the PSET system.

Migration of Early Childhood Development from DSD to DBE: the hard work lies ahead

Last week’s State of the Nation saw President Cyril Ramaphosa announce that Government would be migrating the responsibility of early childhood development (ECD) centres from the Department of Social Development (DSD) to the Department of Basic Education (DBE). This was met with much excitement, accompanied by confusion and questions in some quarters. Without any doubt, the hard work of ensuring improved access to quality holistic ECD services is much more complicated than a simple shift of location.

Creating clear education and employment pathways for South Africa’s youth

The matric results’ announcement was met with much debate about what the “real” matric pass rate is. This has now become an annual practice and, as one education practitioner highlighted, “everyone has an opinion, right or wrong, about education”. Whatever your view on this issue is, the class of 2018 will see over 400 000 young people added to our growing pool of youth without a matric certificate. Given the premium placed on the matric certificate in South Africa, this will in all likelihood translate into lack of sustainable and meaningful economic opportunities.