Author: Neftaly Malatjie

• 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
• 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

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:

What’s working	What’s not working	What could be done differently
Capacity building and support TrainingField visitsFinancial support and guidanceGuiding coalitions to reach their goalsLearning and sharing spaceGood communicationCoalition strategyAcknowledge Mampe’s contribution	Communication Short notice and not clearSometimes harsh and intimidatingControl how program should run   Process on how SeViSSA started had a negative impact on organization Baseline was done in the middle of implementationMEL 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 NMCFOne 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 effortUnplanned 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.

• I learnt a lot about other coalitions
• Design thinking methodology
• 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

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.

• 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.

• 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.

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

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.

• 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.
• 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.