change lab case study - linc

7/29/2019 Change Lab Case Study - LINC

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THE PROJECT AT A GLANCE:

The Leadership and InnovationNetwork for Collaboration (LINC)Building Leadership and Collaboration for South Africas Orphans

and Vulnerable Children

REOS INSTITUTE 2013 CHANGE LAB CASE STUDY SERIES

Issue: Orphans and Vulnerable Children

Geography: South Africa

Duraon: 2007-2011

Co-Convenors: CONVENE,TheSynergosInstute,the

South African Department of Social

Development, and the African

LeadershipIniave

Impacts: Leadership development and capacity building; Improved

fundingforchildrensprogrammes;Moreeffecvecross-

organisaonandcross-sectorcollaboraon;asystemwide

comprehensive database of children in need.

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Reos Partners Change Lab Case Study Series 2013 | LINC: Leadership & Collaboration for South Africas Children 2

Therearecurrently14.8millionchildrenwhohavebeen orphaned by AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of

these, South Africa is home to 1.9 million, second in

number only to Nigeria. In South Africa, hundreds of

thousands of households are headed by youth under

19 years old, and more than 10.2 million children

under18yearsofageliveincondionsofpoverty,

homelessness, and scarcity. The staggering nature

and scale of this unprecedented situation has

rendered adequate responses to this challenge all

but impossible. Despite the historic advances in

democracy and development in South Africa since

1994,widespreadpovertyandsocialexclusion,

exacerbatedbytheHIV/AIDSpandemic,havecreated

arealityinwhichmillionsofchildrenneedsupport

and care. One of South Africas most pressing

systemicchallengesishowtodeliverontherightsof

childrenpromisedintheconstuonandtoprovidea

concertedsupporteffortthatcanbebothlovingandsucientlylargeinscale.

In the past, South Africas indigenous languages did

nothaveawordfororphan.Childreninneedwould

beabsorbedbytheextendedfamily.Inthebeginning

of the AIDS epidemic, this capacity of families to care

fororphanedchildrenexceededexpectaons;

however,thescopeofthechallengetodayissuch

thatthetradionalsoluonsareveryfarfromsucient.Manyorganizaonsandindividualsare

workingcreavelyandacvelytoimprovethe

situaon,butmorecollaboraonandsystemic

approaches are required to address the crisis.

Leadership

and InnovationNetwork forCollaboration

(LINC)Building Leadership andCollaboraonforSouthAfricas

Orphans and Vulnerable Children

The Context


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Local and national governments, community

organisations, international development

organisaons,foundaons,businesses,andindividual

cizensareallwidelyaffectedbythishumantragedy.

WiththecomplexwebofAIDS,poverty,race,family,

culture,history,anddevelopment,workingtoprovide

for Southern Africas orphaned children has been a

deeplystuckandpowerfullycomplexchallengeforall

whohavebeeninvolvedortriedtomakeadifference.

Convening

In2007,incooperationwithCONVENEVenture

Philanthropy, the Synergos Institute, the South

African Department of Social Development, and

the African Leadership Initiative, Reos Partners

co-launchedandfacilitateditsrstlarge-scaleChange

LabinSouthAfricatoworkontheproblemofAIDS

orphans and vulnerable children. The project,

originallyknownasOVC,beganfromacollaborave

partnershipbetweenAnnLamontofConveneand

Mille Bojer of Reos Partners. By the end of 2007, the

projectwasengagingdirectorsandchiefdirectorsof

eight government departments, heads of the majorcivilsocietyorganisaonsfocusedonchildren,some

ofthecountrysleadingcorporatefoundaonsacve

inthisarena,aswellasacademics,religiousleaders,

internaonaldonors,andcommunityleaders.

Therstphaseoftheprojectincludedoneofthemost

extensivesensingprocessesinaChangeLabtodate.

Over the course of 2006, Mille Bojer, Ann Lamont,

andBusiDlaminiconductedtwo-tothree-hour

deep-divedialogueinterviewswithmorethanfortynaonalleadersinthechildrenssectorinSouth

Africa.Theserichinterviewsprovedtobepowerful

tools for unearthing personal and systemic issues and

foriniangaprocessthatwouldconnectplayers

and build the capacity for systemic leadership among

stakeholders.Inaddiontotheinterviews,partners

conductedtwofocusgroupswithchildren,desk

research, several advocacy meetings, and a multi-

stakeholder dialogue session. Based on theseacvies,theorganisersiniatedasynthesisprocess

to create a systemic map of the problem through

the eyes of the leaders in the system.

Theyfoundthatwhilenancialandhumanresources

wereindeedanissue,amorefundamentalproblem

wasthatthesystemwasplaguedbywidespread

burnoutamongworkersandalackofcoordinaon

betweensectorsatmulplelevels,bothofwhichledtoalackofabig-pictureview.Thesystemwasalso

affectedbymistrust,fear,andevendeeperfractures

around the issues of race, class, and poverty. The

scope and heartrending tragedy of the on-the-ground


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realityhadbeenwreakinghavoconthehealthand

moraleofthoseworkingtoaddressthesechallenges.

The interviews and the sensing phase of the project

revealed stories of desperaon and tragedy but also of

powerful commitment and selessness. Remarkablepeople who, living in townships and having nearly

nothing of their own, opened their homes to orphaned

children, or even went so far as to set up childrens

homes and community organisaons.

Colleen Magner, Reos Partners

Basedontheseinterviews,theorganisersdecided

thattheChangeLabwouldfocusoncollaborave

leadershipandwouldtaketheshapeofafellowshipofleadersworkingtoimprovethelivesofvulnerable

children. This insight and message rang true to the

leaders invited, and in November 2007, Reos and

ConveneheldtheprojectsrstInnovaonLab.

SixtynaonalleadersintheSouthAfricanchildrens

sector participated. Based on the findings of the

firstphase,thiseventwasaimedatcreating

anetworktopromoteleadership,innovation,

collaboration, and systemic approaches.

The ProcessDuringtherstInnovaonLab,45stakeholder

leaders moved through a three-day process to build

theirrelationshipswithoneanother,createa

systemic understanding of the current reality,

reectontheirownrolesandcontribuons,and

startdevelopingnewpartnershipsandcross-sector

iniaves.Onthethirdday,theywerejoinedby15

seniorchampions,whohelpedthemdeveloptheiniavesfurther.Despitethebusyschedulesof

this overburdened group of leaders, at the end of

thatrstworkshop,44ofthe45fullparcipants

agreedtoparcipateinalong-termprocessthe

followingyear.

Between2007and2011,LINCevolvedintoa

fellowshipofconnectedleaders,alldirectlyinvolved

intheissue,workingtogetheracrosssectorstosystemicallyandcollaboravelyaddressthechallenge

oftheeffectsofAIDSonchildreninSouthAfrica.LINC

fellowsworkedcollaboravelyinasetofinnovaon

teams,basedonastructuredseriesofworkshopsto

address systemic leverage points.

Fellowsalsoengagedincoachingtobuildtheir

capacityforeffecvecollaboraonandleadership

withininnovaonteamsandintheeld.Thesecoachingsessionsprovidedindividualswithan

opportunitytodeveloptheirowncapaciesfor

leadershipandparcipaonincross-sector

collaboraveprocesses.Theylearnedhowtomake


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theirvoicesheardwhileworkingeffecvelyintheir

ownorganisaonsandwithotherLINCfellows.

By2011,LINCmembershiphadgrownto99fellows,

and the management of the programme had passed to

theSynergosInstute.Theprogrammetodayincludes:(1)eventsthatpromotelearning,networking,and

collaboraon,(2)individualandgroupcoaching,(3)

innovaoniniaves,and(4)anonlinesocialnetwork

andportal.Theprojectslong-termintenonistofoster

a systemic response that can be both loving and

sucientlylargeinscaletoincreaseboththequanty

and the quality of support to children. The path to this

outcome is through building the resilience and systemic

outlookofleadersworkinginthechildrenssectortoenablethemtoactmoreeffecvely.

ResultsTheongoing,systemicworkoftheinnovaonteams

andthegroupasawholehasculminatedinthe

followingvefocusareasandcorrespondinginiaves:

Leadership development and capacity-building

at the local government level

Localgovernmentswereoverburdenedand

understaffed,bearingagreatdealofresponsibility

forchildrensissuesbutunabletoeffecvelymanage

theworkload.Thisinnovaonteamworkedtobuild

leadership and capacity in local government to enable

moreeffecveresponses.

More eecve community capacity

Thisinnovaonteamworkedtobuildcapacitywithin

communityorganisaonsandNGOs.Itprototypedinnovavemodelsofcareandnewwaysofexpanding

ccesstosocialwelfareresources.

Improved donor coordinaon & funding ows

Thisteamwascomposedofinternaonaldonors,

governments,cooperaves,andfoundaonsworkingto

raisetheissueoforphanedchildrenonthepriorieslists

ofglobalfunders.Theparcipantsinnovatednewways

ofmeasuringanddemonstrangtheimpactofchild

welfarework,andworkedtoraisetheproleofthe

issue on a global scale.

More eecve organisaon of the childrens sector

Thisinnovaonteamworkedtobuildbeer

systemscollaboraonbetweentheSouthAfrican

DepartmentofSocialDevelopment,localNGOs,

funders, and local businesses.

A comprehensive database

This technical group, eventually incorporated into

UNICEF,workedtoimprovemonitoringand

informaononthesocialwelfaresystemandits

clientstobeermapwherehelpandsupportwere


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neededmost.Theseiniavesareonlypartofthe

impactthatLINChashadinSouthAfrica.Inaddion,

LINChashadasignicanteffectontheleadership

capaciesofandrelaonshipsbetweenthefellows.

Intheirevaluaons,theyvoicedthattheydeveloped

resilience,selfawareness,condence,opennesstochange,abilitytothinksystemically,andareconnecon

withpersonalenergyandpurpose.Theirenhanced

relaonshipsandcollaboravecapacitywereevident

through their increased responsiveness to each other,

increased ad hoc partnerships beyond the formal LINC

iniavesparcularlyNGO-governmentpartnerships

andenhancedco-planningandco-creaon.The

improvedrelaonshipsamongtheseleadershada

contagiouseffectonothernaonalforums,andthe

Department of Social Development and the Treasury

haveengagedinaco-planningprocesswithLINC,

anotherexampleofpushingsystemicchange.

LearningsBecausethisisamul-yearproject,thelearningsare

many-fold.Therearelearningsaboutwhatworksin

thechildrenssectoranddeepprocesslearningswe

haveinternalizedinReos.

WhatmoststaysinourmemoryatReosPartnersasa

learning from this project is the persistence required

intheconveningphase,andthatsomemespeople

needtoexperienceittobelieveit.Beforetherst

InnovaonLab,nearlyallthestakeholderswere

sayingtheydidnothavemeforsuchaprocess.

Throughaneffortofencouragingeachstakeholder

individuallyandndingoutwhoelseneededtobetheretogivelegimacytotheproject,wemanaged

to get people to make a three-day commitment. Out

ofthethree-daycommitment,wethengotaone-

yearcommitment,andoutofthatamul-year

programme evolved.

FormoreinformaononLINC,pleasecontactColleen

Magner of Reos Partners at [email protected].

Orcheckouttheseotherproject-relatedmaterials:

Wecantkeepmeenglikethis,

anarclebyReosPartner Mille Bojer

Video about LINC on youtube

change lab case study - linc

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