DEAR READERS
WOW, this year has flown by. It is already half way through the year and we are only posting our first newsletter.
So, welcome to our first edition of the newsletter for this year-2007. Southern Hemisphere continues with its mission of promoting social justice through various mechanisms such as training, facilitation, organisational development, monitoring and evaluation and research.
SAMEA CONFERENCE
We were thrilled to participate in the first South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA) conference which was held in March. Nana Davies, Senior Consultant, conducted a very well attended professional development workshop on the Process of developing a monitoring and evaluation system. The workshop applied a participatory approach as it encouraged interaction and information sharing among people working in the field of monitoring and evaluation. Nana also benefited from attending workshop sessions, and Tamarie Magaisa hosted a Southern Hemisphere stand at the conference. Well done to the SAMEA committee for an excellent conference.
PUBLIC MONITORING AND EVALUATION COURSES FIRST ONE 30 JULY- 3 AUGUST, AND SECOND ONE 15 – 19 OCTOBER 2007
Southern Hemisphere offers both in-house and public courses in Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. This year we will conduct two participatory public participatory Planning Monitoring and Evaluation courses (P,M and E). the first one will be on the 30th of July – 3rd of August and the other one from the 15th -19th October. Both will take place in Gauteng. This is a great opportunity for practitioners, project partners, evaluators or people involved in evaluation to develop and enhance their skills in planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Southern Hemisphere has conducted numerous successful Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation courses. This is what previous participants have said about the course:
“As a quality assurance Manager I was expected to assess whether the policies are implemented as expected. I did not know where and how to start. This workshop was so relevant and informative because I can now develop an M&E plan, implement and evaluate and finally write and submit reports to management as expected.”
“The methodology was very efficient since it allowed for exchange of experiences amongst the participants.”
“The facilitator was able to respond to the questions asked by participants and involved everyone to ensure that each one understood and was on the same level”
If you are interested in sharing the same experiences and knowledge that these participants have had please email Nadia at info@southernhemisphere.co.za or call us at 021 421 0073. Or see our training page for more details about the course.
PROJECTS
Southern Hemisphere has been involved in many projects in the past couple of months that have contributed to the diversification of our experience and expertise. These projects range from facilitation to conducting a situation and needs analysis, to materials development. Please see a detailed account of our projects below.
Facilitation
Stewardship and Conservation Education Summit - Dena Lomofsky facilitated this two day summit and produced a summit report. The summit brought together Stewardship and Conservation Education practitioners under the auspices of C.A.P.E in order for them to identify areas of common ground and strategies for collaboration.
C.A.P.E. Monitoring and evaluation framework - Nana Davies assisted C.A.P.E to validate and finalize their monitoring and evaluation framework by interrogating their compendium of indicators, through a series of consultative workshops.
You, Me and HIV - Dena Lomofsky and Adrian Di Lollo facilitated a programme planning workshop using the Logical Framework Approach, with You, Me and HIV, which is a programme targeting Natural Science and Life Orientation educators who work with Grade 8 learners. You, Me and HIV is aligned to the Natural Sciences and Life Orientation Learning Areas, and adopts a biological approach to teaching about HIV and AIDS. It also includes participatory learning methods and body mapping. You, Me and HIV is supported by the Regency Foundation.
GOLD Peer Education Programme - Nana Davies facilitated the development of a Logical Framework Approach for the GOLD Peer Education Programme. The programme aims to ensure that HIV/AIDS related issues are communicated to young people attending school in the Western Cape, through peer educators. The four day workshop was participatory with input coming from the GOLD staff, programme managers and facilitators of implementing organisations.
Health Economics Unit - Nana Davies facilitated a one day strategic planning workshop for the Health Economic Unit (UCT)'s management team. Prior to the workshop, all staff were asked to list 5 management issues they wanted management to address in the meeting. Based on the replies, an agenda was compiled. In the workshop the management team came up with good solutions and action to take in order to address the management issues.
Fair Trade South Africa - Nana Davies facilitated a Strategic Planning session with board members of Fair Trade South Africa. Fair Trade aims to promote ‘fair trade’ on farm products.
Labour Research Services (LRS) - Nana Davies facilitated a 5 days strategic - and programme planning workshop for the Labour Research Services. The workshop commenced by addressing the recommendations from the strategic evaluation report produced by Adrian Di Lollo. This was followed by reviewing the vision and mission statements through creative exercises. Strategic objectives and activities were then developed before entering into the programme planning part of the workshop. The products of the programme plan were a LFA matrix, a plan of action and a monitoring and evaluation framework. As part of Nana's contribution to SHC's social responsibility, she produced individual chronological plans free of charge. She was assisted by Getrude Zvavanjanja.
Evaluations and applied research
Sustainable Livelihoods Programme UNDP and Office of the Premier, Limpopo Provincial Government – Dena Lomofsky, Andries Mangokwana and Limpho Klu conducted an evaluation of the SLP. The evaluation drew out lessons learnt and made recommendation for the future sustainability of the project.
HAICU-HIV/AIDs Co-ordination UCT - Dena Lomofosky, Weziwe Xameni, Phumeza QeQe, and Wilma Wessels are currently working together on an evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of the HAICU Schools Programme. The programme involves a cascade model whereby the Aids Community Educators (ACES) from UCT train the TSIBA students to train grade eight learners in Khayelitsha. The training is based on Catherine Campbells (2005) model of building AIDS-competent communities. The purpose of the evaluation is also to establish whether the AIDS-competent community model works and elements are needed in order for the model to work. A journal article will be published on this. A mixed method evaluation is being conducted: the methodology entails a pre and post survey and focus groups with the grade 8 learners, focus groups with ACES and TSIBA students, and workshop evaluation forms.
Molo Songololo- SHC has recently completed a situation and needs analysis on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) in Delft and Beaufort West for Molo Songololo. The research focuses on child prostitution, child pornography and sex for favors in the above-mentioned communities. Molo Songololo aims to roll out a project to address the issues identified in the research process, which is being sponsored by the Department of Social Development, Western Cape Provincial Government. A qualitative methodology was used including in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Researchers from the communities were employed to conduct the fieldwork, and a mentoring approach was adopted. Bastienne Klein was the Senior Consultant for this project, and Wilma Wessels the Project Co-ordinator. The project was supported by Dena Lomofsky as project supervisor and Gertrude Zvavanjanja in a project co-ordination capacity.
Training and Materials Development
Free State training workshop - Nana Davies and Wilma Wessels have also conducted an in house training workshop on planning, monitoring and evaluation for the Department of Social Development in Free State. Here are some of the comments from the participants of the workshop
“…There were misunderstandings about planning and why monitoring and evaluation of projects is important. The workshop has brought a clearer picture…”
“…The participatory method was very useful…”
“...The balance between theory and practice made it easy for us to understand…”
Paraffin Safety Association of South Africa - Dena Lomofsky and Wilma Wessels conducted training in Dynamic Facilitation Skills for 13 facilitators from Western Cape and Kwazulu Natal. The course was aimed at equipping facilitators with skills to facilitate group processes at their upcoming Regional Household Summits. Here’s what some participants had to say about the course:
“…The course was presented in a logical way…”
“…The facilitators had a good theoretical background to facilitation…”
“…The manual was very useful…”
Mokete Training and Consulting - Wilma Wessels designed a 3-day course in Project Management for Mokete Training and Consulting, including materials development (learner guide), alignment of the course to specific outcomes, facilitators guidelines, learner assessments (formative and summative), assessors guidelines, course outline, and model answers. The course has now been submitted for accreditation with the relevant SETA.
OUR TEAM
Our intern Gertrude Zvavanjanja, has been with us for five months now. Gertrude has a Bachelor of Social Science degree majoring in Psychology and Sociology, an Honours degree in Development studies and is currently studying for a Masters degree in Monitoring and Programme Evaluation at the University of Cape Town. The topic of her honours thesis was “Hearing the voice of volunteers: An analysis of volunteer experiences within a voluntary organisation.”
She has done an internship with the Independent Development Trust and has worked as a volunteer for Inside Out. Her major interests are in Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation of programmes and policies. She has been a great asset to us, and is achieving her individual development plan that all our interns prepare when they join us.
Wilma Wessels has been promoted to Junior Consultant, as she has shown tremendous growth and has achieved her goals outlined in her development plan. She is also halfway through her honours degree with UNISA, where she is performing well. Wilma has accepted this challenge readily, and has already completed her first job as Junior Consultant with Molo Shongololo, and is currently running with the HAICU evaluation.
Adrian Di Lollo has been with Southern Hemisphere as a Senior Consultant for just a year now, and has decided to take up formal employment with a Child Rights NGO as an Advocacy Coordinator. He will be starting in August. We value the contribution he has made to the organisation and we wish him best of luck in his new and important job!
Leah Khanya, daughter of Dena Lomofsky and Franz Rodenacker, sister to brother Sasha Dumisani, was born in November 2006 and has been a great member of the team, by letting her mom sleep at night (mostly !), and bringing joy to everyone that she smiles at (that is everyone). Dena was on maternity leave until April, but is now back into the swing of things. She is very thankful to Nana Davies who ran the show while she was away, and to our amazing staff who kept motivated and engaged – making things happen in her absence!!
TOPIC OF INTEREST
Hearing the voice of volunteers: An analysis of volunteer experiences within a voluntary organisation
It is interesting to note how volunteers contribute to the vast change in society yet they are seldom recognised nor involved in decision making. Sometimes they are not treated with appreciation. This has lead to disillusionment with voluntary work.
With these views in mind, a study was conducted to verify the researcher’s ‘assumptions’. This study aimed to give a voice to the experiences of volunteers within the organization (name will not be mentioned). This organisation recruits volunteers to teach high school pupils subjects like Mathematics, Geography and Science. Some of the volunteers that work in the organisation work with youth and young adults in different communities enhancing awareness on HIV/AIDS and health related issues. Semi structured interviews were used as a method of data gathering.
The results showed that the volunteers had varying experiences with the organization. Some had communication problems, one group did not have a day coordinator and there were some who felt that the whole organization was not operating as effectively as they would have expected. The results also showed that the volunteers did not have working relationship problems among themselves yet often related to challenges in terms of working with the organisation’s project leaders and day coordinators. Most volunteers felt that the volunteer training that they obtained from the organization was not very helpful.
Important issues to consider when working with volunteers
There are two key issues that should be considered when dealing with voluntary organisations or organisations working with volunteers:
- What should organisations do to make sure that volunteers stay in the organisation for continued societal and community development?
- How do we consciously value the contribution of volunteers to society?
The researcher feels that there is a constant need to recognize the contribution that volunteers make to society. Volunteers contribute greatly to development especially looking at the fact that they do not get paid for the services that they offer.
THANK YOU FOR READING OUR NEWSLETTER. IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS OR QUERIES OR SUGGESTIONS THAT YOU MAY HAVE PLEASE CONTACT US AT info@southernhemisphere.co.za
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