A presentation for Senate: ​Enabling continuity and sustainability of CCE initiatives in the face of the transient nature of the student journey - Ms Priscilla Morley, Network Manager of SDSN South Africa

5 June 2024

 

Ms. Morley began by defining a touch point as any moment when one individual gains an impression of another, through some form of interaction, which may alter how any individual feels and whether they choose to further interact with the other person. Multiple touch points create a journey and influence a journey with the ultimate goal being to provide a person with a positive experience and allowing the space for the person to become better than what they were. Touch points are key points of contact and opportunities to make a difference.

In her first touch point, she relays her experience of working in a large financial services company, she describes the company’s commitment to delivering the best corporate social responsibility intervention. Partnering with a community called Orange Farm located 60 kilometres from the Sandton headquarters the company referred to this intervention as its social value model. The community was selected because it was characterised by high unemployment, dilapidated health facilities and young people who were struggling due to a lack of opportunity. Within the corporate space this company was demonstrating innovation because its social value model concentrated on one community for an extended period of time, addressing very specific focus areas namely youth health and entrepreneurship. The model also included employees volunteering their billable hours and sharing their expertise with various community stakeholder. While the programme was working well, with other corporates were marvelling at the approach, it was meeting organisational objectives, Ms Morley found herself doubting the sustainability aspect of this community wide intervention, a concern that was not met very favourably by her management.

In her second touch point, focused on building leadership, capacity and competencies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, and driven by her desire for social responsiveness, she chose to mentor one of the entrepreneurs in Orange Farm who owned a construction business. Ms Morley confesses that her mentee also ended up mentoring her, leading her to changing her thoughts on how people impact each other, and thinking carefully about how and where she could best make an impact.

The third touch point in her story demonstrates how she indirectly impacted her siblings and children. Through family discussions and engaged conversations she found herself influencing them to address sustainability problems within their environments. These touch points have influenced her role in society, to one committed to bringing about positive change in the lives of others. She no longer views education as developing technical knowledge for students only, but giving them some form of experience. Learning should be a personally transformative process. In designing CE programmes, she reminds us to focus on the whole person, to provide students with an experience, to include an opportunity for students to consider some cause they are passionate about, and to continue to pay it forward, for in doing so we learn more about ourselves. She reminds us, too, that individuals do not need to hold a senior position in an organisation to lead and engage students, that everybody can make a difference.

Finally, she encourages us to invite students to reimagine leadership and lead in the spaces they operate in, and to build opportunities for students to reflect on the process and the journey they have been on.

Watch the full Senate presentation using this link: