Barloworld Empowerment Foundation

Theory of Change

The Foundation seeks to implement a new model of change that reframes the power relations in favour of change beneficiaries to be active role players that lead transformational change and sustainable impact.

Traditional Model

Social change is an outcome that originates outside the boundaries of the community.
Relationship dynamic shifts power and agency away from CBO/Is to charitable organisations.
Charitable organisation takes the lead and ownership on community initiatives and acts on behalf of Community based organisations or initiatives (CBO/I).
Lack of ownership of initiatives and poor sustainability of outcomes.
Predominant focus on measurable outputs in comparison to other qualitative metrics.

BWEF Model

The community has the vision and capacity to originate and lead social change. Story telling is integral to this process.
The community is empowered to unlock its agency and resourcefulness lead change.
Communities design and lead social change programmes with the support of charitable organisations.
Communities take ownership and provide ongoing buy in of initiatives to augment sustainability.
Balanced focus on a multifaceted portfolio of metrics that include both quantitative and qualitative measures.

Critical success factors

The Foundation has identified the following factors that are key to its success and sustainability in the short term and long term.

A strong and sound advocacy programme

A strong and sound advocacy programme that combines storytelling and research insights to create legitimacy and trust for activist philanthropy in communities while simultaneously building a credible platform to forge positive partnerships.

Community-led programmes

Community-led programmes that are adequately capacitated and supported through a mixture of financial and non-financial interventions to augment the efficacy of outcomes.

Alignment with strategic facilitators

Alignment with strategic facilitators who conduct advocacy workshops in the communities to ensure that the critical aspects and tenets of the model of change are consistently communicated and incorporated into community programmes.

Alignment with strategic partners

Alignment with strategic partners who support the vision of the Foundation and CBO/Is in the implementation of the community programmes to generate sustainable community impact, develop replicable social innovation, and make a positive contribution to the policy agenda.

Funding of CBO

Funding of CBO/Is in partnership with strategic partners e.g., other foundations to support the achievement of social change in communities.

Partnership support

Partnership support to ensure stringent monitoring and evaluation. This is also essential for knowledge management and sustaining trust throughout the implementation process.

Strategic imperatives

On the basis of the review of the strategic and operating contexts, the Foundation has identified the following strategic imperatives that underpin the development of the strategic intent:

Advocacy, thought leadership

Advocacy, thought leadership, and the use of innovation, forging partnerships across multiple levels to deliver the mission of the Foundation.

Community ownership of initiatives

Community ownership of initiatives is a crucial outcome of the advocacy programme that can be used as an indication of increased agency, greater self-belief, community resilience, and so forth.