Looking around the world at the moment, it would be easy to feel despairing and hopeless; wars, climate change catastrophes, a roll back on human rights, a mental health epidemic are but a few of the issues that we as humanity are facing. 

One of our favourite quotes is from Fred Rogers “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” and this we do.

We are fortunate at Southern Hemisphere in that every day we are inspired by the helpers that we meet in our ongoing work in the development ecosystem. These are people working in Africa and globally to bring about lasting and meaningful and often systemic change. We do work in social development, education, environment and climate change, in health and in governance, in fact in almost every sector that impacts social justice and lives.

We started with the conviction that evidence alone is simply not enough to build lasting change.  People make change happen, and evidence in itself does not lead to adaptation. Barriers to change often lie at the human level and therefore human skills are required to overcome them.

The first step is to create a psychologically safe environment, one that is inclusive and that allows teams to connect and to think critically and learn without reproach or consequences.

Participatory processes are an essential part of building this culture. It is through participation that well-thought through and sustainable programmes are built. Importantly in these processes it is important to ensure that power and status do not impact the chance of being heard.

Ongoing learning needs also to be embedded in an organisation, the world is changing so rapidly that those who cannot learn and unlearn will be left behind. Part of building a learning culture is to develop a tolerance for failure provided that insights are taken onboard and incorporated into future work.

Human skills are at the heart of all of this and this is why our focus is not only on the hard skills required to embark on a monitoring and evaluation exercise, such as developing a theory of change, but also the human skills that are essential for sustainable change to happen.
Oftentimes people at the coal face are fatigued, overworked and undersupported, what is lacking is the inspiration to reconnect with a cause they are passionate about. At Southern Hemisphere, we have always approached evaluation from an organisational development and learning perspective, when working side by side with a team as part of a project, knowledge-sharing, capacity building and inspiration is embedded into our way of working.

Our training courses are designed to build skills, encourage active sharing and reflection and ultimately to give attendees the skills they need to feel confident, energised and empowered.  

It is, after all, only a small inspired group that is needed to bring about the change that this world so needs.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead.