SEED Educational Trust has launched a new leadership programme aimed at leaders in the Social Sector. If you are a leader within a community-based or faith-based organisation who is wanting to develop knowledge and skills as a leader of change in your organisation and in society then this programme is for you.
An experienced learning partner
Before SEED was founded in 2007, it ran programmes as the Church and Community Facilitation Network (CFN) through the Bureau for Continuing Theological Education and Research in the Theological Faculty of the University of Stellenbosch. Between 2000 and 2006, more than 600 leaders completed its leadership development programmes. Since 2007 more than 1000 school and district leaders have completed SEED programmes. Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience of developing leaders in the social sector in South Africa, SEED has designed the Community Leadership Programme that we believe will equip leaders to lead in a way that is truly developmental and transformational. The programme will be facilitated by a diverse team with decades of both local and international experience.
An accredited programme
SEED has a memorandum of agreement with The University of Stellenbosch Business School Executive Development (USB-ED) and the Community Leadership Programme is accredited with USB-ED as an NQF level 7 programme. Participants are enrolled as students at the University of Stellenbosch and upon successful completion of the programme they receive certificates issued by the University.
A relevant programme dealing with real life leadership challenges
Because of our extensive experience in the social sector, SEED recognises that the social sector is different from the corporate sector. Whilst there are lessons that can be drawn from the world of business, leaders in the social sector face very different challenges that require specialised knowledge, skills, and approaches. Participants in the programme will continually be asked to reflect on the challenges that they are facing in their own contexts and to apply their learning to these contexts. Apart from the study schools that stimulate new thoughts and ideas, participants also enjoy the benefit of individual coaching sessions with a SEED coach. These sessions help to deepen the learning and apply it to their own unique situations. The 4 written assignments are practical and reflective in nature and assist participants to reflect on their own situations, design processes and approaches to address these, implement these processes and then reflect again on what they are learning about leadership through these.
An accessible programme suited for busy people
During the Covid19 crisis many of us have learned to navigate the world of online learning. SEED has designed the CLP as an online programme to make it as accessible for people in the social sector. Apart from making the programme considerably cheaper it also allows SEED to reach people from across the country (and even further afield) and to structure it in a way that allows busy leaders of organisations to continue to lead their organisations with minimal disruption. There are 3 Study schools that take place between 8-30am and 2pm normally on 3 or 4 consecutive Fridays. This means that participants are able to continue with their day to day work with minimal disruption as they only need to set aside one day per week for a total of 10 days in a year. There is a break between each study school of about 2 months to allow for practical application of what has been learned and for reflection to take place.