In a rapidly changing world, it is imperative for organisations to be both nimble and deeply rooted in core values. Periodically it becomes essential for them to go through processes of renewal. In the second half of 2023, the Nelson Mandela Foundation embarked on such a process, with its Board of Trustees undertaking two strategy retreats in order to make sense of the historical moment (local and global), assess the contexts within which the Foundation works, and clarify the institutional task moving forward. More than ever, being clear on the task at hand is determinative of the meaningful impact an organisation can have in the world.
At its first meeting of 2024, the Board adopted a new strategy for the organisation. It remains anchored in the mandate given to the organisation by Madiba when he founded it exactly a quarter of a century ago but embraces new initiatives for sustainability and configures all institutional energy around a single purpose – we mobilise Madiba’s legacy to create a more just society by dismantling intergenerational poverty and inequity. Moving forward, our priority areas will be early childhood development, food security, land (especially urban land), and public governance and leadership.
Some retooling of the organisation will be necessary to ensure that we are fit-for-purpose, sustainable, and geared to societal impact. Of course, there will be some unavoidable pain in this. Change is always challenging, but it is essential as we equip Madiba’s organisation to move with confidence into the next quarter of a century of its existence.
Of course, at the same time as attending to internal institutional processes, we must always be engaging with the world around us. Just in the last two weeks, that engagement has taken us in multiple directions. We hosted a Shabbat in support of justice for Palestine, and continued to contribute to initiatives designed to build the international solidarity required to end the horror in Gaza.
We continued to engage with the state on the need for legislation to give effect to the Constitution’s requirement for equitable access to land. We hosted school learners from Alexandra in our Saturday morning ‘reading for pleasure’ programme.
Department of Basic Education officials continued to work out of our office space on a drive to register early childhood development centres still not ‘in the system’.
We moved into final preparation for a dialogue in March to be co-convened with Nelson Mandela University on the intersections between food security and climate justice.
We hosted the premiere of a new documentary on the life and death of Phila Portia Ndwandwe.
We developed our messaging on the general election, which is now just around the corner. I could go on.
The work that needs to be done is unending. As Madiba warned us in 1994, “We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road.” The last thirty years have been long and difficult. More difficult, perhaps, than any of us anticipated. It is time, now, to make the road ahead less difficult.