Transdisciplinary collaboration and partnerships were strong themes at Stellenbosch University’s recent annual Social Impact Symposium held at the Devonvale Golf Estate.
“It is exciting for Stellenbosch University to focus on transdisciplinary collaboration to enhance the impactful work we do and make it even more meaningful,” were the sentiments of Dr Leslie van Rooi, Senior Director: Social Impact and Transformation. “It is important to create sharing spaces and facilitate new partnerships and possibilities”, he said.
The Symposium’s theme, “Inspire #SUImpact100”, focused on the centenary commemoration for those involved in social impact and those wanting to get involved.
Two keynote speakers framed the proceedings of the day. Prof Willem Fourie, Associate Professor: Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership at Pretoria University and co-ordinator of the South African Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Hub, spoke about the value offering of the SDGs. He said: “The SDGs have the potential to improve the lives of the most vulnerable. Development is about creating a sense of shared community, working together, breaking down silos and thinking in an ‘and-and’ manner. Partnerships are key and the main enabling SDG. Within the context of universities, SDGs can bring research groups together to address complex problems.”
Prof Thuli Madonsela, Law Faculty Trust Chair for Social Justice, said: “The greatest challenge to social transformation is an inadequacy of systems thinking, impact consciousness and funding for social change seeking to end poverty and eliminate structural inequality. This is exacerbated by a one-size-fits-all paradigm underpinning law reform and policy interventions.” The Chair’s Social Justice M-Plan seeks to leverage data analytics to predict the likely and current disparate impact of policies and plans. At the same time it seeks to boost civil society’s social impact investment to speed up social change and socio-economic inclusion and anchor democracy, national unity and peace.
Presentations of social impact initiatives focused on the Stellenbosch University Social Impact themes of education for all, employment and inclusive economic development, social and gender justice, and food security and health. The presentations of initiatives were as collaborative as the initiatives themselves in that staff, students and partners co-presented. “We can create a better understanding of social impact by sharing practical examples of how social impact initiatives happen, learning from one another,” said Dr Antoinette Smith-Tolken, Director: Social Impact.
Prof. Nico Koopman, Vice-Rector: Social Impact, Transformation and Personnel, ended the day by reflecting that as a university, we are committed to integrated, embedded and systemic impact and that there is a strong relationship between social impact, social justice and social cohesion. “For us as a university, social impact is transformative and reciprocal – we impact on society and society impacts on us”, he said.
