Believe | ORFoundation | Projects
Over the years we have invested in a range of projects that we believe will make a true difference in their respective fields. Each project has benefited from our input – either practically or financially. And we’ve benefited from our involvement through being inspired by the work that they do.
Zambia Farmers Federation
We provided the initial funding to establish this not-for-profit organisation in Zambia which gives small-scale farmers the latest agricultural knowledge and ensures the best price for their products by making reliable connections to international markets.
The farmers come into the programme earning less than £50 per year. Using a business approach and the right crops, basic irrigation and an honest market, the farmers learn the capability to bring in over £1000; enough for the family to send all its children to school, cover health care and, crucially, have a good amount left to invest back in the farm.
With a target group of 1000 farmers, there is potential to generate more than £1m, year after year, allowing whole communities to build a completely self-sustaining future for themselves.
When we began our pro-bono work with one of the UK’s leading charities, Tommy’s, they were facing exactly the same challenges as our profit-making clients. They were wanting to grow their business in a highly competitive market place while retaining and recruiting leading talent. In the five years we have worked with them, building their culture and enhancing their leadership, we have seen their performance go from strength to strength. We congratulate them on the successful development of their fourth research centre.
HIV Charities in Johannesburg, South Africa
As part of the Strategic Leaders Programme in July 2007, we visited South Africa for our newly developed module, The Inclusive Mindset. An experience few of us will forget was our visit to a pre-school in Alexander Township where many of the young children were diagnosed HIV positive. During our time there, we met a woman who single-handedly, without any formal funding, looks after up to twenty babies and young children with HIV, all abandoned or orphaned. The group’s contribution to these charities will employ a teacher for a year at the pre-school, and provide essential medical care to several children for many months in the care home.
Hay Festival
The Annual Hamlin Lecture is a new series which began in 2007 at the Hay Festival with Dr Wangari Maathai who won the Nobel Peace prize in 2004 for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace”. Rosie Boycott had a conversation with her about her life and work in what was generally regarded as an exceptional and inspirational session.
This year’s speaker was Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1984) whose talk got wide media coverage from around the world. He was interviewed by the Director of Hay Festival, Peter Florence, in a stimulating and well received conversation. In 2008 the Hamlin Lecture was delivered by Carl Bernstein, who as a reporter on The Washington Post, along with Bob Woodward, broke the story of Watergate. He was interviewed by James Naughtie about his biography “A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton”, and gave the most fascinating insight into a complex and powerful personality.
Leeds Jewish Housing Association
One of our colleagues is the Chair of an internal controls group for a UK Housing Association. She is responsible for risk assessment and overseeing compliance required by the Homes and Communities Agency. Being a psychologist, she has brought an unconventional approach to this position, creating meaning and underlying understanding to the compliance process, resulting in consistent praise from independent auditors.
Local Projects
- Local Education Authority
Through our discounted rate scheme, a Local Education Authority used our expertise to help 20 of their schools understand and plan for the Personalised Learning Agenda. Our facilitated sessions gave senior leaders the time and space to deeply engage with how they will deliver the agenda and we used best practice thinking to plan how to manage the personal impact of the change in their schools.
- Brookside Community Primary School, Street, Somerset
One of our colleagues has been Chair of Governors at a local primary school for the last 12 years and over this time has moved the school towards having a long-term strategy focus rather than being driven by a year on year budget. This has been assisted by a further colleague supporting the Senior Leadership Team of the school to think outside the box and be creative. Direct results of this work have been the school’s Ofsted achievement of Outstanding in all areas and a £6.5m building project to build a Children’s Centre on the site, upgrade the facilities and build a new two-storey building with classrooms and school hall.
- Kings of Wessex Secondary School, Cheddar, Somerset
One of our colleagues supported the Senior Leadership Team of the school to help them strategise and prepare key recommendations and aims for the school looking forward into the next 20 years as the world moves forward and the speed of technology increases. Further sessions will follow to develop each of the key strategies.