Introduction

In January 2007, I asked our employees how many community beneficiaries had thanked them for some 3 million noted and audited services rendered the previous year. The positive responses were few and far between; concluding that our services did not have the desired outcomes that our beneficiaries had hoped for. The answer was simple. By June we presented an infamous ‘Call to Arms’ where I challenged staff to be responsible and accountable, to protect the interest of our beneficiaries and organisation. We identified deficiencies between beneficiary needs and our program activities. Our organisational purpose had to drive our business model assets and activities; processes and resources and where we could find community alignment based on needs, preferences and behaviours, we do our utmost to co-create new programs and projects with responsive donors. By September 2008 we were no longer part of a corporate group and could effect our independence as an adaptive entity with regenerative approaches aimed at beneficiaries who wanted to be helped.

At the close 2011 our HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support, OVC, training, counselling and voluntary testing programs came to an end. Looking back, we reached our goals and achieved set objectives; our relationships were strong, our brand trusted and respected especially by international donors.

Purpose-driven was imprinting a deep footprint in our strategic thinking; the Savory-hub in South Africa embraced the good theory of Holistic Land and Livestock Management bringing about fundamental outcomes in preservation, domestic agriculture and management practices.

By 2013 we were able to document our findings and experiences in a model to reference our decisions. Adding more research and references on cause and effect, the model became academic as well as practical by integrating areas of detailed findings into one continuum. Symphony was born and would continue growing in relevance and stature over 7-years of development, evolving into an open source model intended for academic purposes; to support commercial organisations and partners in community development projects. In addition, Symphony has some 200 templates detailing the model’s application and guiding the integration of Themes, Threads, Models and Architectures, by monetising the templates proceeds fund undesignated programs and indirect expenditure.

By 2020 our foundation will look forward with a sound understanding and support base; we will know that widows and orphans still drive our passion and that our interests in business and communities are aligned to find and co-create effective outcomes for those in need.


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OLF History

Since 1989 we have served Widows and Orphans with a staff compliment of 550 employees, reaching communities over Africa.

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Current Projects
Projects

OLF adapted and evolved, and the last decade saw a shift in focus from urban-based programmes to rural regenerative initiatives, addressing the global climate change crisis by mobilising communities to better manage the natural resources (land and livestock) at their disposal.

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Our Partners

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SymphonyTM

Our philosophy extends to Outcome models that enable partners to Succeed in business, Survive competitor onslaughts and Sustain their performance.

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