Partners for Possibility named
Making a Mark competition winners
Partners for Possibility (PfP), the flagship programme of Symphonia for South Africa, was named as the winner of the 2018 Social Enterprise Mark CIC ‘Making a Mark’ competition at a celebration at our conference in York on 6th June.
We invited former MP Phil Hope to present the award as part of our annual awards ceremony, which was accepted by Louise van Rhyn , founder of Partners for Possibility/Symphonia for South Africa, who also delivered the opening keynote speech at the conference.
On accepting the award, Louise said:
“It is fantastic for the work of PfP to be recognised in this way. Our innovative programme provides much-needed support and capacity building for school principals who have received little or no preparation for the challenging task of managing a complex organisation with very limited funds amidst crippling social challenges, such as poverty, child-headed households, drug abuse and gangsterism.
It was a pleasure to deliver the opening keynote today, and to share our experiences of how reciprocal learning partnerships between business and community can be a powerful force for positive change.”
Louise was presented with a special award, created for us by Social Enterprise Mark holder Start Creative *, a social enterprise which provides a range of high quality hand crafted products and services to public, private and social sectors, whilst providing positive commercial experiences to volunteers who are referred via mental health services.
This is the third year of the Making a Mark competition; a celebration of the vast and diverse social benefits created by Social Enterprise Mark holders, which highlights interesting examples of how accredited social enterprises are creating considerable social impact within their local communities and in wider society.
Lucy Findlay, Managing Director of Social Enterprise Mark CIC, said, “We are delighted to announce our first African Social Enterprise Mark holder Partners for Possibility as the 2018 ‘Making a Mark’ competition winners. They won because of their clear commitment to tackling a major social need in new innovative ways, by mobilising business, government and civil society to work collaboratively towards addressing the educational challenges facing South Africa.
As delegates had heard Louise’s inspiring and rousing story at the start of the conference, everyone in attendance was in no doubt of the well deserved winner! Well done to Louise and the whole PfP team.”
PfP was shortlisted alongside five other organisations, including Cosmic and Ealing Community Transport, which were both named as runners up. The competition shortlist was subject to a public vote and a separate vote by the Social Enterprise Mark CIC team, both of which accounted for 50% of the final result.
We would like to extend our congratulations to all of the competition finalists:
Cosmic- Ealing Community Transport
- East Lancashire Medical Services
- Live Active
- Midlands Psychology CIC
- Partners for Possibility
*Start Creative is the commercial arm of Start in Salford, which provides positive commercial experiences to volunteers, who are referred via primary and secondary mental health services in Salford.
Their volunteers are highly trained individuals at risk of or suffering from mental ill health, all of whom benefit in some way from the creative process that goes into making high quality hand crafted products. Start Creative continually develops in response to the needs of the volunteers that engage in the work to provide a vibrant and supportive working environment and retail opportunities for their work.
Making a Mark competition winners
