The Sophia Foundation, a non-profit organisation inaugurated in September 2012 and based in South Africa, seeks to promote the development of free human beings who are able, of themselves, to impart purpose and direction to their lives. “It is committed towards healing for a positive future based on creative ways of working that will lead towards the evolution and development of consciousness of all," explains Lorraine Forbes, Founder of the Foundation.
Forbes is a graduate of the University of Cape Town where she completed a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Mathematical Statistics and Numerical Analysis and Computation. However, she says her "real education" came from the school of life where she sought answers to the questions: Who am I? What is the meaning of human existence? What is my destiny task?
"I have been particularly influenced by a study of the great religious traditions; the works of Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology; and by Rudolf Steiner according to whose research humanity is in a continual process of transformation and evolution. I came to believe that it is only with consciousness that human beings begin to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and the impact of their actions on all that surrounds them," she says.
The Foundation’s sponsorship will cover the operational, management and administrative expenses of the Just Lead! programme. It is designated to fund six courses run over a period of three years for 900 participants, half of whom will come from Stellenbosch University and the other half from other tertiary institutions and NGO’s.
According to Forbes, the Just Lead! course offers great potential for creating positive and accountable leadership. “This is profoundly needed in the current political climate in South Africa with its leadership vacuum and where so much is at stake with many competing ideologies and polarised points of view. Such leadership would need the imagination, sense of truth and feeling of responsibility that is able to embrace all of our differences and levels of development and work collectively in the interests of an inclusive and integrated society.”
“One of the core beliefs of The Sophia Foundation is that funders carry accountability with the implementers for the impact of any programme. For this reason, we like to play an observational, collaborative and supportive role in the application of the projects we support. The Sophia Foundation will have certain engagement opportunities with the programme as agreed to with the Institute which will include access to the course content and attendance at some of the activities related to the programme," she explains.
"We still have much to learn and heal from our history both pre and post 1994 and need to have a collective understanding of the suffering we have been through as a nation, but South Africa is a land of courageous people and many active citizens are working for the good. I believe we are at a tipping point, but that there is still a chance that with lessons learnt and wise and accountable leadership we could once again become that beacon of hope for the rest of the world and lead by way of example.
“It is my wish that the Just Lead! course will facilitate this kind of leadership as it prepares students to be the leaders of the future and that its influence will filter into all levels of society. It is to this end that The Sophia Foundation has allocated its resources."
The Just Lead! course is designed to explore leadership as an agent of social change and ways of mobilising others in collective action.
It will inform and influence the thinking of some of our future leaders and could impact in many different ways.
The courses will consist of eight online sessions and will run from January to June and from July to December, starting in January 2018.
Each course will be followed by a three-day residency period that will include dialogue cafes featuring thought leaders, presentations of community projects, practical skills development workshops and policy discussions.