WESSA Phase 1 report to HHCT_28.10.2021

25 th October 2021

Mr Anthony Nicklin and Ms Anne Emmett Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust

Dear Anthony and Anne,

Re: First report to the Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust on the WESSA Strategic Review Process

It has been six months since Sarah Alcock and Wandisile Mandlana, our Board Chairperson, met with you both to discuss WESSA’s relationship with the Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust. WESSA is extremely grateful for your immediate response and subsequent generous financial support to our organisation. WESSA placed a ‘fit for purpose’ consultant to guide and support the WESSA strategic review process . Professor Christo Fabricius from the Sustainability Research Unit of Mandela University, and two of his colleagues, namely Dr Bianca Currie and Dr Randall Jonas were selected after a rigorous evaluation process. I am now very pleased to submit the phase 1 report to you both as an update to the HHCT on the progress thus far. Essentially, the purpose of phase 1 was to understand WESSA's current interventions, governance structures and strategic plan; assess the forces that influence WESSA's value risks in the context of South and Southern Africa's environmental challenges and opportunities; and lastly to highlight trends, scenarios and alliances. The entire design thinking processes has 4 phases: I: Discover; II Define; III Develop and IV Reflect. This report is about Phase I (Discover) with some elements of Phase II (Define). The Phase I process involved a combination of document analysis, focus group discussions with a range of stakeholders, individual interviews and periodic reflection with the Strategic Working Group (an appointed sub-committee of the WESSA Board), Exco and all Board directors. The timeline stretched from 23 June until 13 September 2021. This entailed a 1-month extension of Phase 1, to include additional surveys, focus group discussions and individual interviews at the request of the Strategic Working Group and Board. The plans are well advanced to take these findings forward to define and develop a strategy that will include all stakeholders to put WESSA at the forefront as a leading organisation that truly represents South African civil society in environmental advocacy and the facilitation of collective action towards ecologically responsible stewardship of the planet.