Date of work: 2021
The Sugar Industry Trust Fund for Education (SITFE) was established in 1965 to support quality education in South African sugarcane growing areas. SITFE’s flagship initiative is the Study Assistance Programme, which provides bursaries for tertiary education. It has also supported a wide range of other education initiatives with a recent focus on early childhood development (ECD) and career development for high school students.
In 2021 SITFE concluded a five-year funding cycle and retained Trialogue to support it in reviewing the performance of its existing programmes and developing a revised strategy for the next five years. Trialogue undertook the following activities: a desktop review and positioning of existing SITFE-funded programmes; interviews with six SITFE trustees and staff; and a strategy workshop to review current focus areas and positioning of individual initiatives, review the current strategy, and agree on future strategic shifts required.
Following the strategy workshop, Trialogue prepared a document highlighting the situational analysis and proposed strategy going forward. In 2022 the Trust began implementing the recommended strategic shifts, starting with those to the bursary programme, after which it will focus on the changes to its ECD programme.
“We have worked with Trialogue for many years and the quality of work has always been excellent. The SITFE trustees were happy with the research and documents from Trialogue and the Trust is currently implementing the recommended strategic shifts.”
Sipamandla Mpikeleli: Development Manager, Sugar Association of South Africa