Speaker Series: Convening Dialogue for Social Innovation with Ralph Hamann & Rebecca Freeth

Описание: Join us for an inspiring session with Ralph Hamann and Rebecca Freeth, two leading voices in the field of social innovation and systemic change. Ralph is a Professor and Deputy Director of Faculty and Research at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, where his work bridges strategy, sustainability, social innovation, and cross-sector collaboration. As co-founder of the Embedding Project South Africa and the Southern Africa Food Lab, he brings deep insight into connecting research and practice for lasting societal impact.

Rebecca is a practitioner-scholar and senior consultant at Reos Partners (Africa), specializing in systemic challenges such as structural racism, gender-based violence, education, and organizational culture change. She leads Reos Africa’s initiatives in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, using dialogue as a powerful tool for societal and organizational renewal.

In this talk, Ralph and Rebecca will explore the realities of convening long-term multi-stakeholder dialogues for social innovation, drawing from their experience establishing and convening the Southern Africa Food Lab, a platform seeking to address hunger and malnutrition in the region. They will share lessons on the importance of perceived neutrality, credibility, and staying power, especially given that dialogue often takes more time to become impactful than initially expected.

They will also discuss the tensions that arise from diverse participant expectations and how embracing these tensions led to a shift toward deep dialogue, an approach that prioritizes authentic engagement between differing perspectives rather than forcing quick consensus. This session offers valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and anyone interested in fostering meaningful, long-term systemic change through dialogue.