Strengthening leadership competencies and skills is crucial to the sustainability of the thriving Cape Town Jewish community, which stands out for the strength of its communal organisations. This is why the leadership training interventions presented by The Eliot Osrin Leadership Institute (EOLI) are so important.
Eliot Osrin z”l was the architect of Jewish Cape Town and dedicated himself to many communal organisations for well over 50 years. The establishment of EOLI is testament to his leadership qualities and vision for a sustainable community – his visionary leadership, integrity, strategic thinking, and diplomacy. These are attributes that leaders of the future can seek to uphold.
“Essentially, the EOLI was established to people-proof the community,” explains Viv Anstey, the Director. “Through this leadership institute, we are creating a pipeline for leadership succession within our community, and this positively impacts the 56+ community organisations
we serve.”
EOLI offers many leadership models and interventions for the benefit of the community. The extended Leadership Development Programme is EOLI’s flagship bi-annual leadership development programme. This initiative lasts for almost a full year, following which the graduates are empowered to find the right fit for their elevated role (for those already in organisations) or community service journey (for those stepping up for the first time).
Commenting on the cohort of students this year, Viv says, “It was inspiring to see some totally new recruits, those with no previous involvement in community affairs, wanting to learn and to take on community roles. This cohort was also made up of both existing volunteers and professionals, and both groups joined the programme with a view to elevate themselves through exposure to a new toolkit to lead, targeting both personal and professional development.”
The cohort was exposed to a curated leadership curriculum of five modules, one of which involved project-based learning, geared to enhance the community and provide for the needs of our citizens, with fresh eyes. Details about the various projects worked on in the Action Learning Module can be seen in the table.
| SECTOR | NAME OF PROJECT | TEAM MEMBERS | THE PROJECT CONCEPT | WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? |
Education | The adventure of literature | Ashley Hurwitz, Sheona Balikaran | Making reading and Jewish literature exciting by gamifying the experience, and connecting Jewish learners | An event that will bring parents and children together is planned for March 2025 |
Education | PJ Library Proposal | Samantha Reznik, Monique Peer, Rachael Bootcov | Optimising the impact of the PJ Library with new events and PJ audiences | To make Bookalicious Week an annual event. The goal is to expand its reach, engaging a larger number of Jewish children and, in the future, extending participation to primary school students as well |
Education | Schools Professional Development | Jaqueline Zacks, Melissa Hack | Collaboration to enhance professional development between three Jewish primary schools in Cape Town | To establish a calendar of opportunities and interests, together with the potential partners as a model to be replicated in the high schools |
| Education | Remedial Proposal | Russel Berman | Seeking to expand the philosophy of inclusion in Jewish schools. Focus on children who are neurodiverse | To further research the need, the resources, and the partners to make this dream a reality. |
| Communication | Communication Refresh | Liesa Jossel, Ziv Okun | New voices attract new readers and new writers, with a focus on introducing new messaging, like videos | To plan together with Cape Jewish Chronicle the hosting and enhancing of the Chronicle’s website with video clips |
| Strategy | A strategy for a community | Miriam Leichtling | Addressing community strategy and change, unpacking what priorities should constitute community | Investigate the possibility of applying the American Jewish Community Centre (JCC) model for Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs |
| Volunteerism | Step Forward Volunteer Training & Recruitment Initiative | Nicole Merdjan, Tracey Frank, Caryn Querido, Neil Bernberg, Hayley Cohen | Establishing a platform to recruit, train and deploy volunteers that supports those seeking to serve and the needs of organisations | Develop and launch volunteering platform |
| Care Services/ Welfare | Change Management for Care Services | Robyn Black, Stacey Melmed, Bevan Buck | Supporting Care Services Change Management plan in line with Cape Town 2040 Vision from the bottom up, while designing it from the top down | Conduct a roadshow to educate and engage with all levels of staff about the change management plan for Cape Town’s Care Services |
The Culmination & Graduation event on 31st October was inspiring and exciting. Attended by 90 community and organisation stakeholders, donors, coaches and mentors, there was an open-minded atmosphere of the changing of the guard, the transmission and transferring of knowledge, and the value in Investing in People who Invest in Community, EOLI’s mantra.
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