Executive Summary

Programme Overview

The Time + Tide Foundation creates social value in Southern Africa by investing in individuals who have historically faced economic exclusion, particularly women and girls living in communities adjacent to safari lodge operations. Rooted in the belief that equipping people to overcome entrenched barriers transforms not only individual lives but entire communities, the Foundation works across focus areas including education, health, female empowerment, and biodiversity conservation.

The Kasaka Women’s Workshops (KWW) sit within the Foundation’s female empowerment focus area and were established in partnership with the Women’s History Museum of Zambia in response to a well-documented gap: professional women in Zambia, particularly those working in traditionally male-dominated fields, face severe structural barriers to career development, mentorship, and peer connection. Women make up approximately 5% of registered engineers nationally, fewer than 25% of professionals in photography and film, and over 97% of STEM and vocational training enrollees are male. These figures point to a persistent deficit not only in representation but in the infrastructure that supports women’s professional advancement.

The programme addresses this gap by hosting professional women from across Zambia for immersive, sector-specific workshops at Kasaka River Lodge in Zambia’s South Luangwa Game Management Reserve. Each workshop is led by an industry expert and combines structured skill development with peer networking, mentorship, and reflective time in a natural, off-grid environment. Workshop themes offered at Kasaka in 2024 included Podcasting, Ethnobotany, Hospitality, and Architecture, with institutional partnerships supporting delivery from organisations including the Zambia Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Studies and the Zambia Institute of Architects’ Women in Architecture Forum.

About This Study

This Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis evaluates the social value generated by the four workshops hosted at Kasaka River Lodge during 2024, the programme’s second operational year and first full calendar year of activity. A total of 48 women participated across the four workshops. The analysis is retrospective and evaluative, conducted in accordance with Social Value International principles and drawing on primary data collected through stakeholder engagement with participants, facilitators, and programme staff. The study was commissioned to provide the Time + Tide Foundation with a rigorous, evidence-based account of the value its investment in KWW has generated for participants and the broader community, and to support ongoing programme learning and development. As this report is made publicly available through the Social Value International database, it is also intended to offer practitioners, funders, and researchers a documented example of social value measurement applied to women’s professional development programming in a sub-Saharan African context.

Prior to finalisation, the indicator framework was submitted for a pre-report outcomes review by an SVI assessor, and revisions were made to the attribution framework in response.

Key Finding: SROI Ratio of 12.01:1

For every USD 1.00 invested in the Kasaka Women’s Workshops in 2024, USD 12.01 of social value was generated across the benefit period of all outcomes. Total investment: USD 39,606.06. Total Present Value of outcomes: USD 475,693.35. Net Present Value: USD 436,087.29.