BACKGROUND AND ABOUT TEKANO
In November 2025, Tekano Health Equity adopted its 10-year strategy (2026–2036), positioning Tekano as a Catalyst Hub for Health Equity and articulating an expanded ambition around leadership, ecosystem strengthening, and systemic transformation. This strategy marks a meaningful evolution in Tekano’s organisational identity from a fellowship programme to a platform organisation that weaves leaders, innovations, and institutions into a resilient ecosystem for health equity.
This strategic inflection point makes the 2026 Board Evaluation more than a routine governance exercise. In addition to assessing governance health against governance best practice, the MoI and Committee Terms of Reference, the Board Charter, the evaluation should ask a forward-looking question: is the THESA Board sufficiently oriented to the strategy to provide effective governance direction, appropriate challenge, and meaningful oversight as Tekano enters this new chapter?
Importantly, the evaluation must distinguish between the Board’s governance role and the executive’s implementation role. Board members are not expected to possess the operational or specialist competencies required to execute the strategy — that is management’s domain. The question is whether the Board, collectively, has sufficient contextual awareness, values alignment, and strategic literacy to interrogate, guide, and hold management accountable in relation to the 2026–2036 Strategy.
It must also be recognised that current Board members were recruited under the previous strategy. This evaluation is therefore not a test of whether individuals possess all the skills the new strategy might ideally require. Rather, it is a baseline assessment that will inform a considered Board renewal and development plan over the coming years, undertaken in a spirit of growth rather than judgement.
In line with Tekano’s Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI), Board Charter, Committee Terms of Reference, and the King V Code of Governance, the Board and its Committees are required to regularly evaluate their performance and composition.
These Terms of Reference set out the requirements for an external facilitator to conduct a Board evaluation that is both governance-compliant and appropriately forward-looking — one that is proportionate, fair, and rooted in the realities of Tekano’s current moment.
We have asked for a board evaluation because it has now been one year since the new board members were onboarded and an appropriate time to check in. This scope could be limited to the historical performance against the strategy up to December 2025 and the board performance in contributing to the achievement of that strategy through their oversight.
AIMS OF THE BOARD EVALUATION
The evaluation serves two complementary purposes:
- Assessing governance health in line with corporate governance best practice and the Tekano MoI and
- Assessing strategic orientation in relation to the 2026–2036 Strategy. These are distinct but mutually reinforcing.
Repurpose as:
The board evaluation is to assess the Board’s performance for the period January 2025 to December 2025 and assess the effectiveness of the Board during this period, in alignment with the Tekano MOI, Board Charter, Committees TOR, and governance practices adopted for the organisation. This evaluation will identify whether adjustments are required to the MOI, Board Charter, and Committees’ Terms of Reference, as well as highlight relevant King V governance practices that Tekano should consider adopting going forward.
For the detailed Request for Proposals (RFP) and scope of work, please download the full document below.
Recent Comments