In November 2025, Khulisa carried out a national staff wellness survey across Khulisa Social Solutions’ programmes and regional operations. The goal was simple but vital: to pause, listen, and honestly evaluate how staff are coping while working in some of South Africa’s most complex, trauma-exposed community environments. 

What emerged was neither disengagement nor a lack of commitment. On the contrary, staff expressed a deep alignment with Khulisa’s mission, a strong sense of purpose, and a willingness to go beyond formal job descriptions to serve communities. The survey clearly and consistently revealed the structural costs of working within funding models that undervalue people, systems, and care. 

WHAT THE SURVEY TOLD US 

Across Gauteng, Rustenburg, Witbank, and the Western Cape, staff reported cumulative emotional strain, rising administrative and compliance pressures, safety risks in high-risk environments, and persistent anxiety linked to contract insecurity and sustainability concerns. 

Importantly, staff did not frame these pressures as individual burnout or personal failure. They identified them as systemic consequences of ad hoc, short-term funding with limited or no overhead recovery—funding structures that expect high-quality, ethical service delivery without adequately resourcing the conditions that enable such delivery. 

This insight matters because it shifts the discussion from “staff resilience” to sector responsibility. 

THE OVERHEAD MYTH IS NOT ABSTRACT—IT IS LIVED 

For years, the social sector has challenged the so-called overhead myth: the belief that low administrative or operational costs indicate effectiveness, integrity, or impact. While this myth has been widely debunked in theory, Carisa’s findings show that its consequences are still being experienced daily by frontline practitioners. 

When overheads are capped unrealistically or excluded altogether: 

• Administrative and compliance work expands but is not recognised as core labour 

• Trauma exposure is normalised without funded debriefing or psychosocial support 

• Safety protocols are expected but not resourced 

• Supervisors are stretched thin, carrying both delivery and emotional containment roles 

What results is a quiet but dangerous normalisation of exhaustion, emotional labour, and personal sacrifice as “part of the work.” Khulisa is clear: this is neither ethical nor sustainable.  

WHAT KHULISA IS DOING ABOUT IT 

With effect from February, Khulisa is implementing the following actions.  

• Positioning staff wellbeing as a core operational risk, embedded in management reporting, governance oversight, and organisational decision-making. 

• Rolling out structured, trauma-informed support, including phased access to external debriefing for frontline staff and supervisors. 

• Formalising and protecting administrative work as core therapeutic and compliance labour, with more realistic workload structuring. 

• Strengthening safety protocols and duty of care, including standardised fieldwork, home-visit, and life-threat response procedures across all regions. 

• Clarifying roles, responsibilities and escalation pathways to ensure fairness, accountability, and sustainable supervision. 

• Engaging funders differently, using this evidence to advocate for ethical funding models that recognise overhead recovery as essential, not optional.  

A MESSAGE TO THE DONOR FRATERNITY 

If we are serious about long-term social impact, then funding models must move beyond project-by-project generosity towards structural responsibility. 

This means funding that: 

• Recognises overheads as mission-critical 

• Invests in people, systems and supervision 

• Allows organisations to plan beyond twelve-month cycles 

• Acknowledges that trauma-exposed work requires funded care structures 

The Khulisa survey sends a clear message: you cannot ask organisations to heal communities while systematically under-resourcing the people doing the healing. 

REFRAMING WHAT IMPACT REALLY MEANS 

Impact is not achieved by pushing organisations to do more with less each year. It is achieved by enabling them to stand strong—ethically, emotionally and operationally. For Khulisa, confronting the overhead myth is not a theoretical exercise. It is a leadership responsibility, grounded in evidence, 

accountability and care for the people who make social change possible. Staff wellness is not a “nice-to-have.” It is an investment in organisational resilience, ethical practice, and lasting impact.