ChildFund Alliance is seeking a consultant to conduct an in-depth review and update of the existing Corporate Partnerships Guidelines, and an analysis of the child-focused philanthropic interests and priorities of the overall corporate sector.
General Information:
Title: Corporate Partnerships Specialist (short-term consultancy)
Application deadline: 18 April 2022
Location: Home-based
Contract: Consultancy, estimated 20 working days within 2 to 3 months
Expected start date: May – September 2022 (negotiable)
About ChildFund Alliance
ChildFund Alliance is a global network of 11 child-focused development organizations that help children and their families overcome poverty and the underlying conditions that prevent children from reaching their full potential. We reach nearly 23 million children and their family members in 70 countries around the world. Members work to end violence against children; provide expertise in emergencies and disasters to ease the harmful impact on children and their communities; and engage children and youth to create lasting change. Our commitment, resources, innovation, knowledge and expertise serve as a powerful force to elevate the voices of children and transform their lives. For more details, please see: www.childfundalliance.org.
Background
Members of the ChildFund Alliance have strategically engaged for several years with corporations in different countries. Engagement and partnerships mechanisms are aligned with overall development cooperation priorities in terms of themes, sectors and countries of focus.
In alignment with ChildFund Alliance members’ policies and practices, ChildFund Alliance is looking to review and further develop its corporate partnerships guidelines, and develop a thorough analysis of current corporate trends and opportunities to maximize results for all children around the world.
The vision of ChildFund Alliance’s corporate engagement is to build long-term, mutually beneficial, integrated relationships with corporations and associations willing to provide funds, in-kind resources, knowledge-sharing, employee and customer engagement, introductions and contacts, and marketing resources to advance ChildFund Alliance’s mission.
Long-term Relationships — To maximize benefits for both corporations and ChildFund Alliance, we seek relationships with a long-term outlook and multi-year commitment.
Mutually Beneficial — By creating a mutually beneficial relationship, both parties can advance their goals: ChildFund Alliance receives support to advance its mission to create sustainable solutions for children, and the corporate partner advances its commitment to social responsibility, while also strengthening its brand and engaging its employees and customers in important social issues. Mutual interests and goals are identified and impact is measured. Both parties benefit from their investment of valuable time and resources.
Integrated — The most successful corporate relationships are those that are authentic, organic and woven into the fabric of each organization.
Mission-driven — ChildFund Alliance seeks partners committed to its mission and to provide children in situation of vulnerability with opportunities to reach their full potential and contribute to lasting and positive change in their communities.
ChildFund Alliance is seeking a consultant to conduct an in-depth review and update of the existing Corporate Partnerships Guidelines, and an analysis of the child-focused philanthropic interests and priorities of the overall corporate sector. The ChildFund Alliance Secretariat, in collaboration with the Alliance Corporate Subcommittee, comprising technical representatives from all Alliance members, will oversee the work.
Specific objectives are:
Analyze current policies, practices and trends for corporate partnerships within the ChildFund Alliance
Recognizing that different Alliance members have distinct practices, objectives and policies for corporate partnerships, the consultant will identify both commonalities and differences, as well as best practices across our current corporate partnership approaches. This mapping exercise will result in an analysis of the currents trends and latest developments within the Alliance, both at country and global levels, for corporate engagement and partnerships.
Review goals, principles and conditions of corporate partnerships
This work will lead to the review of ChildFund Alliance’s current corporate partnerships guidelines. The goal is to define how, in its partnership with the private sector, the Alliance will be selective and ensure a corporate partner’s full alignment with ChildFund Alliance’s core values, as well as outline clear and agreed upon responsibilities and accountability of all partners.
Through this review, the consultant will need to:
Recommend innovative engagement and partnerships practices with the private sector.
Develop clear procedures for identifying, assessing, and managing the risks of engaging and partnering with private sector partners, which will take into consideration the specificities of ChildFund Alliance work with and for children.
Identify the type of partnerships that leverages the strengths of the corporate sector on behalf of the world’s children, especially the most vulnerable.
Update the Alliance review processes for corporate partnerships, and include relevant quality indicators, values, and standards across different areas (financial, relevance, development impact, risk, environmental, governance, social governance (including CSR), human rights, core values, child labor, child safeguarding, anti-corruption, terrorism, internal policies and procedures, etc.
Recommend internal guidelines for cross-Alliance cooperation for corporate partnerships
Based on the Alliance’s current protocols and procedures, the consultant will be asked to reflect on how the different members of the Alliance cooperate for corporate partnerships, identify the value added and barriers to joint engagement and partnerships, and recommend internal guidelines for cross-Alliance collaboration and cooperation for corporate partnerships.
Analyzing current trends and provide guidance on the potential implications of adopting common corporate partnerships guidelines for ChildFund Alliance
The consultant will take into consideration the global context that is shaping and influencing corporate partnerships (Grand Bargain, Covid-19, etc.) and analyze partnership trends specific to ChildFund Alliance area of intervention.
The consultant will suggest potential implications of endorsing and implementing the corporate partnerships guidelines across ChildFund Alliance in relation to the current operational model. This should be broken down into benefits, challenges and proposed recommendations.
Key questions to be covered include:
What is the appetite for private sector engagement and partnerships (e.g., multi-national corporations, national companies, and small- to medium-sized businesses) in the child rights sector?
What is the shared-value approach across all types of partnerships (e.g., strategic programmatic funding, advocacy, leveraging a company’s core expertise and networks, and/or promoting child-rights principles in responsible business practices) to make a transformational difference for children?
What is the appetite for risk amongst Alliance members regarding engagement, partnerships, and contractual arrangements between Alliance members and in-country corporate partners?
What are the key implications in terms of operations, finance, and indirect cost-recovery for the existing ChildFund Alliance structure?
Timeframe and Deliverables
Activities are scheduled to take place during about 15 working days between May /September 2022. Outputs and activities for this work are provided below. (Note that actual dates are subject to discussion with the consultant.)
| Indicative dates | Outputs and Activities |
| May | · Finalization of contract |
| May | · Introductory chat with key ChildFund staff: context setting and sharing work plan and methodology |
| TBC | · Desk review background / context documents |
| TBC | · Virtual consultations with key stakeholders |
| TBC | · Draft deliverables |
| TBC | · Virtual consultations and feedback |
| TBC | · Final deliverables |
Expected deliverables are as follow:
Summary of key findings based on the initial desk review and virtual consultations
Reviewed Guidelines for Corporate Partnerships
Internal Guidelines for Cross-Alliance Corporate Partnerships
Review, analysis and recommendations report
Throughout the consultancy, the ChildFund Alliance Secretariat and the Alliance Corporate Subcommittee will:
Provide relevant background documents to the consultant
Be available for meetings over Skype/phone when needed
Organize virtual stakeholder consultations when needed.
The Consultant will report to ChildFund Alliance Global Partnership Advisor. All reports and documents must be written in English and provided in an electronic format (Microsoft Word).
Required Qualifications and Experience
University degree in social / development studies, or any other relevant areas
Excellent knowledge of private sector engagement and partnerships in development, the CSR ecosystem, and INGO structures
Solid experience in grant-making / resource mobilization and partnership development with private sector entities
Working experience and/or knowledge of non-profit sector
Ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders at all levels and on complex issues, from field workers to senior civil servants and/or corporate/business leaders
Proven record of professional, timely and high-quality consultancy assignments in the development, humanitarian and/or non-profit sector
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
Excellent analytical and report writing skills
Conditions
The successful applicant will be required to comply with the ChildFund Alliance Child Safeguarding Policy and Procedures and to sign the Code of Conduct. If the consultant will have direct, contact with children or have access to children’s personal information, a relevant Criminal Background Check must also be completed.
The Parties shall treat all discussions and documents relating to this TOR as confidential. The ChildFund Alliance, its Board and staff make no express or implied representation or warranty as to the currency, reliability or completeness of the information contained in this TOR. Nothing in this TOR should be construed to give rise to any contractual obligations or rights, expressed or implied, by the issue of this TOR or the submission of an expression of interest in response to it. No contract will be created until a formal written agreement is executed between ChildFund and a selected consultant.
Applying
Please submit your expression of interest (EOI), in English, to recruitment@childfundalliance.org by 18 April 2022. The EOI should include the Consultant’s CV, detailed technical and financial proposal based on the TORs, and availability between May and September 2022. Only finalists will be contacted.