Comunicación entre los miembros de la tripulación:

To understand the risks and opportunities of engaging with the private sector in line with your advocacy objectives, you need to look at the overall impact – both positive and negative – that the private sector can have on children.

This diagram is not an exhaustive picture, but can be used to generate discussion and ideas.

Potential positive and negative effects of the private sector on children

Paying taxes can be used to invest in social services

for children

Exploiting workers and local

communities Crowding out smaller producers with children to support Exploitation of natural resources without giving enough in return Excluding poor from access to vital services (e.g.

privatisation of basic services)

Producing products/services with negative social

impact (e.g. arms, tobacco) Contributing to conflict (e.g. by hiring private security forces) Evading taxes, which could be used to invest in children Negatively influencing decision-makers Generating economic growth Positively influencing decision makers Creating jobs/livelihood opportunities for families

CHILDREN

Funding initiatives that benefit children Improving access to products and services

= Potential positiveeffect of private sector on children = Potential negativeeffect of private sector on children

Environmental damage and degradation Building stability in fragile economies

Engaging with the private sector to have a sustainable impact on children’s lives

Save the Children can work with the private sector as partners or use advocacy to influence their policies and practice from outside. It is important to weigh the risks and benefits of engaging as partners (you should check your organisation’s guidelines for engaging with the private sector).

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Opportunities

•Stronger influence with decision-makers

•More resources (funding and people) for our work

•Benefiting from private sector expertise such as project management and budgeting

•Sharing of best practice

Risks

• Potential loss of credibility if you’re not perceived as an authentic advocate for children’s needs and rights

• Getting involved with a partner who only wants to use your relationship for public relations (PR) and not to create real change (sometimes called “innocence by association”).

Engaging with the private sector as partners

Due diligence

The term due diligence has many different definitions. In this context, it means in-depth research to identify the risks and opportunities of working with a particular company. When doing a due-diligence test you should consider the following questions, and their implications:

Impact for children:What can you achieve for children by working with this company

in terms of the impact on its work practices, leveraging additional resources (non-financial), changing policies, or the additional funding provided?

“Brand” fit:Does it enhance or detract from the Save the Children “brand” (that which

makes Save the Children special and distinctive)? What is the level of risk to your reputation if you say ‘no’ or ‘yes’ to this engagement?

• How well does the company’s product portfolio fit with Save the Children’s core values and mission?

• What impact will the corporate partner have on Save the Children’s name and reputation?

• Has the company been involved in any recent controversy or legal proceedings (looking back a minimum of 5-10 years)? If so, what was the issue involved? How relevant would it be to any proposed partnership?

Resources:What would be the practical demands made on you operationally and could you meet expectations? What is the potential cost/benefit?

Conflicts:Are there any potential conflicts in terms of your core programmatic or

advocacy priorities, or respecting/protecting children’s rights?

• What is the ownership and structure of the company? Who are its subsidiaries and key suppliers?

• Are there any links to a controversial sector or to political/religious organisations? • Is the company a major supplier to an excluded sector (arms/weapons companies,

tobacco or alcohol companies)?

• What are the company’s countries of operation/supply/markets?

• Would there be any particular concerns (e.g. Save the Children staff security) in any of these countries?

• What are the company’s employment policies AND practices, including its policy on child labour?

Other:What is the opportunity cost of this relationship – i.e. would it mean you could

not do something else that was more important or more valuable?

You can also research the company’s track record by doing an Internet search on Google.Type in the company name (its legal title) and add key words like “child rights violation”, “abuse”, “exploitation”, etc. If the company is an offender, a simple Google search will allow you to access publicly available information on the company (newspaper articles, lawsuits, etc.).You will not, however, find this information by looking at the company’s website alone.

Other considerations for engaging with the private sector

After you have done the due-diligence test, you should get the partnership off to a successful start by asking some key questions that will help you judge whether you will be able to work together effectively to achieve your change objectives:

Does the prospective partner have… • a good track record?

• reasonable standing/respect within their own sector?

• reasonable standing/respect from other sectors and other key players? • wide-ranging and useful contacts they are willing to share?

• access to relevant information/resources/experience?

• skills and competencies that complement those of your organisation and/or other partners?

• sound management and governance structures? • a record of financial stability and reliability? • a stable staff group?

• sticking power when things get tough?

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Deciding to engage with a private sector partner

If you decide to engage with a private company after weighing up the potential

benefits and risks, you then need to consider the same questions and issues of working with a given company for your partners (see Session 7.1 on working with alliances). You also need to consider how disagreements with public authorities will be handled, and how to manage public disagreement or embarrassing issues that involve

corruption or matters that have scandal associated with them.

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In document Proyecto profesional de embarco a bordo del B / T Camisea (página 106-109)