IYF’s experience leveraging partnerships for youth development WB Y2Y Conference Session 4: Leveraging Partnerships: The Role of Various Stakeholders October 23, 2008

Overview Partnerships are fundamental to IYF’s business model… –Investing in a network of locally sustainable youth serving organizations –Building alliances across sectors, in particular with companies, to promote “ESS” effectiveness, scale and sustainability of youth programming

IYF Partner Network – Global Presence 3 71 countries; 166 partners

“Sub-Networks” ProgramsStatsGeographical Regional Focus EEA6 countries 46 partners East Asia/Pacific, South Asia, Middle East/North Africa Entra21 (Phase 1)18 countries 32 partners Latin America/Caribbean EAYPI3 countries 16 partners Sub-Saharan Africa Make a Connection26 countries 28 partners Europe, North America, LaC, East Asia/Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa Global Fund for Youth Development 19 countries 33 partners East Asia/Pacific, South Asia, Europe, Latin America/Caribbean 4

Benefits of working in-network with local NGOs Program delivery with capacity building Local relevance of programming Link to national agendas and platforms Collaboration with local networks of NGOs and other key stakeholders Sustainability of efforts – long lasting links to communities Lower operational costs Opportunity to build strategic global alliances with donors (across themes and regions)

Working with Companies – Partnership Values and Principles  Youth as Assets: Positive potential versus relief or remediation  Co-creation: All partners collaborate on design and implementation  Local Relevance: Programs locally defined; rooted in local youth need  Leverage: Multi-themed, multi-country, multi-sector alliance building plus product integration  Metrics and Measurement: Commitment to measuring combination of individual and societal outcomes  Standards of Excellence: commitment to quality design, execution, monitoring, and relationship stewardship  Branding and Communications: Flexibility for exclusive corporate branding  Employee Engagement: Meaningful, appropriate employee volunteerism

What makes corporate partnerships work? Experiences from global partnership with Nokia Shared goals and “value fit” Understanding and appreciation of core competencies and clearly defined roles and responsibilities Spirit of co-creation Emphasis on local relevance, with global systems to support – “glocal” NGO-corporate alliance Commitment to metrics and measuring impact Ability to refresh and renew the relationship Prove and Improve (taking tested programs to scale) Long term investments (6-8 years) allows for realistic progress for impact and sustaining programs Balancing social benefit with business benefit

Challenges Mismatch between corporate schedule (quarterly) and NGO (min of 3 years for sustained development) Changes are more frequent in business than NGO field Sometimes speak different language and different communication styles Competing priorities – societal benefit vs. business benefit When roles and responsibilities change