Private Sector Engagement

The situation

Children have a stake in business as consumers, dependents of employees, young workers, future employees, business leaders and as citizens in the communities and environments in which business operates. Business – whether large or small – therefore inevitably interacts with and affects the lives of children. UNICEF is committed to accelerating results for children and contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by promoting organization-wide engagement with business. UNICEF engages with business to leverage innovations, expertise, products, and services for programme delivery, enhancing programme efficiency, providing social services, mobilizing resources, strategic procurement, and market shaping, as well as advocacy and influencing the impact of business on children.

UNICEF Uganda engages business through bilateral partnerships and collaborations, including shared value partnerships (SVPs), public-private partnerships (PPPs) or engagements with multi-stakeholder platforms. The various forms of engagement are not mutually exclusive, i.e., they can be complementary depending on the best approach to achieve programme impact in a particular context.

The Uganda Country Office efforts include the engagement with local, multinational, public, private, micro, small and medium sized companies, formal and informal sectors, as well as relevant stakeholders that have influence on business practices such as the government, multi stakeholder platforms, and business associations and federations.

Our Strategy

The Private Sector Engagement (PSE) strategy uses a three-pronged approach with across cutting advocacy in engaging the private sector detailed below.

1. Policy and Enabling Environment. 

We coordinate with and support the Government of Uganda regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, through policy-setting, law reform, regulation, implementation, and enforcement. UNICEF pursues collaborations with relevant government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) including the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development  (MGLSD), Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Education and Sport (MoES), Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), National ICT Authority Uganda (NITA-U) and other key stakeholders in the public and private sectors to review existing policies/legislation and develop new regulations to promote Child Rights and mitigate the potential negative impacts of business and the broader private sector on children. The office actively engaged in the development and advancement of legislation on provisions for breastfeeding and childcare facilities in the workplace to operationalize sections of the 2023 amendments to the Employment Act 2006.

2. Corporate Behaviour and Culture Change:

We engage corporate entities towards building commitment among the business sector to respect and support children’s rights and cultivate strategic partnerships with companies for technical and non-technical support infrastructure to implement the Child Rights in Business Principles (CRBPs), a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing the impact of business on the rights and well-being of children. The CRBP framework was developed by UNICEF, Save the Children and UN Global Compact as a global tool of ten principles designed to guide businesses to adapt child-friendly policies, processes, and practices, and where applicable, take reparatory measures to mitigate any harmful impacts of business on children. It is estimated that over 6.2 million children aged 5-17 years are involved in child labour excluding household chores. In numerous commodity supply chains in Uganda (including gold and coffee), child labour continues to be a salient human rights risk for many businesses, in part because of approaches focusing mainly on monitoring (or certifying the absence of) children in workplaces. We are working with partners such as International Labour Organisation, Food and Agricultural Organisation, International Trade Centre, and the European Union towards identifying synergies with existing policies, programmes and institutions as well as identifying appropriate mechanisms to support social dialogue and engagement between all actors in the supply chain.

3. Leveraging Business for Children:

We advance innovative ways to leverage business core resources to achieve programme results for children beyond financial contribution. The office engages with emerging donors, international and regional development financial institutions and actors in the business sector to explore innovative financing, including blended financing and impact bonds, in support of children’s agenda. In partnership with mobile telephone networks (MNOs), the office has advanced digital learning through connecting schools to the internet, whitelisting educational platforms and in-kind donation of data.  By identifying and working with the private sector, an initiative on Learning to Earning (L2E) for young people not in education, not in employment and not in training (NEET) is being rolled out. The L2E initiative leverages learning and on-job-training opportunities, internships opportunities and coaching through mentorships from the private sector for a smooth transition from training to the world of work for young people. The NEET upskilled youth are getting on-the-job professional experiences through a two - pillar internship opportunity and coaching in advanced digital and green sector skills within the digital and green industries. Our L2E programme, partners with the government’s Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and private sector companies to establish a comprehensive, sustainable, structured, and shared-value skilling programme which will accelerate a wide- breadth of transferrable skills, at scale, and through multiple learning pathways – formal, non-formal and community-based settings within Uganda.

Advocacy:

UNICEF Uganda is engaged in public and policy advocacy with and through business to influence business policies and practices to ensure that they respect and support children’s rights, as well as leverage business’s potential to influence and win support for the cause of children from decision-makers and the wider public. UNICEF Uganda utilizes key advocacy moments, including the World Children’s Day (20 November), to collaborate with key players in the private sector. We have jointly conducted advocacy with Airtel Uganda, Private Sector Foundation Uganda, and Standard Chartered Bank among others.

To engage the private sector, UNICEF is supporting:

• The development of a public-private partnership for child rights policy, which could include channeling a percentage of company budgets towards basic services for children, as well as establish minimum standards for companies to protect child rights.
• Companies to implement the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRBPs) – a comprehensive framework that supports businesses to address the impact of their business on the rights and well-being of children. This will mean advocating with industry networks and companies to robustly operationalize the Business Principles.
• The development innovative financing mechanisms to scale up high-impact interventions for both early childhood development (ECD) and adolescent girls.
• Implementation of partnerships with Private Sector Companies, Business Associations and Federations, and the Government of Uganda, to execute all of the above-mentioned interventions.
• Strengthening of partnerships with global CRBP partners, the UN Global Compact and Save the Children to support companies and industries to fully operationalize the CRBPs.

Expected key results:

1. Partnerships with Mobile Network Operators and the Government of Uganda shall close the digital gaps in education by providing internet connectivity to 1,000 school and whitelisting educational platforms online and offline. These platforms will be accessible by over 7,600 users, and more than 16,000 in and out-of-school adolescents.
2. Contribute to legislative advances related to children, including child labour regulations as well as family friendly policies to support nutrition, child, and maternal health in the workplace.
3. Enhance skilling, and on-job training for 20,000 young people in the green sector and 5,000 in the digital sector and advancing opportunities for decent work through multiple partnerships with up to 200 private sector companies, business associations, federations, and the Government of Uganda.
4. Leverage our convening power, coordination, influence, and expertise to advocate for children’s rights in business in the commodity supply chains by driving corporate sustainability due diligence for businesses in child rights, social protection, and school retention of children between five and 17 years old.

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