Our delivery partners source seasoned professionals with hard-to-find business / technical skills for free, who share in their cause, invest in growing their competencies and leadership, so they can maximize their impact on the lives of the people and communities they serve!

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PARTNERING with HFI:  HOW IT WORKS

ALIGNING PERSPECTIVES…

So you want to gain access to seasoned business and technical professionals with hard-to-source skills for free, who are like-minded in faith, want to grow our organization’s impact and share in your cause to make the lives of the people groups we serve better – right?

Does any of these statements sound like you?:

  • as a service delivery organization operating in the developing world, you’ve struggled to find the skilled, affordable resources you need to take your organization to the next level. If we do find them, we simply cannot afford them!
  • you’ve consumed significant resources to host large, short-term mission groups and found they really don’t bring the specific professional/technical skills you are short of?
  • we struggle with how  to go about finding the right talent who not only have deep knowledge and skill, they are also willing to come and serve us for free and invest in building our leadership, our capacity, and our reach in the communities and people groups we are trying to serve.
  • we find that there are just too many organizations out there offering services; how does one make sense, narrow down the options, and find the right person who not only have the skills but also shares in our cause and vision?
  • if we do find the rightly-skilled person, how do we know they will actually come, deliver on their promise and make a lasting difference to our team?
  • we’re challenged to grow our leadership competencies and pair our younger, high-potential leaders with seasoned professionals who are also aligned in our faith and cause.
  • how do we connect with the talented people on the other side of the world and get them to take notice of the difference we are trying to make locally?
  • if we could just afford bringing in the skills that we need.
  • If we could just get access to seasoned Christian professionals!

OUR QUALIFICATIONS…

  • We know it’s difficult to find key professional skills in the developing world, even harder to access them for zero cost
  • We know how important it is to know that the people you allow to join your team are aligned with your cause and committed to help your organization grow and increase its impact in the communities you serve
  • We know what its like to try hosting large, mixed groups of volunteers who come for only a couple of weeks; getting them to delivery real lasting value by investing in targeted skills training, spending the extended one-on-one time your leaders could really use to grow their leadership competencies.
  • We’ve placed people for 5 years
  • We have the network connections and relationships with a wide spectrum of business and technical professionals, including hard-to-source and expensive “hot” skills.
  • We do the matching for you, ensuring that the volunteer your personalized volunteer opportunity for service aligns with your specific passion, professional skills and experience.
  • We support the professional and follow-up to ensure the role is delivered to the highest standards.
  • We take on the burden of planning the volunteer’s travel and local living and transport arrangements. All you need to do is provide them with a productive office environment for them to work alongside your team, and commit to provide progress reporting and feedback to ensure the posting is a win-win for you the partner, the posted volunteer, and HFI.
  • We take our relationships with our hosting Partners seriously, therefore we make sure there is clarity, good communication, and aligned understanding through the provision of comprehensive guidelines, tools, follow-up processes, agreements and services for every stage of the volunteer search and posting life-cycle. We want to avoid surprises and ensure that potential risks have been anticipated and provisioned for as much as practical and reasonable.  For example we provide:
    1. A dedicated Opportunity Coordinator for each hosting Partner that owns the HFI relationship and is point person to handle all communications and issues should they arise.
    2. Each posted professional volunteer goes through a rigorous skills and passion matching assessment, review and approval
    3. HFI Logistics Coordinators oversee comprehensive Posting Budgeting and Planning
    4. While on-post HFI Logistics Coordinators maintain regular connection, follow-up monthly progress and performance reporting and lead any issue escalation and resolution process.

The goal of each professional volunteer posting is that the Partner organization experience a worry-free engagement, benefit from highly professional skills, knowledge-transfer, and mentorship for all members of their teams.  As the professional looks to leave a legacy of excellent service and relational connection, the partner organization sees long-lasting benefits in their increased delivery effectiveness, reach, enhanced leadership, all leading to more people’s lives positively impacted in the communities they serve.

LET’S BUILD A PLAN TOGETHER…

  1. Apply – fill in our application to become an HFI Partner.  Your application helps us understand your organization’s vision and mandate, the benefactor groups you are serving and the communities you are operating in. Once your application is reviewed by one of our Opportunity Coordinators and approved by our Review Council, you become an official HFI Partner and we start looking for ways to send Christian professional volunteers to serve your vision.
  2. Ask – you bring forward a specific business or technical role that you cannot seem to fill locally.  We post the role on our “Open Opportunities” board and begin to leverage our professional networks to identify candidates to fill the position as a posted volunteer.
  3. Match – our Volunteer Coordinators find a professional volunteer who perfectly matches your skills and experience needs and whose passion is aligned to your service delivery causes. We notify you once the candidate is approved by our Review Council and we work collaboratively to finalize arrival dates and firm up their local living arrangements.
  4. GROW! – our posted professional volunteer arrives and you welcome them and on-board them as a member of your team.  They deliver their professional skills, train your staff so that you can continue to perform this role when they complete their posting and your team benefits from their leadership coaching and mentoring along the way.  As you say farewell to them you know that your team’s professional competencies and leadership capability have risen to a new level and your organization’s impact will continue to grow and expand across your benefactors and the communities you serve to make peoples’ lives better!
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VALUE PROPOSITION
Matching volunteer Canadian business/technical professionals to meet short-to-medium-term skills needs with developing world service delivery partners is the heartbeat of our mission at Hands and Feet International.

If you are interested in becoming a service delivery hosting Partner with Hands and Feet International and are prepared to receive short-to-medium-term volunteers with professional business/technical skills that you are challenged to source locally, then we may be able to help by matching your needs with one of our fully-screened and ready to serve volunteers!

To the Partner delivery organization we bring:

  • Short-to-medium-term Staffing needs for locally-hard-to-find skill-sets:
    • Properly-vetted, competent, seasoned and passionate volunteers that address specific short-to-medium-term, hard-to-source-locally skills and know-how vacancies;
    • High-quality services delivered without cost to the organization;
    • Access to Canadian business/technical professionals that would not normally be aware of the delivery organization’s needs; and
    • Assurance of alignment of Christian values and conduct of the volunteer.
  • Capacity Building & Training of leadership competencies:
    • Growth and mentoring of their leaders and building their organization’s longer-term capacity.
  • Systems Strengthening in process optimization and operational effectiveness:
    • Helping ensure the delivery organization’s processes and systems are well designed, integrated and operating in an optimized and robust manner and have the capacity to scale to meet the organizations future growth plans.
  • Canadian Channel for Local Projects:

A Canadian channel to make application for local projects that are connected with our volunteer service postings.  Once project applications are sanctioned by Hands and Feet International, fund raising programs can be initiated and local projects implemented through agency agreements.

PRE-SCREEN CHECKLIST

Do these boxes describe your current mission, delivery focus, professional skills needs and willingness to accept international volunteers to become part of your team:

  1. Operating in a developing country
  2. Non-profit status registered in operating country receiving volunteers
  3. Christian values in vision/mission
  4. Service delivery programs focused on building resiliency and improving the lives of vulnerable children, women and men suffering under poverty and marginalization or otherwise at-risk
  5. Capacity to receive and integrate international volunteers
  6. English/French business communications proficiency
  7. Short-to-medium term need for skills/experience not locally available

If you can say “yes” to all the above statements, then why not consider applying to become a delivery Partner with Hands and Feet International?  You can use our help to frame and qualify specific opportunities for a seasoned volunteer professional to come and fill your business/technical skills and leadership gap needs that you are challenged to source with local talent?

FAQ (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
 

  1. Timing of Volunteer placement and arrival on post

    Answer

    • Once HFI receives the Service Opportunity and publishes it on their website and social media channels, every effort will be made to identify, vet and approve a suitable Volunteer business/technical professional. Once confirmation of a Volunteer is made, it may take an additional 4-6 weeks to finalize all travel and living arrangements.  Partners can therefore reasonably expect a minimum of 2-3 months from time of first publishing of the Service Opportunity to when the Volunteer arrives on-site and begins to engage in fulfilling the posting. 
  2. Working hours:

    Answer

    • It is expected that the working hours delivered by the Volunteer in their roles will generally average eight hours per day with two days off per week. The Partner and the Volunteer can come to mutually acceptable modified working hour and day arrangements.
  3. How long does the Partnership agreement with HFI remain effective?

    Answer

    • The Partnership MOU with HFI is structured to remain in effect for an initial period of one year and then to automatically renew annually thereafter. During a period when an active volunteer posting is not in progress, either party can terminate the MOU for convenience by giving the other party 30 days written notice.
PARTNER LIFECYCLES
Partner Application Process:

Steps:

  1. Delivery Organization sees HFI mandate on Soc. Media or hf-i.ca; Or HFI Opportunity Coordinator solicits Delivery Organization to partner with HFI.
  2. The organization makes application to be HFI Partner (using online partner application form).
  3. The organization is reviewed and approved as HFI Partner.
  4. An HFI Partner MOU is signed by both parties.
  5. The Partner is added to published list of HFI Partners
  6. The Partner brings forward new Service Opportunities to be sourced by HFI.

Note: HFI reserves the right to accept or decline any application for Partnership according to its specific needs and mandates.  All decisions of HFI are final.  You will be kept informed appropriately and in a timely manner throughout the Partner application process.

Service Opportunity Application Process:

Opportunities to have HFI volunteers be posted to serve with the Partner can originate from two primary sources:

  1. Partner-driven role need:
    1. Partner identifies new resource need/gap locally
    2. Partner reviews new opportunity with HFI to confirm details. alignment and ability to host volunteer
  • HFI accepts opportunity request from Partner
  1. Partner formalizes opportunity using the Service Opportunity Detail template.
  2. Service Opportunity Detail is added to Available Opportunity Listing on hf-i.ca & Soc. Media
  3. HFI brings forward qualified/screened volunteers to fulfill the Service Opportunity
  • HFI and Partner approve Volunteer to be posted to the Service Opportunity

 

  1. HFI-solicited custom volunteer service proposal:
    1. HFI solicits Partner if new Service Opportunity is a fit with their local needs and priorities
      1. Or HFI solicits new Delivery Organization with possible alignment with new Service Opportunity
    2. Existing Partner: If fit:
      1. Partner reviews new opportunity with HFI to confirm details. alignment and ability to host volunteer
      2. HFI accepts opportunity request from Partner
      3. Partner formalizes opportunity using the Service Opportunity Detail template.
      4. Volunteer requesting customized Service Opportunity is posted to fulfill the Service Opportunity.