Case Study: Recruiting a team for the IPPF’s flagship Wish to Action programme

Green Park have helped the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) find the right people to launch a global programme transforming the lives of millions of women and girls.

The background

According to IPPF, 1.4 billion people across the world live in extreme poverty and two-thirds of them are women who lack the ability to have control over their own bodies and ultimately, their future. Unsafe sex is a major risk factor for death and disability in low and middle-income countries¹, yet many women aren’t able to protect themselves from STIs, unplanned pregnancies or gender-based violence.

In 2017, IPPF delivered 208.6 million sexual and reproductive health services and contributed to 146 policy and legal changes in support of sexual and reproductive health and rights. In 2018, led by IPPF and Marie Stopes International (MSI) consortia, a flagship new programme was launched to educate and empower women about sexual and reproductive health across Africa and South Asia - WISH (Women’s Integrated Sexual Health) to Action.

Green Park’s People Solutions Practice was appointed by IPPF to recruit and staff over 30 positions for the WISH programme, involving integrated healthcare expansion in 27 countries across Africa and South Asia.

The challenge

The Wish to Action programme required a recruitment partner to deliver roles in Africa and South Asia, including Uganda, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tanzania, requiring a culturally responsive, adaptable and astute approach to the attraction and acquisition of candidates. Given the nature of the programme’s missions, a key stipulation of the IPPF was a gender diverse approach and pro-female choice of candidates.

IPPF chose to work with Green Park due to the firm’s commitment and track record in delivering, developing and nurturing diverse talent, both in the UK and internationally. Among the suppliers considered, Green Park’s People Solutions Practice offered a uniquely agile and adaptable approach to talent attraction, retention and management processes, with specialist knowledge in the large-scale delivery of International people strategies. IPPF therefore turned to Green Park to design, plan, project manage and deliver this complex and unique international NGO project.

Founded in 2016, Green Park have placed over 700 roles across a broad range of functions across the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East and North and South America. Yet despite a vast track record delivering international placements, the partnership with IPPF would require total remote recruitment, a first for Green Park.

Results

Thanks to Green Park’s scalable business model, the team had the agility to work across a vast array of complex and varying client needs, careful to consider the cultural, ethical and social and political environments of the candidates. Fast forward to 2019 and the project has been driven to almost successful completion, with all but two roles have been filled.

The team, led by Senior Consultant Rachel Kaur, played a strategic collaborative role to IPPF, drawing on extensive international experience and Green Park’s understanding of diversity & inclusion as a powerful tool to leverage collective difference. As a result, IPPF been able to achieve their recruitment goals with Green Park as the sole supplier and an excellent fill rate and gender split rate.

Commended by candidates on Green Park’s responsiveness and professionalism throughout the recruitment process, Don MacIntyre, Director, Global Business Development/Transition Executive Director, WISH Programme, commented: “This was no small task, we were looking at building a team to handle one of the largest programmes in IPPF history. We were needing 30 + international development professionals with specialized experience able to manage a complex commercial project operating in 15 countries. The talent pool Green Park was able to deliver was more than we could have expected and allowed us to operate with the highly qualified and dynamic staff that will not only deliver on our programmatic commitments but enhance our services across IPPF. I cannot compliment the team at GP enough”.

Rachel Kaur, Senior Consultant at Green Park, comments: “It’s been an honour to work with an organisation who is positively impacting lives all over the world and whose values are so aligned to our own. Throughout the course of the recruitment process we have had the pleasure of getting to know individuals from varying walks-of-life, all with a passion to make a difference. It is this drive and motivation which inspires our team and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with IPPF and the WISH Programme.”

1. IPPF: https://www.ippf.org/our-priorities/women-girls

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