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Consortium Alignment Framework for Excellence

(CAFE)

PA r t n E r s h i P

PArtnErshiP, PQsD
CatholiC Relief SeRviCeS BaltimoRe, mD 21201 USa 410-625-2220
pqSDReqUeStS@CRS.oRg

soliDArity Will trAnsForm thE WorlD

Partnership is fundamental to how CRS sees itself in the world. We believe profoundly that change occurs
through our Catholic Church and other local partners, that by sustaining and strengthening local institutions
we enhance a community’s ability to respond to its own problems. Catholic Relief Services puts its approach
to development, emergency relief, and social change into practice through partnerships with a wide array of
organizations: local churches and nonprofits, host governments, international agencies, and others.

Our belief that solidarity will transform the world inspires a commitment to right relationships with those we
serve, in collaboration with the Catholic Church and other faith-based or secular organizations closest to those
in need. We strive for partnerships founded on a long-term vision and a commitment to peace and justice. For
more than sixty years, CRS has worked side-by-side with our partners to alleviate human suffering, promote
social justice, and assist people as they strive for their own development.

our PArtnErshiP PrinCiPlEs

1. Share a vision for addressing people’s immediate needs and the underlying causes of suffering and injustice.
2. Make decisions at a level as close as possible to the people who will be affected by them.
3. Strive for mutuality, recognizing that each partner brings skills, resources, knowledge, and capacities in a

spirit of autonomy.

4. Foster equitable partnerships by mutually defining rights and responsibilities.
5. Respect differences and commit to listen and learn from each other.
6. Encourage transparency.
7. Engage with civil society, to help transform unjust structures and systems.
8. Commit to a long-term process of local organizational development.
9. Identify, understand, and strengthen community capacities, which are the primary source of solutions to

10. P romote sustainability by reinforcing partners’ capacity to identify their vulnerabilities and build on

local problems.

their strengths.

tAblE oF ContEnts

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acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1

introduction to Cafe ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3

how and why Cafe was Developed ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

when and how to Use Cafe …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Cafe Standards …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8

Cafe Reference Sheets ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Cafe implementation guide ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18

glossary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 28

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ACknoWlEDgEmEnts

CAFE, the Consortium Alignments Framework for
Excellence, began by a conversation between CRS
Malawi and CRS headquarters in late 2006. By 2007,
CRS Malawi prepared a proposal for a document that
would help CRS and its partners work more effectively
in consortium.

In May 2008, CRS staff from eight countries joined
seven partner organizations to draft the document.
CAFE is based on the original documents written at the
“Improving Consortium Governance Workshop” held in
Salima, Malawi. The participants and the editing team
thank CRS Malawi for their excellent hospitality and
for providing the venue and logistics that made CAFE
possible. Additionally, CAFE would not be possible
without the generous support of the United States
Agency for International Development’s Office of Food
for Peace.

Authors
Mulugetta Abede, national director, World Vision Malawi
Hastings Banda, associate operations director, World

Nicaragua

Rosie Calderon, public resource specialist, Catholic Relief

Relief Services Malawi

Vision Malawi

Services USA

Malawi

Nick Ford, country representative, Catholic Relief Services

Dane Fredenburg, deputy regional director, Program
Quality, Catholic Relief Services Southern Africa
Regional Office

Paul Jones, country representative, Emmanuel International

Malawi

William Kawenda, program manager, CADECOM Malawi
Robert Komakech, head of finance and administration,
Program Management Unit, Catholic Relief Services
Malawi

Ken Maclean, country representative, Catholic Relief

Services Kenya

EDitors
Nick Ford, country representative, Catholic Relief Services

Paul McCartney, country director, Save the Children

Malawi

Solani Mhango, program manager, Catholic Relief Services

Orhan Morina, chief of party, AIDS Relief, Catholic Relief

Services Uganda

Tsielo Mpeqa, executive director, CARITAS, Lesotho
Mathews Mphande, program manager, Salvation Army

Malawi

Malawi

Malawi

Hyghten Mungoni, country representative, Africare Malaw
Maggie Mzungu, program manager, Africare Malawi
Gabriella Rakotomanga, head of programming, Catholic

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Relief Services Madagascar

Christopher Reichert, learning, monitoring and evaluation
regional manager, Catholic Relief Services Southern
Africa Regional Office

Jefferson Shriver, chief of party, Catholic Relief Services

Jerome Sigamani, deputy director, Program Management

Unit, Catholic Relief Services Malawi

Darko Simeunovic, head of management quality, Catholic

Madeleine Smith, regional technical advisor, Livelihoods
and Business Development, Catholic Relief Services
Southern Africa Regional Office

Sonia Stines-Derenoncourt, chief of party, AIDS Relief,

Catholic Relief Services Zambia

WorkshoP FACilitAtors AnD stAFF
Christina Avildsen, independent consultant, Angola
Sarah Ford, senior technical advisor, partnership and

capacity strengthening, Catholic Relief Services USA

Harvey Peters, independent consultant, Zambia

Sarah Ford, senior technical advisor, partnership and

capacity strengthening, Catholic Relief Services USA
Christopher Reichert, learning, monitoring and evaluation
regional manager, Catholic Relief Services Southern
Africa Regional Office

Jerome Sigamani, deputy director, Program Management

Unit, Catholic Relief Services Malawi

Madeleine Smith, regional technical advisor, livelihoods
and business development, Catholic Relief Services
Southern Africa Regional Office

Finally, a large group of CRS headquarters colleagues
was kind enough to review CAFE and offer invaluable
feedback. Thanks go to the Consortium Alignments
Framework for Excellence Reviewers:

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Erin Baldridge, business development specialist
Eric Eversmann, senior technical advisor, education
Mychelle Farmer, technical advisor, HIV
Mary Hennigan, senior technical advisor, health
Jared Hoffman, chief of party, AIDSRelief
Loretta Ishida, technical advisor, learning
David Leege, deputy director
William Lynch, senior technical advisor
Elena McEwan, senior technical advisor, health
Carrie Miller, technical advisor, HIV
Frank Orzechowski, senior technical advisor
Ericka Reagor, business development specialist
Bridget Rohrbough, public resource representative
Joseph Schultz, publications manager
Anna Schowengerdt, public resource manager
Franne Van der Keilen, development officer
Daphyne Williams, program specialist, HIV

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introDuCtion to CAFE

CAFE is in four primary sections, each building upon
the preceding one.

• Roles define the tasks, authority, actions, and
expected outputs of consortium members.

consortium personnel, and defining the features and
elements of consortium procedures.

CAFE’s core document is CAFE Standards. The
standards have seven components. These components
describe the most essential principles for forming
and working in an effective and efficient consortium.
The standards, written as operating principles for the
consortium, are as follows.

• Process documents mechanisms that create

and support an enabling environment for the
consortium.

• Interpersonal describes the ideal for individuals

and institutions to interact and relate to each other.

• Learning elaborates a reflective process resulting

• Goals describe the common understanding of the

in change based in experience and evidence.

consortium’s purpose.

• Strategy defines the plans and tactics of the

consortium.

• Structure provides a framework that organizes

resources to support service delivery,
accountability, and decision-making.

Following the standards is the CAFE Reference
Sheet, which suggests tools and good practices for
forming and operating a consortium. The reference
sheet also expands upon the standards by offering
descriptions of attributes and processes for each
standard, elaborating on the characteristics needed by

The CAFE Implementation Guide presents a timeline
of a consortium through pre-consortium planning,
formation, proposal design, project approval, and the
implementation phases: start up, execution, midterm,
closure, and continuation. Each phase has definitions,
outputs, conditions, and indicators for success,
pitfalls, monitoring checklists, suggestions for tools
and best practices.

The CAFE Glossary draws upon CRS and colleague
organizations to define the terms most commonly used
in consortium and in CAFE.

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hoW AnD Why CAFE WAs DEvEloPED

exchange expertise, unify advocacy efforts, and increase

Addressing poverty and injustice is growing increasingly
difficult as their causes become interrelated and complex. overall service delivery and accountability to project
participants. However, not all organizations engage
Among other challenges, conflict, global warming,
in consortium on their own volition, and despite the
economic downturn, and HIV/AIDS contribute to, and
increase in consortium-managed projects, there is a
cause, many of the problems faced by communities
paucity of information on how to set up and effectively
across the globe. The scope and scale of the problems
manage consortiums. There is ever increasing pressure
and the enormity of the needed response means
from donors to create consortium, which is not expected
that traditional approaches to development may be
to abate. Balancing the potential for increased impact
insufficient. More and more, donors, international
through consortiums, the realities of donor pressure, and
development agencies, and local organizations
the needs and identities of multiple organizations present
are turning to working in consortium to address
the interconnected and difficult challenges facing
numerous managerial challenges.
communities around the world.

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The goal of consortium-led projects is to enhance
impact and assist them to reach their potential.
Consortiums, when properly governed, have the
potential to produce a sum of overall outputs that is
greater than individual organizations working with
little coordination. Consortiums offer the opportunity
for numerous organizations to increase collaboration,

CRS Malawi indicated a need for a document to
help CRS and its partners work more effectively in
consortium; this need mirrored similar requests from
other country projects. Under the leadership of CRS
Malawi, and with the support of the Institutional
Capacity Building grant from the USAID Office of Food
for Peace, participants wrote the first draft of CAFE at
a May 2008 workshop entitled “Improving Consortium

Governance.” CRS headquarters staff with consortium
responsibility reviewed CAFE and supplemented the
draft with information on the responsibilities and roles
of U.S.-based staff.

The Consortium Alignment Framework for Excellence
intends to assist Catholic Relief Services and its partners
to improve their ability to form strong consortiums that
respond to the needs of the most vulnerable and meet
donor requirements while strengthening the relationship
between them. CAFE addresses the consortium itself, not
the project that it has undertaken. The focus of CAFE is
to make the managerial, financial, and administrative
functions of a consortium effective, efficient, and
supportive of project goals, community needs, and donor
intent. CAFE does not assist with project or project design,
but rather the design and functions of the consortium
implementing the project.

CRS Madagascar and Malawi field-tested CAFE as they
formed new consortium; CAFE includes their feedback.

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