Course Introduction
Partner due diligence is a critical project management process for organizations that depend on implementing partners, sub-grantees, contractors, consortium members, and other external entities to deliver funded activities and achieve project results. Effective due diligence enables project managers to understand partner capacity, governance, financial strength, operational systems, compliance exposure, and potential risks before committing resources or delegating responsibilities.
This course provides a practical framework for conducting proportionate and evidence-based partner due diligence throughout the project lifecycle. Participants will learn how to assess organizational structures, leadership arrangements, financial systems, internal controls, procurement practices, human resources, safeguarding mechanisms, legal standing, technical capacity, and previous performance before and during project implementation.
Effective due diligence should not be treated as a one-time pre-award exercise. Partner circumstances can change significantly during implementation, making periodic reassessment important for maintaining appropriate levels of assurance. The course therefore examines initial assessments, risk-based reviews, ongoing monitoring, trigger events, documentation requirements, remediation, escalation, and exit considerations.
Participants will explore how to identify and assess risks associated with fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement, weak governance, inadequate controls, safeguarding failures, poor data practices, reputational exposure, and operational capacity constraints. Practical approaches will be provided for distinguishing critical risks from manageable weaknesses and for developing proportionate mitigation and capacity-strengthening measures.
The programme also addresses emerging due diligence challenges, including remote and digital partnerships, third-party delivery arrangements, beneficial ownership concerns, cybersecurity, data protection, sanctions and regulatory exposure, localization, responsible partnerships, climate-related risks, and increasingly sophisticated expectations around transparency and accountability. Participants will examine how technology and structured risk analysis can strengthen due diligence without creating unnecessary administrative burdens.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to design and implement practical partner due diligence processes that support informed project decisions, stronger partner selection, appropriate risk allocation, effective oversight, and improved accountability. The course equips project professionals to convert due diligence findings into actionable risk management, contractual safeguards, monitoring priorities, capacity development, and ongoing partner performance decisions.
Duration
5 days
Who Should Attend
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Project managers responsible for selecting, assessing, onboarding, and overseeing implementing partners.
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Programme managers managing projects that depend on sub-grantees, consortium members, contractors, or external delivery organizations.
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Grant managers responsible for partner assessments, grant agreements, compliance requirements, and risk-based oversight.
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Partnership managers responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with implementing organizations.
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Compliance officers conducting organizational, legal, regulatory, and operational partner assessments.
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Risk managers evaluating partner risks and developing appropriate mitigation and assurance measures.
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Finance and grants professionals assessing partner financial systems, controls, reporting, and resource-management capacity.
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Procurement and contract management professionals conducting supplier, contractor, and service-provider due diligence.
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Monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning professionals assessing partner performance and implementation capacity.
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Internal auditors and assurance professionals reviewing partner governance, controls, financial systems, and accountability arrangements.
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NGO and civil society leaders seeking to strengthen their organizational readiness for partnership and grant-funded implementation.
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Donor and funding-agency professionals involved in partner selection, due diligence, risk assessment, and grant oversight.
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Government and development-sector officials managing projects implemented through external organizations and delivery partners.
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Senior operations and programme professionals responsible for organizational risk, partnership governance, and implementation assurance.
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Professionals involved in fraud prevention, safeguarding, ethics, governance, organizational capacity assessment, and partner risk management.
Course Objectives
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Develop practical skills for designing proportionate partner due diligence processes that assess organizational capacity, governance, financial strength, compliance, operational readiness, and implementation risks.
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Strengthen participants’ ability to gather, validate, organize, and analyse partner information from reliable documentary, financial, operational, legal, and performance sources.
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Equip project managers to assess partner governance structures, leadership arrangements, decision-making processes, accountability mechanisms, and potential conflicts of interest.
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Improve participants’ ability to evaluate partner financial management systems, internal controls, accounting practices, budgeting processes, expenditure controls, and financial reporting capacity.
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Build competence in assessing partner procurement systems, contract management practices, supplier relationships, asset controls, and exposure to procurement-related risks.
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Enable participants to identify and evaluate risks relating to fraud, corruption, safeguarding, legal compliance, reputational exposure, cybersecurity, data protection, and operational continuity.
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Strengthen the ability to apply risk-based due diligence approaches that differentiate between high-risk, moderate-risk, and lower-risk partners and determine proportionate assurance requirements.
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Develop practical approaches for converting due diligence findings into risk mitigation plans, contractual safeguards, monitoring requirements, capacity development measures, and management decisions.
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Enhance participants’ capacity to conduct ongoing partner reassessments and respond appropriately to material changes, adverse findings, incidents, organizational changes, or other risk triggers.
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Prepare project managers to address emerging due diligence challenges involving digital partnerships, third-party delivery, beneficial ownership, localization, responsible data use, sanctions exposure, and technology-enabled risk assessment.
Comprehensive Course Outline
Module 1: Foundations of Partner Due Diligence for Project Managers
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Understanding the purpose, principles, lifecycle, and strategic importance of partner due diligence within project and grant management.
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Clarifying due diligence responsibilities across project managers, grant teams, finance, procurement, compliance, legal, risk, and senior management functions.
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Distinguishing due diligence from partner selection, procurement, audit, monitoring, performance management, and ongoing assurance activities.
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Establishing proportionate due diligence approaches that balance risk management, administrative efficiency, partner capacity, and project delivery requirements.
Module 2: Partner Identification, Screening, and Pre-Engagement Assessment
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Developing structured partner screening processes covering organizational identity, experience, technical capacity, reputation, eligibility, and project relevance.
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Reviewing partner history, previous projects, funding relationships, implementation experience, performance records, and relevant organizational references.
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Establishing initial screening criteria that identify potential red flags before significant resources are committed or responsibilities are delegated.
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Documenting screening decisions and establishing clear processes for escalation, clarification, additional evidence, or rejection where material concerns are identified.
Module 3: Governance, Leadership, Legal Status, and Organizational Capacity
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Assessing organizational structure, governing bodies, leadership responsibilities, decision-making arrangements, accountability mechanisms, and institutional stability.
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Reviewing legal registration, constitutional documents, ownership structures, authorized representatives, operating permissions, and relevant regulatory requirements.
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Evaluating organizational policies covering ethics, conflicts of interest, safeguarding, human resources, financial management, procurement, and information security.
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Assessing technical staffing, management capacity, institutional systems, organizational experience, and operational readiness against proposed project responsibilities.
Module 4: Financial Due Diligence and Internal Control Assessment
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Evaluating partner financial statements, budgets, accounting systems, financial policies, cash management, expenditure controls, and reporting capabilities.
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Assessing internal controls including segregation of duties, authorization processes, reconciliations, payment controls, documentation standards, and management oversight.
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Reviewing audit findings, management letters, financial irregularities, historical expenditure concerns, and evidence of corrective actions.
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Developing financial risk assessments that inform funding arrangements, disbursement controls, reporting requirements, verification procedures, and ongoing financial oversight.
Module 5: Procurement, Contracting, and Operational Systems Due Diligence
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Assessing partner procurement policies, approval structures, competition requirements, supplier selection processes, documentation standards, and contract management systems.
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Reviewing purchasing controls, conflict-of-interest safeguards, vendor management, asset management, inventory systems, and supply-chain arrangements.
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Evaluating operational systems covering logistics, staffing, information management, records, facilities, business continuity, and project delivery infrastructure.
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Identifying operational weaknesses that could affect implementation schedules, quality, value for money, compliance, or achievement of project objectives.
Module 6: Risk, Compliance, Fraud, Safeguarding, and Integrity Assessment
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Identifying and assessing risks relating to fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest, unethical conduct, financial crime, legal non-compliance, and reputational exposure.
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Reviewing safeguarding policies, reporting mechanisms, staff awareness, complaints systems, protection measures, and organizational responses to safeguarding concerns.
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Assessing regulatory, contractual, sanctions-related, tax, labour, data-protection, and other compliance considerations relevant to the proposed partnership.
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Developing partner risk profiles that combine identified weaknesses, contextual risks, control effectiveness, likelihood, impact, and proposed mitigation measures.
Module 7: Due Diligence Evidence, Verification, and Risk Analysis
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Establishing reliable evidence requirements and verification procedures for organizational, financial, legal, technical, operational, and compliance information.
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Conducting interviews, management discussions, reference checks, document reviews, site assessments, and other verification activities to validate partner information.
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Applying structured risk-rating methodologies to evaluate the significance and interaction of identified partner risks and control weaknesses.
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Maintaining clear due diligence records that demonstrate the evidence reviewed, findings reached, decisions made, approvals obtained, and mitigation actions required.
Module 8: Due Diligence Decisions, Risk Mitigation, and Contractual Safeguards
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Converting due diligence findings into informed partner selection, approval, conditional approval, deferral, or rejection decisions using transparent risk-based criteria.
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Developing risk mitigation plans that address material weaknesses through controls, capacity strengthening, monitoring, technical support, and management actions.
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Incorporating appropriate contractual provisions covering reporting, audit rights, financial controls, safeguarding, procurement, data protection, termination, and corrective action.
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Establishing enhanced oversight arrangements for higher-risk partners while ensuring that lower-risk organizations are not subjected to unnecessarily burdensome controls.
Module 9: Ongoing Due Diligence, Reassessment, and Corrective Management
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Establishing periodic partner reassessment processes that reflect changes in organizational structure, leadership, financial condition, project scope, risk exposure, or operating environment.
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Identifying trigger events that require immediate reassessment, including fraud allegations, safeguarding incidents, audit findings, significant management changes, or serious performance deterioration.
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Managing remediation plans, corrective actions, capacity development, enhanced monitoring, and escalation where due diligence identifies material or persistent weaknesses.
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Integrating due diligence findings into partner performance management, grant monitoring, financial oversight, risk registers, and future partnership decisions.
Module 10: Emerging Issues and the Future of Partner Due Diligence
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Examining digital due diligence, automated screening, artificial intelligence, data analytics, remote verification, and technology-enabled approaches to partner risk assessment.
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Addressing emerging risks involving cybersecurity, data privacy, digital identity, beneficial ownership transparency, misinformation, and increasingly complex third-party relationships.
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Exploring localization, equitable partnerships, responsible financing, organizational capacity development, climate-related risks, and changing expectations around partner accountability.
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Preparing due diligence systems for evolving regulatory, donor, safeguarding, transparency, sustainability, and responsible-partnership expectations while maintaining practical implementation efficiency.
Training Approach
This course will be delivered by our skilled trainers who have vast knowledge and experience as expert professionals in the fields. The course is taught in English and through a mix of theory, practical activities, group discussion and case studies. Course manuals and additional training materials will be provided to the participants upon completion of the training.
Tailor-Made Course
This course can also be tailor-made to meet organization requirement. For further inquiries, please contact us on: Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com Tel: +254 721 331 808
Training Venue
The training will be held at our Upskill Training Centre. We also offer training for a group (at a discount of 10% to 50%) at requested location all over the world. The Onsite course fee covers the course tuition, training materials, two break refreshments, buffet lunch, airport transfers, Upskill gift package, and guided tour.
Visa application, travel expenses, dinners, accommodation, insurance, and other personal expenses are catered by the participant
Certification
Participants will be issued with Upskill certificate upon completion of this course.
Airport Pickup and Accommodation
Airport pickup and accommodation is arranged upon request. For booking contact our Training Coordinator through Email: training@upskilldevelopment.com, +254 721 331 808
Terms of Payment:
Unless otherwise agreed between the two parties’ payment of the course fee should be done 3 working days before commencement of the training so as to enable us to prepare better.
