The child-lens investing framework (CLIF) Private Equity and Debt Investor Toolkit offers guidance to investors seeking to implement a child-lens impact strategy. The toolkit comprises four main sections: impact strategy, investor contribution, impact and ESG assessment, and measurement approach. Six investors tested and refined the framework with case studies, and it aligns with leading impact investing, socially responsible investing (SRI), and child rights standards.

The impact strategy section offers tools to support investors in designing a child-lens investment strategy, such as the Child-Lens Impact Thesis Template and the “Whole Child” Worksheet. The investor contribution section is a guide to developing a child-lens investor contribution strategy to enhance investments’ efficacy and promote the growth of child-lens investing. The impact and ESG assessment section provides tools that enable a systematic assessment of an investment’s potential impact on children, including the Child-Lens Risk Due Diligence Questionnaire, the Child-Lens Impact Assessment Framework, and the Child-Lens Impact Risk Matrix. Finally, the measurement approach section offers a guide to selecting, monitoring, and reporting metrics relevant to measuring the impact on child outcomes during the investment process.

The CLIF Private Equity and Debt Investor Toolkit recommends that investors prioritise ethical consultation and stakeholder participation to overcome barriers to data collection while empowering stakeholder engagement. Additionally, investors should account for geographical, social, ethnic, and gender-related data to ensure measurement is unbiased, objective, and inclusive. Investors should also establish methods to protect child data, including confidentiality and ethical measurement management practices.

Overall, the CLIF Private Equity and Debt Investor Toolkit’s recommendations seek to provide investors with the tools to implement a child-lens impact strategy that aligns with impact investing, SRI, and child rights standards while promoting ethical consultation and stakeholder participation and protecting child data.