UNDP Jobs - 59656- Project Officer, Creating Employment and Entrepren

Project Officer, Creating Employment and Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Women in India (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

Location :

Mumbai/Pune, INDIA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

16-Sep-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SB-3

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year (extendable)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

India presently faces a dual challenge of a severe paucity of highly-trained, quality labour, as well as non-employability of large sections of the educated workforce that possess little or no job skills. The National Skill Development Policy (2015) of the Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship indicates that on the demand side, there is an additional net requirement of 11.92 crore skilled manpower in twenty-four key sectors by 2022. On the supply side, it is estimated that broadly 11.9 crore fresh entrants to the workforce over the next seven years (i.e. by 2022) will need to be skilled. In addition, 30.7 crore of existing farm and non-farm sector workforce will need to be skilled, up-skilled or re-skilled. Women confront additional barriers, both social and economic, as a result of which their recorded participation in the workforce is limited to 27 per cent. The Skill Policy (2015) states that ‘’skill development is a shared responsibility of both the Government as well as the industry.’’ It lays a lot of emphasis on demand-orientation and the role of the private sector.

The project 'Creating Employment and Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Women in India’ represents a partnership between UNDP India, the IKEA Foundation and Xyntéo (a private sector advisory firm) with the ambitious goal to touch the lives of one million Indian women in 3 years through training, employment and entrepreneurial skills development, as well as development of a new model of public-private collaboration that can be adapted and replicated across India by the end of this ‘proof of concept’ phase in 2017.

This project will adopt a twin strategy. One element will focus on identifying opportunities for skilled personnel in the business sector and entrepreneurial opportunities in their supply chain. The second will focus on mobilisation and capacity building of women so that they avail of the opportunities arising from the business sector in a manner that is in harmony with their aspirations and needs. The project will be implemented in collaboration with Government, industries and implementing agencies who will be identified through due diligence process and will leverage on the existing Government programmes/schemes and existing platforms to reach the goal.

The project will be located in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and the NCR Region. Thus it is proposed to set up state-level offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai/Pune and Gurgaon/Manesar. To the extent possible, these state offices will be located in the premises of the respective state-level skill missions.

The state offices will be responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of state level programmes in the framework of the overall project strategy. Establishing close working relationship with the state government, the business sector and a variety of implementing agencies as well as the relevant programmes that are operational at the state level will be a key responsibility of the state offices. The state offices will also be responsible for functions such as documentation of lessons, knowledge management, communication and advocacy in support of the project goals.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the State Project Head of the UNDP/IKEA Project, the Project Officer has the responsibility for the following tasks:

Main responsibilities:

Analyse the state-level policy documents, schemes and programmes and identify the areas of collaboration, partnership and prepare concept note for advocacy;
Identify the available infrastructure and other public resources which could be leveraged for the project through development of a vibrant partnership with the state government agencies;
Develop state factsheets and collate recent data for the state to develop evidence based advocacy note through analysing the local socio-economic trends;
Identify and create the inventory of the local business environment and opportunities which could be leveraged for achieving project target;
Assess the certification process of the training programmes based on standardisation, cohesion and reliability of the programme, identify credible training institute and guides in selection of the courses;
Identify and develop a detailed list of strong implementing agencies (social mobilisation agencies, skill development organizations, placement agencies, certification agencies, entrepreneurship support organisations, financial institutions etc.) and coordinate implementation arrangements with the agencies;
Develop the reporting process on mobilisation, skill development, and placement linked jobs initiatives and the entrepreneurship component of the project or on any other activity /task for the programme implementation;
Conduct field visits to support implementation through close working relationship with implementing agencies. Support implementation of the communication strategy for the community mobilisation agencies, entrepreneurship development and perform any other related tasks consistent with the level of the post and/or assigned by the State Project Head;
Support the implementing partners in documentation of relevant lessons including human interest stories and share it with the stakeholders/wider network, preparation for the reports, progress reports, work plans and budgets;
Provide assistance by participating, documenting and preparing the minutes of the meetings of the programme activities for follow up action plan;
Monitor the fund utilisation for the implementing partners, track the budget utilisation, prepare contracts for services and goods, terms of reference, obtain finance clearance, process EPA’s and follow up;
Develop monthly/quarterly reports and submit to UNDP in consultation with state head;
Prepare concept notes with agenda and budget and provide assistance in logistic arrangements for workshop/seminars and training programmes for the project;
Carry out specific administrative operational/control task for project and programme activities.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

Good understanding of development issues such as human development, inclusive development, gender and participation, skill development and certification, entrepreneurship and public private partnership models;
Good understanding of monitoring budget, expenses and tracking the outcomes;
Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments.

Communication skills:

Good communication, interpersonal and presentation skills, with an ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.

Building Strategic Partnerships:

Peoples’ orientation and the ability to work with people;
Establish, build and sustain effective relationships, partnerships and alliances, advocate effectively and communicate sensitively;
Develop strong networks across diverse sectors at leadership levels;
Result-orientation and ability to develop strategic approaches;
Identifies problems and propose solutions.
Demonstrates extremely strong influencing and facilitation skills.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
Shares knowledge across the organization and builds a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Core Competencies:

Demonstrates/safeguards ethics and integrity;
Builds and promotes effective teams using mentoring and conflict resolution skills;
Works as a team member;
Facilitates and encourages open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Demonstrates corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
Ability to work independently and under pressure;
Schedules activities to ensure optimum use of time and resources;
Monitors performance against development and other objectives and corrects deviations from the course;
Self-development, initiative-taking;
Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking;
Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Degree or equivalent in Business Management, Economics, Social Sciences, Development Studies or related fields. Post Graduate Degree would be desirable.

Experience:

A minimum of 5-7 years’ experience in working in a development programme focussing on livelihood, skill development and/or related fields.
With relevant experience of 4-5 years in working on large scale livelihoods promotion/skill development/entrepreneurship development programmes;
Mobilisation of women under development programmes;
Hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of skill development and entrepreneurship development projects.

Language:

Fluency in English and Hindi is essential;
Knowledge of regional language(s) would be an asset.

Travel:

Willingness to travel extensively.

Remuneration package is Rs. 106,359/- per month (taxable). UNDP also offers additional benefits which include medical insurance coverage and limited pension reimbursement for contract holder and encourages work life balance.

UNDP strives to have a workforce which reflects diversity and gender balance, and applies an equal opportunities approach. UNDP does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS status. All selection is on merit.