UNDP Jobs - 61906- Project Executive (Non-farm Livelihoods) National

Project Executive (Non-farm Livelihoods) National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM) - (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

Location :

New Delhi, INDIA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

05-Dec-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

UNDP Country Programme (2013-17) is aligned with the Government of India’s Twelfth Plan priorities and seeks to improve the effectiveness of national programmes and policies for disadvantaged regions and groups especially women, Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes, minorities, displaced persons and persons with disabilities. UNDP’s partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) under “Governance and Accelerated Livelihoods Support” aims to strengthen the effectiveness of key Ministry programmes by providing (a) technical assistance to the state government and NGOs in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha to improve sustainable livelihoods with linkages to Panchayati Raj Institutions for governance in left wing extremism affected areas (b) policy advice and technical assistance to the Ministry and the state governments to help improve the efficiency, accountability and inclusiveness of National Rural Livelihoods Mission and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme and (c) policy advice and technical assistance to the Ministry and state governments to help “green” select schemes.

The Government of India, Ministry of Rural Development had launched the “National Rural Livelihood Mission” (NRLM) in June 2011 after restructuring its existing centrally sponsored flagship Scheme “Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana” (SGSY). The NRLM functions in a mission mode for target based time bound delivery of outcomes following a demand driven approach which would allow the states to formulate their own poverty alleviation plans on the basis of available allocation, resources and skills. UNDP, under the GOALS Project, provides technical support to NRLM for efficient and inclusive implementation through (a) positioning professional managers and domain experts to improve implementation at the state level; (b) strengthening the social mobilisation in favour of women from persistently excluded groups; and (c) developing and testing of context-specific, market-led, livelihood strategies that will enable institutions of the poor women to secure their role in markets and supply chains and ensure higher and sustained returns.

The NRLM is designed to cover, in a phased manner, 7.0 crore poor households living in over 6 lakh villages, 2.5 lakh gram panchayats, 6000 blocks and 600 districts across 28 states and 7 UTs. The primary vision of NRLM is to ensure livelihood, income and food & nutritional security of poor and vulnerable households, through both farm and non-farm interventions. These interventions are expected to reach out to 3 crore ultra-poor households in the country who are organized into SHGs. This will happen in next 10-12 years in a planned manner.

The Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) is being implemented as a sub-scheme under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) , Ministry of Rural Development, (MoRD) to promote start-up enterprises in rural areas.

Till date (11th Nov 2015) the MoRD has sanctioned proposals from 14 states covering 80000 entrepreneurs across 40 blocks. The target of the scheme is to train and support 1.82 lakhs entrepreneurs over a period of four years.

The position of Project Executive (Non-farm Livelihoods) has been envisaged at the national level to complement the efforts of the NRLM at national, state, district and block levels.

As part of its support to NRLM, UNDP is looking for a dynamic individual for this position.

Summary of Key Functions:

Under the overall guidance of the National Mission Director, NRLM, the Project Executive, Non-farm Livelihoods, NRLM will work under the supervision of the Lead (Non-farm Livelihoods), NRLM, and Programme Analyst, UNDP.

The incumbent will primarily be responsible for driving and monitoring the roll out of the SVEP across states and will also be involved in supporting project implementation capabilities of SRLMs & CSOs, facilitating partnerships with organizations and mobilisation of human, knowledge & financial resources to complement the efforts of the NRLM at national, state, district and block levels.

The incumbent is expected to monitor the progress of the programmes and help to scale up the same after incorporating course corrections, if any. S/he shall facilitate and drive the roll out and shall operationalise the processes envisaged under SVEP to all the non-farm interventions proposed in the states. S/he shall also create/document best practices for replication in all kinds of non-farm livelihoods – trading, manufacturing, service; covering both consumption of the villages and the produce of the villages; individual enterprises to group enterprises; traditional skill based enterprises like artisanal enterprises, to modern enterprises using innovations, etc.

S/he will undertake any other task assigned by the NMD-NRLM; Lead (Farm Livelihoods), NRLM, and Programme Analyst, UNDP.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of NMD, NRLM, and the direct supervision of Lead (Non-Farm Livelihoods), NRLM, and Programme Analyst, UNDP, the PE (Non-farm livelihoods), NRLM will facilitate non-farm livelihood promotion efforts in NRLM. Specific tasks include:

Support the implementation of SVEP under NRLM; handhold the progress of the SVEP in the defined states through regular field visits. Support planning, execution and monitoring of initiatives undertaken for promotion of non-farm livelihoods; monitor the progress of the programmes using structured review mechanisms along with the state team and the Project Implementing Agency (PIA) and share the same with all the stakeholders;
Create and operationalise a course correction mechanism and a process for documenting and sharing best practices. To help create a functional MIS and Community Resource Person – Enterprise Promotion (CRP-EP) support software that empowers the SRLMs and PIAs to implement the programme and monitor progress;
To help create and maintain a repository of business logics, training material, and business support software for use by the SRLM’s and the businesses for efficient operations and hand holding and guidance to the businesses/enterprises supported;
Build an institutional mechanism for sharing enterprise performance data with expert mentors from industry / enterprise sector who can guide the entrepreneurs through the CRP-EP on improving business performance;
Create and monitor working of an institutional mechanism for consolidating demand and supply data of the enterprises supported and use the same for negotiating better terms of trade for the enterprises;
Create and monitor working of an institutional mechanism for sending business advisories to the entrepreneurs through the software and CRP-EP’s, to optimize business performance of the enterprises (e.g. seasonal advisories – which items to stock, which to liquidate based on changing demand patterns, price change advisories for commodities etc.;
Support design of training & capacity building modules and materials for training Community Resource Persons (CRP-EP) and the community; build upon ICT technology and tools to facilitate and scale up trainings while retaining efficacy;
To understand, build capacities and converge the programmes with other programmes of the governments;
To build the capacity of the team in NMMU and in the states to effectively and efficiently manage the programme – using a mix of mentoring, formal trainings, experience sharing, exposure visits and other methodologies;
To actively participate in the overall NRLM functioning and help build it into a dynamic and scalable programme for alleviating poverty;
Perform any other related tasks consistent with the level of the post and/ or assigned by NMD-NRLM; Lead (Farm Livelihoods), NRLM, and Programme Analyst, UNDP.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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 favoritism and discrimination.

Functional Competencies:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

Should have an understanding of business mathematics and business logic;
Good research, data analysis and conceptualization skills;
Ability to write concept notes, proposals and make effective presentations of the same;
Understanding of processes/tools of social mobilization, participation, institution building, capacity building of community members, leaders, cadres and professionals, Livelihoods Planning and micro-planning etc.;
Project/Programme Management.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Capacity to gather comprehensive information, evaluate it and identify key issues;
Builds strong relationships with the NMMU team and State Rural Livelihoods Missions, focusing on impact and result;
Ability to communicate sensitively across different constituencies;
Possesses consultative and collaborative capacities.

Self-Management:

Has ability to work under supervision as well as with self-initiative and motivation;
Demonstrates strong teamwork and has the ability to effectively coordinate with various team members;
Establishes priorities for self, schedules activities to ensure optimum use of time and resources;
Has openness to change and ability to adapt to new situations;
Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

Knowledge and Skills:

Proficiency in MS-Office, especially PowerPoint and Excel;
Good numerical and analytical skills;
Strong facilitation and networking skills;
Knowledge, skills and ability to use a variety of communication methods, tools and media.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Commerce, Science (with mathematics/physics), Engineering, Technology, Management, , ICT, Economics, Development Studies or related fields OR
A graduate degree in the above disciplines with 5 years relevant experience.

Experience:

About 2 to 5 (2 years for post graduate applicants and 5 years for graduate applicants) years of relevant experience at the national/international levels in:
Implementing Non-farm livelihoods interventions/enterprises in large development projects/organizations or with a producer group/ collective;
Supporting field level programme execution in enterprise promotion / support;
Experience in managing a business, preferably related to rural India.

Language:

Proficiency in spoken and written English and Hindi;
Good knowledge of regional languages is an asset.

Travel:

Has willingness to travel.

Remuneration package is Rs. 60,006 /- 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.