UNDP Jobs - 62029- Senior Mission Executive, Livelihoods (Agriculture

Senior Mission Executive, Livelihoods (Agriculture Value Chain Development), (NRLM) National Rural Livelihood Mission (Open to Indian Nationals Only)

Location :

New Delhi, INDIA

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

10-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

Candidates who applied earlier need not re-apply

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.

Sustainable Agriculture Interventions

The Mission 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 security, income security and food & nutritional security of poor and vulnerable households. NRLM envisions ensuring an additional annual income of Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 50,000 for ultra-poor households through promotion of sustainable agriculture and other farm based livelihoods interventions. This is 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.

NRLM as a core strategy to strengthen the existing livelihoods of the poor focuses on promotion of sustainable agriculture practices by reducing the risk as well as cost of agriculture. The key interventions promoted under sustainable agriculture are-community managed sustainable agriculture, promotion of millets and cereal crops, in-situ water conservation, tree based farming practices, regeneration of forest species, system of root intensification, usage of locally available inputs, integrated farming practice with small ruminants etc.

NRLM supports the State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLM) in various states in this endeavor by providing technical assistance in rolling out the ultra-poor strategy for farm based livelihood promotion. As the strategy strongly focuses on the skill building of the SHG members in farm based livelihoods practices, SRLMs are also supported by NRLM to develop various training materials used for training the project staff, CRPs and community members.

NRLM has also launched Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) in 14 states as a roll out plan for promoting sustainable agriculture. There are quite a few successful models on sustainable agriculture in various agro climatic zones in the country being implemented by various NGOs and government programs. There is a strong need to identify these best practices and document them in a manner which will be useful for the practitioners. These best practices are also to be converted into various forms for dissemination and training.

One of core objectives of farm based livelihoods interventions under NRLM is to link the small and marginal farmers to market through a structured value chain development approach. Organizing the primary producers into producers’ organizations, building their capacity and enable them to transact with market systems are some of the key components of the value chain development strategy under NRLM.

The position of a Senior Mission Executive, Value Chain Development has been envisaged at National level to work on developing value chain interventions to maximize the return for the small and marginal producers from their produce. As part of its support to NRLM, UNDP is looking for a dynamic individual for the position.

Summary of Key Functions

Within the overall guidance of National Mission Director, NRLM, the Senior Mission Executive, Livelihoods (Value Chain Development), NRLM will work under the supervision of Lead, Farm Livelihoods, NRLM and Programme Analyst, UNDP.

The incumbent will primarily be responsible for facilitating State Rural Livelihoods Missions in analyzing the value chains of various agriculture produces of small and marginal farmers, developing intervention strategies, working out business plans and models and implementing the same. Partnerships with various organizations and mobilizing various human, knowledge and financial resources to complement the efforts of the NRLM at national, state, district and block levels will also be part of the responsibility.

S/he will undertake any other task assigned by the NMD, NRLM from time-to-time.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of NMD, NRLM, and the direct supervision of Lead, Farm Livelihoods, NRLM and Programme Analyst, UNDP the Senior Mission Executive, Livelihoods (Value Chain Development) NRLM will:

Facilitate Value Chain Development interventions under NRLM. Specific tasks include:

Undertaking Value Chain Analysis of various produces of small and marginal farmers;
Development of intervention strategy, business plan and execution plans for Value Chain development interventions;
Developing and executing capacity building plans for the project staff and community members on farm livelihoods and value chain development;
Support the implementation roll out of Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) and Ultra Poor Strategy for Livelihoods Promotion;
Plan, execute and monitor initiatives undertaken for promotion of sustainable agriculture;
Identify and document best practices under farm livelihoods initiatives in NRLM.

Perform any other related tasks consistent with the level of the post and/ or assigned by the Lead, Farm Livelihoods, NRLM and NMD, NRLM.

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;
Integrity and Confidentiality.

Functional Competencies:

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

Proven ability in implementation of community based programs on sustainable agriculture, Livestock, NTFP etc.;
Demonstrated excellence in value chain development interventions and building forward linkages;
Networking skills;
Knowledge, skills and ability to use a variety of communication methods, tools and media;
Good research, data analysis and conceptualization skills;
Good ICT skills;
Ability to write concept notes, proposals etc., and make effective presentations;
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.

Building Strategic Partnerships:

Ability to build and sustain effective partnerships with Government Agencies and main constituents, advocate effectively, communicate sensitively across different constituencies;
Consultative and collaborative capacities.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations, evaluate information accurately and identify key issues required to resolve problems;
Ability to build strong relationships of various partners with the National teams and State teams, focusing on impact and result;
Basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks.

Leadership and Self-Management:

Ability to work under supervision as well as with self-initiative and motivation;
Ability to establish priorities for self and other members of the team; schedules activities to ensure optimum use of time and resources; monitors performance against development and other objectives and corrects deviations from the course;
Proven ability to coordinate the work of others and to work as part of a team and share knowledge with others;
Effective Teamwork with conflict resolution skills;
Demonstrated openness to change and ability to manage complex situations;
Consistently approaching work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Responding positively to critical feedback and differing points of view. Also solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behaviour.

Knowledge and Skills:

Proficiency in MS-Office, especially Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
Strong facilitation skills;
Strong communication (written and oral) skills in English.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters in Management after graduation in Engineering, Technology, Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Dairying and related areas.

Experience:

About 5 years of relevant experience at the national/international level in Implementation of Sustainable Agriculture, Livestock, NTFP interventions in large development projects/organizations;
Implementation of large scale value chain development interventions with specific focus on developing market linkages for small and marginal producers;
Developing market linkages with large market players, PPP models;
Coordination and facilitation of teams and partners;
Providing management advisory services.

Language:

Must - Proficiency in spoken and written English;
Desirable - Proficiency in Hindi and any other Indian Language(s).

Travel:

Has willingness to travel.

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.