Background

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 selections are on merit.

The DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission) is the flagship program of Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India relaunched in 2016 for promoting poverty reduction by building strong institutions of the poor, particularly women. The programme creates and enables community owned institutions of women to empower and make them economically self-reliant by improving their agency to access a range of livelihood and financial services and maximize their resources for creating sustainable livelihood opportunities. 

The state governments are mandated to set up dedicated Mission Management Units at the state, district and village/community level for the effective implementation of the NRLM scheme.  The mission provides regular hand-holding support to SHG/federations for a period of 5-7 years.  At the end of a fully implementation cycle the SHGs/federations are well prepared to become resource institutions at the community level for providing evidence and support to other social initiatives. 

Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (KSRLPS)

The State Government is implementing DAY-NRLM scheme in phases through Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society in the name of “Sanjeevini”. The mission statement of KSRLPS is: “To reduce rural poverty by providing gainful wage and self-employment opportunities through community institutions resulting in sustainable improvement in their livelihoods”.

Sanjeevini is a community driven and process-oriented programme. The processes include different activities such as awareness building, social mobilization, development of Community Resource persons (CRPs). Formation of CBOs, strengthening SHGs/ CBOs/federations/Livelihood Collectives, establishment of linkages and promotion of livelihoods. The conventional methods of monitoring focuses on physical, financial and logistic aspects of projects, but do not capture the processes of community perception, satisfaction with project services, inclusion and institutional dynamics. As the community processes do not conform to pre-set rules, deadlines, targets or blueprint approaches, a responsive and adaptive implementation is necessary.

It is in this context that the State government of Karnataka has partnered with UNDP to implement The National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) in Karnataka. NRETP proposes to implement higher order economic activities which are cross cutting in nature, for instance, the project design envisages that there will be an organic link between the model Cluster Level Federation (CLFs) and financial inclusion strategies, insurance and pension schemes, producer groups and organizations, product marketing and enterprise development. The financial inclusion strategy will also have a key role in financing of farm and non-farm enterprises. UNDP will be uniquely positioned to quickly transfer the technical know-how gained at the national and state level working across the country.  The state SMMU will be fully synchronized with the National level team working at the center, important for better alignment of state priorities with those of the national programme while formulating the State specific poverty reduction action plans.

Under the scheme, UNDP is looking for a Deputy Programme Manager-Non-Farm Livelihood to undertake the activities as provided below. The incumbent will be based at SANJEEVINI- KSRLPS and will perform duties under the direct supervision of the Mission Director.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the State Project Manager – Non-Farm Livelihood the incumbent will focus on achievement of the following results:

• Support in the preparation of annual action plan for non-farm livelihoods component.
• Assist in developing partnerships with Government/private sector/technical institutions on various aspects like capacity building of various stakeholders (community cadre, entrepreneurs), market support, technical assistance, technology support, enterprise management etc.
• Work with Technical Support Agencies to meet project objectives
• Support the teams at block and district level for effective and timely implementation of the programme
• Assist in the development of SOPs, manuals and guidelines for various components of the programme
• Documentation of case studies, best practices, and learning notes throughout project implementation
• Help in reviewing the performance of the non-farm livelihoods team at all levels in the state and support them in the successful fulfilment of their responsibilities
• Provides secretarial support by entering, formatting, printing information; organising work; answering the telephone; relaying messages; maintaining equipment and supplies as required
• Visit different districts for the effective periodical monitoring and supportive supervision, if required or assigned.
• Support District Project Managers as required
• Any other task assigned by reporting officer.

Competencies

• Sound Business knowledge and skills. Specially In business analytics and management
• Strong in negotiation skills
• Data driven, open to learning and adaptable, should be willing to adapt to ground realities
• Ability to network with agencies and have experience of working for developing market linkages
• Skill of managing a business, preparing business plans, evaluating financial viability and business plans
• Ability to think out of the box and come up with innovative solutions to business challenges and problems.
• Should be interested to work with the rural poor to create a more inclusive society.
• Excellent communication, documentation (MS Word, Excel) and typing skills in English and Kannada

Required Skills and Experience

Fulltime Post Graduate Degree in Rural Development / Marketing / Development Studies / Economics from a recognised university.

Languages Required: Fluency in English and Kannada spoken, read and write for all official communication is essential. Knowledge of English and Kannada typing is mandatory.

Experience:

• 2+ years of experience of working in non-farm livelihoods sector like micro-enterprises development, Collectives and Producer Enterprise Companies or in the micro and medium scale sector
• Knowledge of providing business advisory services, supply chain , developing forward and backward linkages for businesses in the non-farm livelihoods sector
• Product standardisation procedures and registration process know how of enterprises in all non-farm livelihood sectors
• Experience of managing /starting business and managing them for growth and profitability will be given preference
• Ability to work as a team and train staff on the job to use the systems: Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

• Excellent analytical skills particularly with social processes.

Official Travel:

In case of official journey within/outside the state, candidates will be entitled to reimbursement from KSRLPS. All official travel must be authorized and certified in advance by KSRLPS. 

Schedule of Payments:

Consolidated annual consultancy fees payable as per the deliverables and payment schedule mentioned above, upon submission of working progress report certified by the reporting officer i.e., Project Officer - Program and Partnerships (NPSA9), UNDP.

Institutional Arrangement:

All the logistic support related official travel will be borne by the SANJEEVINI-KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka.

Documentation Required:

Personal CV indicating all past experiences from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least 3 professional references.

Evaluation Method and criteria:

Preliminary shortlisting would be done based on the following criteria:

• Educational Qualification 30 marks.
• Relevant Experience 40 marks.
• Interview for 30 marks

Those who obtain a minimum 70% of total 70 marks (Educational Qualification & Relevant Experience) will be eligible to appear for the interview. 

Interview for the shortlisted candidates would be either conducted face to face in Bangalore or by telephone/over skype.

The contract shall be awarded on the merit basis.

Note: Please ensure that all the documents to be uploaded should be combined in a single PDF file before uploading as the system has provision of uploading only one document.

General Conditions for Individual Contract-
http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/procurement/UNDP%20General%20Conditions%20for%20Individual%20Contracts.pdf 

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.