Individual Consultant – Deputy Program Manager- Non-Farm Livelihood

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.

Deliverables & Payment Schedules:

Payment %

Deliverable target dates

Submission of report highlighting,
Understanding and analyzing of block level projects implemented by Sanjeevini.
1 detailed report of the analysis of sanctioned districts.

8%

Month 1

Submission of report highlighting,
Preparing the implementation action plan as per the project / Annual Action Plan.
Get approval from the supervisor at Sanjeevini.
Submit 1 report on the annual plan.

8%

Month 2

Submission of report highlighting,

Monitoring of the sanctioned farm and non-farm livelihood projects.
Conduct 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 3

Submission of report highlighting,

Support for roll out of non-farm livelihood activities.
Submit 1 report on the non-farm livelihood activities.

8%

Month 4

Submission of report highlighting,

Facilitate technical support agencies in implementation.
Submit 1 report on the organic certification process.

8%

Month 5

Submission of report highlighting,

Collection of data for the past 6 months about the progress of the project.
Submitting the data to the MIS team for monitoring & evaluation.

8%

Month 6

Submission of report highlighting,

Help in reviewing the performance of non-farm livelihood teams at all levels
Submit at least 1 report on the performance of the teams.

8%

Month 7

Submission of report highlighting,

Assist in development of SOPs, manuals and guidelines for various component of the program.
Submit 1 report on the SOPs and guidelines developed.

8%

Month 8

Submission of report highlighting,

Executing capacity building plans for the project staff and community members on non-farm livelihoods.

Submit 1 report on the capacity building plans

8%

Month 9

Submission of report highlighting,

Identifying and documentation of best practices.
Conduct 1 field visit in the month.

8%

Month 10

Submission of report highlighting,

Visit different districts for effective implementation of the project.
Providing secretarial support in the office.
Submit 1 report on the effective implementation of the project.

10%

Month 11

Submission of report highlighting,

Collection of data for the past 1 year about the progress of the project.
Submitting the data to MIS team for monitoring and evaluation.

10%

Month 12

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 communicationis 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.

Duration of The Work:

The contract will be awarded for one year initially. Working days will be as per the State Government policy.

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.