Individual Consultant – Cluster Coordinator-Organic Farming (Tumkur)

1 Posts.

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 Cluster Coordinator _ Organic Farming, Consultant to undertake the activities as provided below. The incumbent will be based at KSRLPS and will perform duties under the direct supervision of Block coordinator – organic farming and will also perform duties under the direct supervision of an official designated by Mission Director.

Duties and Responsibilities

Candidate should be willing to travel across the districts of the State of Karnataka
Cluster level planning and roll out of organic village cluster development activities
Rolling out certification in the clusters and facilitate technical support agencies in implementation
Maintain information regarding produce of the SHG members, markets (prices and trends), commodity-wise details.
Executing capacity building plans for the project staff and community members on farm livelihoods and value chain development
Identify best practices and communicate the same to the block level
Ensuring data collection and entry into MIS for monitoring and evaluation.
Any other tasks/responsibilities as assigned by the Mission Director

Deliverables & Payment Schedules:

Payment %

Deliverable target dates

Submission of report highlighting,
Understanding and analyzing of block level projects implemented by Sanjeevini.
Detailed reporting of the analysis of the assigned block.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

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 Taluk Panchayat.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 2

Submission of report highlighting,

Execution of the sanctioned organic village cluster projects.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 3

Submission of report highlighting,

Monitoring of the executed organic village cluster projects.

Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 4

Submission of report highlighting,

Identify the organic certification agencies and process to get certification.
Facilitate technical support agencies in implementation.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

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,

Cluster level planning & roll out of organic village cluster development activities.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 7

Submission of report highlighting,

Identifying the opportunities by analyzing value chain interventions for commodity produce.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 8

Submission of report highlighting,

Collection of information of produce of SHG members

Maintain information of market trends, prices and commodity wise details.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 9

Submission of report highlighting,

Identification of best practices and communicate the same to the block level.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

8%

Month 10

Submission of report highlighting,

Executing capacity building plans for the project staff and community members on farm livelihoods and value chain.
Conduct at least 2 field visits in the month.

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

Knowledge of organic certification standards – both third party and PGS certification systems would be preferred
Knowledge of organic farming methods, agro-ecological practices
Ability to work effectively with community resource persons, community and field staff to deliver results.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications:

Undergraduate (4 years course) in Agri Science, Forestry, B.sc in Horticulture, Diploma in Agriculture and Allied Sciences and relevant field.

Experience:

1+ years in a livelihood development project responsible for promotion of organic production systems and allied activities-based livelihoods.
Experience of roll-out of PG’s or third-party certification would be preferred
Experience of working with community and community mobilization for livelihoods interventions

Experience in executing training and capacity building programs at the field level with community resource persons and community.

Duration of The Work:

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

Languages Required:

Fluency in English and Kannada- spoken, read and write for all official communication is essential.

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.