Individual Consultant

    United Nations Development Programme -UNDP

Individual Consultant – Block Technical Coordinator _Forward Linkage Tumkur, Karnataka (3 Posts)
Location :	Tumkur –Karnataka, INDIA, INDIA
Application Deadline :	28-Jan-21 (Midnight New York, USA)
Time left :	15d 0h 47m
Type of Contract :	Individual Contract
Post Level :	National Consultant
Languages Required :	English
Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start)	01-Feb-2021
Duration of Initial Contract :	One Year

  

Background

Background: 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 blue print 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 organisations, 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 centre, 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 Block Technical Coordinator _ Forward Linkage, Consultant to undertake the activities as provided below. The incumbent will be based at KSRLPS and will perform duties under the direct supervision of the Mission Director and SPM - Value Chain & Forward Linkage.

Duties and Responsibilities

·        Candidate should be willing to travel across the districts of the State of Karnataka ·        Responsible for execution and monitoring of the sanctioned value chain development projects at the block level ·        Continuously scout for opportunities by analyzing potential for developing value chain interventions for existing commodities being produced in the block ·        Facilitate the technical support agencies in implementation of the sanctioned projects. ·        Maintain information regarding produce of the SHG members, markets (prices and trends), commodity-wise details of local and block level markets. ·        Identifying local buyers / local buyers, facilitating buyer seller meets at the block level ·        Collection of information / data for development of new proposals in value chain development ·        Execution of capacity building plans for the project staff, udyogmitra and community members on farm livelihoods and value chain development ·        Facilitate workshops, consultations necessary for developing manuals and guidelines to facilitate implementation of value chain development. ·        Identify and document best practices in value chain development under farm livelihoods initiatives in the block ·        Ensuring data collection and entry into MIS for monitoring and evaluation of value chain interventions. Any other tasks/responsibilities as assigned by the Mission Director

Competencies

·        management. ·        Familiarity with mutual assistance principles, functioning of cooperatives or other community-based business enterprises, governance mechanisms for Producer Companies would be preferred. ·        Ability to work with government agencies, technical support partners at the block level ·        Ability to work effectively with community resource persons, community and field staff to deliver results ·        Effective Teamwork with conflict resolution skills Demonstrated openness to change and ability to manage complex situations

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications: Postgraduate in Rural Development/Rural Management/social sciences or UG (4 years course) in Agri Science, Forestry and relevant field. Experience: ·        1-2 years of experience of procurement and marketing of specific agri commodity on large scale, experience in managing agriculture commodity supply chain in companies engaged in agribusiness ·        P&L handling experience for an area / product line within an agri- commodity focused corporate environment. ·        Experience in procurement / marketing of agriculture commodities. ·        Experience of setting up field level procurement centers ·        Proven experience of leading professional staff and builds their initiative and enables them to function as members of efficient and effective teams ·        Demonstrable experience of project management, ensuring the delivery of high quality programmes as well as managing internal learning processes across virtual teams ·        Managed a team of at least 5 field staff. Duration of The Work: The contract will be awarded for one year initially. Working days will be as per the State Government/KSRLPS 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 authorised and certified in advance by KSRLPS.  SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS Consolidated annual consultancy fees (Remuneration) of INR 4,20,000/- payable in equal monthly instalments of INR 35,000/- upon submission of monthly progress report certified by the reporting officer. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT: ·        The contract will be administered by UNDP on behalf of the KSRLPS. Government of Karnataka. ·        The consultant should report to the Mission Director and SPM Value chain and forward linkage ·        The consultant should also report to any Official designated by CEO. ·        All the logistic support related to official travel will be borne by the KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka. ·        Consultant will be entitled for 2 days leave per month (non cashable). The accumulated leaves will be forfeited on the termination/further extension of the contract period. 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 atleast 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 a merit basis. For more information and online application click here