Individual Consultant

 United Nations Development Programme -UNDP

Individual Consultant – State Project Manager _ Non-Farm livelihood - Bangalore, INDIA
Location :	Bangalore, INDIA, INDIA
Application Deadline :	28-Jan-21 (Midnight New York, USA)
Time left :	15d 0h 46m
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 State Project Manager _ Non-Farm livelihood to undertake the activities as provided below. The incumbent will be based at KSRLPS and will perform duties under the direct supervision of Mission Director SRLM, Government of Karnataka.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Mission Director the incumbent will focus on achievement of the following results: ·        Prepare annual action plan for non-farm livelihoods component. ·        Develop 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 ·        Develop an eco-system of human resources comprising of functional experts and mentors in the state for supporting non-farm livelihood. ·        Support the teams at block and district level for effective and timely implementation of the programme; conduct regular review meeting at various levels ·        Ensure that the non-farm livelihood supported under the program are sustainably financially viable within the defined timelines of the project. ·        Facilitate forward and backward linkages for the enterprises set up under the programme. ·        Facilitate and monitor the creation of competitive advantages for the enterprises supported by the SRLM, like creation of brand, compliance with statutory compliances, reaching economies of scale, access to various government schemes, convergence etc. ·        Monitor progress of the entrepreneurship development component, analyse MIS and project performance data and take necessary corrective action ·        Ensure deployment of technology platform for enterprise and cluster support and use of data analytics for performance tracking and decision making at enterprise and SRLM level ·        Develop SOPs, manuals and guidelines for various components of the programme ·        Ensure documentation of case studies, best practices, and learning notes throughout project implementation ·        Comply with necessary administrative processes to ensure smooth implementation of entrepreneurship development component in the field ·        Review the performance of the non-farm livelihoods team at all levels in the state and support them in the successful fulfilment of their responsibilities ·        Co-ordinate with the other thematic leads in the SRLM and ensure that the SRLM evolves a robust ecosystem that supports the growth of community owned and ·        managed growth enterprises and value chains Any other task assigned by reporting officer.

Competencies

·        Ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures to achieve specific goals. ·        Ability to handle several different projects/tasks at one time, successfully complete tasks assigned, and meet deadlines ·        Ability to scan the horizon and identify approaches and initiatives to bring into policy and programme design ·        Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships ·        Ability to generate commitment, excitement and excellence in others ·        Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement ·        Sound Business knowledge and skills. Specially In business analytics and management ·        Strong in communication and 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, are key skills that are critical for this role. ·        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. ·        Honest, fair and objective in work ·        A Self-starter and a target-oriented person Willing to travel extensively in the field for 10-15 days a month.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications: Fulltime Post Graduate Degree or PG Diploma (2 Yrs) in Financial / Rural Development / Marketing / Statistics / Development Studies / Economics or equivalent discipline. Experience: ·        At least 10+ years of experience (after graduation) of working in non-farm livelihoods sector like micro-enterprises development, Collectives and Producer Enterprise Companies or in the micro and medium scale sector in business leadership /management role ·        Experience 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 ·        Demonstrable experience of project management and team management ensuring the delivery of high-quality program ·        Should have managed a team of at least 10 members Duration of The Work: The contract will be awarded for one year initially. Working days will be as per the State Government/KSRLPS 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 authorised and certified in advance by KSRLPS.  Languages Required: Fluency in English spoken, read and write for all official communication is essential and Kannada Preferable.    SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS Consolidated annual consultancy fees (Remuneration) of INR 13,20,000/- payable in equal monthly instalments of INR 1,10,000/- upon submission of monthly progress report certified by the reporting officer. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT:  ·        Contract will be administered by UNDP on behalf of the KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka ·        The consultant should report to the Mission Director, KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka ·        All the logistic support related official travel will be borne by the KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka. ·        Consultant will be entitled for 2 days leave per month (non encashable). 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 the merit basis. For more information and online application click here