Project Lead

 World Economic Forum

Project Lead, Food Innovation Hub India

Job category              Temporary/Full-time

Group                         Platform for Global Public Goods

Location                     Mumbai

 

Project Lead, Food Innovation Hub India 

(2 year fixed-duration contract)

 

The World Economic Forum and several partners have joined efforts to catalyze and support regional Food Innovation Hubs that will leverage the role of technology and broader innovation in support of a transformation agenda that leads to more inclusive, efficient, sustainable, nutritious and healthy food systems. In support of this agenda, several regional Food Innovation Hubs are in development in Africa, Latin America, ASEAN, India and Europe which will collectively support the strengthening of local innovation ecosystems that leads to: a) increased investments in inclusive and scalable technology solutions; b) equitable access to innovations for farmers to consumers; c) support the enabling environment through policy incentives, capacity building and knowledge; d) mitigate unintended consequences of technology innovations and improve the resiliency of food systems; and e) unlock institutional bottlenecks to scale impact for systemic change.

 

With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Economic Forum and other partners, are catalyzing a Food Innovation Hub in India that will aim to leverage technology and broader innovation to build more efficient, inclusive, sustainable, nutritious and healthy food systems. In India, the Hubs will focus on three primary outcomes (i) increase investments in technology innovations and integrated value chains promoting sustainability and nutrition; (ii) improve the policy environment and local innovation ecosystems by strengthening local capacities and evidence-based decision-making processes; and (iii) improve smallholder farmers access to markets and technology innovations.

 

The World Economic Forum is looking for a dynamic and self-motivated individual to lead the development of the Food Innovation Hub in India, based out of the Forum’s Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) office based in Mumbai. The role will involve platform and partnership curation in the development of next generation of multistakeholder partnerships in India and will involve close coordination and interaction with the network of regional Food Innovations Hubs in development in Asia Africa, Europe and Latin America.

 

Reporting Lines & Interactions:

The Project Lead will report to the Head, Food Systems Innovation, at the Food Systems Initiative of the Forum’s Centre for Global Public Goods. The Project Lead will be part of the Forum’s Food Systems Initiative and will work closely with internal colleagues in business and government engagement, C4IR, Centre for Global Public Goods, civil society among others. Externally, the person will work closely with the Global Coordinating Secretariat of the Food Innovations Hub based in The Netherlands and Geneva as well as the global leadership councils supporting the Hubs.

The position will be based out of the Forum’s Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) office in Mumbai and will work closely with the C4IR India to ensure alignment and complementarities.

 

Key responsibilities:

The role will involve leading the development of a Food Innovation Hub in India in close collaboration with local and global stakeholders. The Hub in India will be part of the network of Food Innovation

Hubs being developed as flagship initiatives of the Food Action Alliance. As such, the role will require close collaboration with the network of regional Hubs as well as the Global Coordinating Secretariat of the Food Innovation Hubs.

 

· Project strategy and management and content development : The Project Lead will support the development of a strategy and operations for initiating a Food Innovation Hub in India with initial work in 2-3 states. The role will require leading the development of the strategy in India working closely with local stakeholders and partners as well as consultants who will support the development of the work. This requires both content development and operational project management in support of the work.

 

· Community engagement and management : The Project Lead will build relationships and stronger local stakeholder engagement with senior leaders from government, private sector, multilateral organizations, civil society organizations, farmer organizations, research institutes as well as support the development of governance bodies that will provide strategic guidance to the Food Innovation Hub in India. The Project Lead will also work with internal colleagues including C4IR India, business, government and civil society teams to build strong internal alignment and collaborations.

 

· Support learnings and capacity building : The Project Lead will be responsible for supporting convenings and knowledge exchange across geographies through regular workshops and meetings. In addition, the Project Lead will lead on developing insight reports, toolkits and M&E frameworks to document learnings.

 

· Linkages to global processes and initiatives : The Project Lead will ensure alignment with global processes and initiatives supporting the Sustainable Development Goals, such as gamechanger/flagship initiatives being developed as part of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, the Food Action Alliance among others.

Qualifications:

· Minimum Master’s Degree in relevant field such as economic, international development, business administration, among other.

· A minimum of 10 years of work experience in food and agriculture and innovation related fields, preferably with private sector and international experience,

· Experience and knowledge on agriculture and food systems in India

· Dynamic systems leader with a clear and proven record of delivering results-oriented programs, preferably with experience in delivering multistakeholder partnerships.

· Experience in working with teams across geographies

· Strong written and oral communications skills, fluency in spoken and written English and Hindi.

· Ability to travel internationally

· High level of integrity and commitment to socio-economic development and food systems transformation

· Strong networking, social and interpersonal skills

 For more information and online application click here