Individual Consultant

 UNDP

Individual Consultant – District Technical Expert_Enterprise Promotion
Location :	Uttar Kannada District, Karnataka, INDIA
Application Deadline :	18-Feb-21 (Midnight New York, USA)
Time left :	13d 23h 28m
Type of Contract :	Individual Contract
Post Level :	National Consultant
Languages Required :	English
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 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 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 aDistrict Technical Expert Enterprise Promotion – Uttar Kannada to undertake the activities as provided below. The incumbent will be based at KSRLPS and will perform duties under the direct supervision of an official designated by CEO.
Duties and Responsibilities
The District Technical Expert shall be responsible for overseeing all enterprise development activities in the allocated district. The specific responsibilities of the District Technical Expert are: ·        Ensure roll-out and functioning of entrepreneurship promotion activities within the district ·        Identify new business opportunities and markets for setting up enterprises ·        Coordinate with functional experts in the district for seeking their advice and services for promoting, enhancing, and improving performance of enterprises ·        Coordinate with the other domain teams in the district for effective implementation of enterprise activities ·        Ensure regular data-collection and analysis of supported enterprises (through software application, or manually, as the case maybe) ·        Ensure regular monitoring and reporting of entrepreneurship development activities in the block ·        Document and share experiences of entrepreneurs and innovative practices undertaken in the field ·        Coordinate with the technical support agency cluster development activities in the district ·        Monitor the work of the Block teams and the TSAs under the program in his/her district ·        Ensure that the enterprises 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 do capacity building of the CRPs and the staff of the cluster enterprises in the district. ·        Review the financial and business parameters of the cluster and larger group enterprises in the district on a regular basis ·        Facilitate and build the capacities of the block teams, CRPs and community members in the OSF in business plan appraisal, evaluation and approvals. ·        Ensure that financial requirements of enterprises are met, both from CEF and through Formal Financial Institutions in co-ordination with the District FI team. ·        Assist the incubator appointed by the SRLM in identifying SHG women-run enterprises for incubation support ·        Provide data-driven market intelligence, support market linkages, scout for new business opportunities, and facilitate access to technology and skills ·        Ensure that both the quantitative and qualitative targets are met. ·        Roll out of technology platform for enterprise promotion, monitoring the enterprise development activities in the district, and identification and coordination with the pool of functional experts.
Competencies
·        Strong in numeracy, analytical, and business skills ·        Good team player with strong ability to work in teams and with people with no direct reporting relationships ·        Strong in communication skills ·        Data driven, open to learning and adaptable, should be willing to adapt to ground realities ·        Compassionate for the poor and willing to look at issues from their lens ·        Honest, fair and objective in work ·        A Self-starter and a target-oriented person ·        Willing to travel extensively in the field and stay in a village for 15 days a month.
Required Skills and Experience
MBA in Finance/Business/Rural Management/Marketing from an institution of repute or CA or ICWA. Experience: ·        Minimum of 2 years of experience of working in non-farm livelihoods promotion or in a business organization preferably in rural based value chains. ·        Experience of working in teams and managing relationships with all stakeholders Languages Required: Fluency in English and Kannada– spoken, read and write for all official communication is essential. 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. CHEDULE OF PAYMENTS Consolidated annual consultancy fees (Remuneration) of INR 5,40,000/- payable in equal monthly instalments of INR 45,000/- 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 Mission Director and Senior Technical Expert – Enterprise Promotion ·        The consultant should also report to any Other Official designated by CEO ·        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 For more information and online application click here