Livelihood Officer (Re-Advertisement)

Palghar

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
Location: Palghar
Grade: Consultancy - SB-3 (SC6/SC7), Service Contract, Local Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Poverty Reduction
- Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction
- Food Security, Livestock and Livelihoods
Closing Date: Closed

Background

This is a Re-Advertisement. Candidates who had applied earlier need not re-apply.

Project Uddyam – Talasari Integrated Skills Development Project

Supervisor/s: Project Officer-Uddyam

Duty Station: Talasari, Palghar district, Maharashtra

Background

L&T Public Charitable Trust (LTPCT) has been working in Talasari taluka, in close coordination with government departments, local governments and communities since 2011. It has undertaken several initiatives related to health, education, water, infrastructure development and agriculture in villages across the taluka.

In 2017, it forged a partnership with UNDP which would converge, leverage on and build up on existing (and past) initiatives and resources of L&T Public Charitable Trust (LTPCT), UNDP and the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) in the region. The partnership has been envisaged in two phases. Phase 1 was for one-year period to test the model of private sector partnership with UNDP in 3-gram panchayat namely Kochai-Bormal, Zari and Girgaon. Based on the learnings of phase 1, it was agreed that UNDP will develop a scale up proposal to create transformational impact in Talasari.

Phase 1 of project Uddyam focused on creating a project management system which monitors the project effectively on the ground as well as converge the activities in a focused manner to leverage the support from government. It created institutional mechanism with government such as district advisory committee headed by District Collector and Block Coordination Committee headed by Block Development Officer. It is working in close coordination with UMED & ITDP and activities are aligned to that of district administrations priorities. These platforms are being used as sharing best practices, community engagement activities and cross sector learnings through facilitated by UNDP.

The project has created an excel wise monitoring tool to monitor the income generation activity in the three gram panchayat at each family level which will be taken to the next level in next phase. It has developed cadre of 20 community resource person who are being trained to provide agri extension services besides the market linkages services to the families in 3 GP. The project has been able to demonstrate convergence with government schemes and proved that it is feasible to leverage resources from the government.

The project has developed knowledge resources like DPR on Livelihoods, skills and Warli art. It has done the baseline study of initial project period and expert opinion on livelihood activities in Talasari. It has developed SDG localisation tracking tool which will be customised and used for tracking progress on key SDGs over next three years. The project has been documented in four quarterly progress reports over last one year.

In this context, LTPCT and UNDP have discussed the next phase of joint partnership which will focus on four themes

1. Farm based livelihoods

2. Convergence

3. Warli art based livelihoods

4. Knowledge Management

The purpose of the intervention will be making Talasari as first model convergence block in the country promoting localization of SDGs. This project period is from August 2018 to July 2021. The new phase will be completely on convergence mode where UMED, ITDP, and other line departments will come together with UNDP, LTPCT and partnering agencies to achieve the goals. The project goals are in next section below.

Project location

The Uddyam – Talasari Integrated Skills Development Project will cover all the Talasari taluka, with special focus on three group Gram Panchayats of Zari, Girgaon and Kochai-Bormal. The villages under the group gram panchayats are also part of the Sustainable Village Transformation project of the Government of Maharashtra.

Results and benefits

Longer term results

The Uddyam partnership between LTPCT and UNDP will demonstrate that how an effective multi-stakeholder partnership - between Government, Private Sector, UN and the Community - can result in an area-based intervention to bring about SDG-aligned social transformation. The long-term vision for the project is to develop Talasari as a model convergence block with special focus on poverty reduction of 3000 families in 3 GP namely Zari, Girgaon, Kochai-Bormal by the end of June 2021 which will be sustainable over a period beyond the project duration of 3 years. This will enable the families and vulnerable tribal communities in Talasari taluka of Maharashtra to experience a transformational impact in their lives. To achieve the vision, the project has four major objectives

Objective 1

To increase income of 3000 families in focus 3GP to INR 36,000 from baseline by July 2021 and strengthening community cadres & marketing linkages for sustainability of livelihoods across Talasari

Objective 2

To improve the income of warli artisans from sales of Warli products of Talasari from 8,000 to INR 24,000 per annum by July 2021

Objective 3

To strengthen the government delivery system and convergence ecosystem to impact all 20 GPs for improved delivery of government schemes and income enhancement to 30,000 end beneficiaries in Talasari

Objective 4

To create knowledge products to facilitate evidence based policy making for local governments at district and block level

The project is expected to create a sustainable ecosystem to sustain enhanced income of families of Talasari. The transformational impact will be seen in terms of:

•Increased incomes and economic well-being of the families

•Improved human development outcomes, with higher levels of productive skills and ways to engage in productive occupations

•Improved access to benefits and programmes of the Government

At the outcome level, it is expected that Uddyam will contribute to micro-level achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the following:

SDG 1End poverty in all its forms everywhere

SDG 2End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

SDG 3Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

SDG 4Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

SDG 5Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

SDG 8Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

SDG 12Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

SDG 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

SDG 17 Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Project Strategies

As indicated earlier, the Uddyam Project in Talasari will build on the existing work done by LTPCT in the taluka. It will also synergize directly, with interventions of the Government, convergence will be achieved with other government schemes. The Project will also draw upon the technical capabilities of non-governmental organizations with substantial sectoral experience as well as those active in the taluka. It will draw upon the global experience that UNDP brings, to learn from best practices and build a comprehensive management and monitoring system in line with the SDGs. The specific field-level strategies to be adopted by the Project are the following:

•Strengthening the existing SHG, VO & CLF and community cadre as well as government system

•Strengthening technical support cadre at the local level to implement and sustain interventions

•Creating institutions and mechanisms for backward and forward market linkage to strengthen farm and non-farm production systems

•Capacity building of community members, local governments, government departments and agencies and other stakeholders

•Close collaboration with UMED, ITDP, District and Block administration.

•Block as a unit of convergence with 3 focus GP as resource gram panchayats

•Bottom up planning & visioning exercise with convergence plan and gram panchayat development plan

•Facilitation from technical expert agency as well as individual experts in respective fields to handhold the CBOs/PRIs & their representatives for income enhancement.

•PMU will act as resource center of ITDP for Talasari

•Focus on achieving progress towards SDG goals 1,2,3,4,5,8,12,13,17

•Effective documentation and reporting of the processes, results and challenges

The project will improve upon exisiting project management and monitoring system that allows for transparent monitoring, convergence among community, local government at GP, Block and District. The project will also build collaborations with the state government, civil society organisations and the UN sister agencies. It will further strengthen the system of knowledge management through local studies required for success of the project and guiding district and block officials regarding planning and execution. The project has already developed a tool to monitor progress on relevant SDG goals for each gram panchayat. The project will further improve it for accurate capturing of progress towards SDG indicators. The project has proposed six monthly survey to monitor the progress on each indicator of the tool.

Key Activity Areas

To achieve the above results, the Uddyam project in Talasari, will focus on the following four sets of activities.

• Farm interventions

• Strengthening warli art Interventions

• Strengthening the government delivery system for convergence

• Knowledge product development to facilitate evidence-based policy making for local governments at district and block level

Duties and Responsibilities

Functions / Key Results Expected

Summary of Key Functions:

Working under the overall guidance of the Chief, Business Development & Skills & Value Chain Expert, and direct supervision of the Project Officer-Uddyam, the Livelihood Officer will exercise overall responsibility for planning, implementation, management, monitoring and coordination of the livelihood related activity and achievements of its results. The Livelihood Officer will have the responsibility of overseeing the livelihood activities in field of agri and allied activity like dairy, poultry and Warli. S/he will be responsible for coordinating market linkage activity with implementing partners. S/he will be nodal person to interact with UMED and streamline the project Uddyam activity with UMED. S/he has to closely work with Project Convergence Officer and implementing partners to support convergence in activity related to livelihoods. S/He has to ensure that project being implemented are as per deliverables mentioned in term of references shared with the various implementation partners.

S/he will work closely with NGO partners, technical support agencies, UMED, ITDP, Block and District government agencies and other government institutions, and the private sector partners.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Livelihood Officer will be responsible for:

1.Strengthening of Self Help Groups/Producer Groups/Farmer Groups/community-based organisation/Village Organisations/Cluster Level federation in Talasari promoted under ITDP/UMED/other government schemes for livelihood activities

•Strengthening the existing SHG, VO & CLF and other community institutions as well as government system so that they can complete in local and national market for agri & allied business.

•Strengthening the community cadres so that they can support the SHG, VO & CLF and other community institutions to complete in market for agri & allied business.

• Review, oversee and monitor vision building exercise conducted with VO members, SHG and cadres.

•Ensure development of micro-plan related to livelihoods for the Self Help Groups/Producer Groups/Farmer Groups/community-based organisation/Village Organisations/Cluster Level federation in Talasari

2.Strengthening Agri and Allied Market Linkages

•Provide leadership to implementing partners and community institutions for building supply chain with private sector and local markets in agri commodities, poultry, goatery, dairy, jasmine, warli art etc

•Provide leadership in setting up procurement centres under ownership of community institutions promoted by UMED/ITDP in Talasari for agri commodities, poultry, goatery, dairy, jasmine, warli art etc under convergence

•Provide mentorship to community cadres on finding market linkages and value chain development of the products.

•Empower the Village Organizations (VO) to monitor the performance of collection center and take reporting from the cadres allocated specific collection centres.

•Facilitate in distribution of Input provision for improving productivity in area of agri, dairy, poultry, goatery, bee keeping etc. for improving productivity of farmers.

•Facilitate backward linkages activities to ensure supply VO institution for market linkages in area of agri, dairy, poultry, goatery, bee keeping, etc

•Facilitate forward Market linkage activities to ensure sales through VO/farmer producer groups/CLF of vegetable/flowers Facilitate CRP capacity building trainings

•Support the partners in developing CRP training modules so as to mainstream within MSRLM system

•Strive towards certification of these CRPs and master trainers by Agriculture Sector Skill council or any other independent body which can certify them.

•Monitor handholding support being provided to CRPs.

3.Improving income of warli artisans through sales of Warli products

•Strengthening warli art Interventions focused on creating ecosystem for institution building, capacity building and market linkage in the next three years and bring more resource for it through convergence.

•Facilitate strengthening of cadres through more trainings on variety of topics like product development, e-commerce management, business development and meeting business targets for their producer groups will ensure sustainability of institutions.

•Provide leadership on developing an effective ecosystem which helps Warli artisan’s households to upgrade their skill and link effectively with market.

•Lead the strengthening the producer groups recognised by district administration/ITDP and UMED

•Capacity building of cadres in design, production, sales and distribution management and updation of catalogues of warli art products

•Strengthening market linkage through efficient backward and forward linkages for producer groups

4.Assisting the Project Officer-Uddyam in Project Management and Coordination with donors, stakeholders and effective communication of results

•Ensure close coordination and strong partnerships with all partners and stakeholders like MSRLM, relevant Government Line Department, ITIs, schools, civil society organization etc.

•Backstop technical advisers in the process and creation of project related publications, reports, research papers, and presentations, ensure that information available is accurate.

•Facilitate documentation of livelihood activities on periodic basis and ensure that learnings from them are incorporated in the further stages of the project.

•Monitor and ensure timely delivery of results from the implementation partners

•Assisting the Project Officer-Uddyam in government meetings, minutes preparations and presentation for government and donors

•Assisting the Project Officer-Uddyam in Operations Management of the Project.

•Assisting the Project Officer-Uddyam in Resource mobilization for the project.

•Any other task performed by the supervisor.

Competencies

Functional Competencies

Project Management

•Ability to provide technical inputs on livelihoods and skill development to partner institutions.

•Ability to create and catalyse partnerships with multiple stakeholders.

Expertise on business development and sustainability of livelihood-based enterprises

•Ability to deliver project outputs as per schedule consistently

Result Orientation.

•Ability to achieve objectives of the project in a time bound manner.

Knowledge Management and Learning

•Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the project

•Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas,

•Acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills in the project

Development and Operational Effectiveness

•Ability to apply conceptual models in support of formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources

•Good knowledge of Results Based Management

•Strong IT skills

•Ability to lead implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioural/attitudinal change

Management and Leadership

•Ability to provide leadership to partnership institutions

•Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback

•Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude

•Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills

•Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure

•Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complex situations

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications

Essential: A minimum of Bachelors in Social Sciences preferably in Economics, Public Policy, Governance, social science or rural management related discipline. BSc Agriculture background preferred

Desirable: ,Masters Degree in Social Sciences preferably in Economics, Public Policy, Governance, social science or rural management related discipline with relevant professional qualification and necessary knowledge to undertake the assignment.

Experience:

Minimum 7 years of work experience in implementation of livelihood project, donor assisted projects or development agencies with focus on project management, institutional development and capacity building of non-profit organisation; partnership development and management with private sector and government institutions and development sector public sector institutions.

Experience:

•Experience in managing agriculture sector-based livelihood project is mandatory

•Experience in building supply chain for community-based organisation for agri-allied products will be mandatory.

•Experience in managing dairy/ poultry/ goat rearing/ bee keeping/ warli art activities/ skills-based livelihood project will be preferred.

Knowledge and Skills

•Working knowledge and skills in IT (MS office) is a prerequisite for the assignment. Preference will be given to the candidate possessing high quality of professional excellence in result-based project management.

•Being part of a dynamic team, he/ she must be able to perform effectively as a good team member and equally capable to undertake independent assignments.

•Basic understanding of technical requirement of agriculture/dairy/poultry/goat rearing/ bee keeping/ warli art activities will be an additional advantage.

Language Requirements

Fluency in English and Marathi (mandatory)

Remuneration package is INR 72,094 per month (taxable). UNDP also offers additional benefits which include medical insurance coverage and limited pension reimbursement for contract holder and encourages work life balance.

Disclaimer

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