Individual Consultant – Senior Technical Expert- Enterprise Promotion

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

UNDP strives to have a workforce, which reflects diversity and gender balance, and applies an equal opportunities approach. UNDP does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS status. All selections are on merit.

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 organizations, 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 center, 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 Senior Technical Expert_ Enterprise Promotion to undertake the activities as provided below. The incumbent will be based at KSRLPS and will perform duties under the direct supervision of CEO/COO KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Prepare annual action plan for non-farm livelihoods component of NRETP.
• Prepare and evaluate project proposals to be submitted to the NRLM for funding under the NRETP.
• 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 enterprises development.
• 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 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 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.

Deliverables & Payment Schedules:

Payment %

Deliverable target dates

Submission of report highlighting,

• Understanding and analyzing of district level projects implemented by Sanjeevini.
• Detailed reporting of the analysis of the assigned districts.
• Submit at least 1 report in the month.

14%

Month 1

Submission of report highlighting,

• Preparing the implementation action plan as per the project / Annual Action Plan.
• Get approval from the supervisor at Sanjeevini.
• Submit 1 report on the annual action plan.

14%

Month 2

Submission of report highlighting,

• Develop SOPs, manuals and guidelines for various components of the program.
• Ensure Documentation of case studies, best practices and learning notes throughout project implementation.

14%

Month 3

Submission of report highlighting,

• Develop partnerships with Government/Private Sector/Technical Institutions on aspects like market support, enterprise management and technical assistance
• Work with technical support agencies to meet project objectives.
• Submit 1 report on the partnership development with various departments/Institutions.

14%

Month 4

Submission of report highlighting,

• Develop an ecosystem of human resources comprising of functional experts and mentors.
• Support the teams at block and district level for effective and timely implementation of the project.
• Conduct regular review meeting at various level.
• Submit 1 report on the development of support provided to the block level team.

14%

Month 5

Submission of report highlighting,

• Collection of data for the past 6 months about the progress of the project.
• Facilitate and monitor the creation of competitive advantages for the enterprises supported by SRLM.
• Submitting the data to the MIS team for monitoring & evaluation.

15%

Month 6

Submission of report highlighting,

• Ensure that the enterprises supported under the program are financially viable.

• Facilitate forward and backward linkages for enterprise setup.

• Submit 1 report on the linkages facilitated.

15%

Month 7

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

MBA in Finance/Rural Management/Marketing/supply chain management and relevant field from an institution of repute or CA or ICWA.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience (after graduation) of working in non-farm livelihoods sector like micro-enterprises development, Collectives and Producer Companies or in the private sector in a business leadership /management role
• Experience of providing business advisory services, developing forward and backward linkages for businesses in the non-farm livelihoods sector
• 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

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 authorized and certified in advance by KSRLPS.

Schedule of Payments:

Consolidated annual consultancy fees payable as per the deliverables and payment schedule mentioned above, upon submission of working progress report certified by the reporting officer i.e., Project Officer - Program and Partnerships (NPSA9), UNDP.

Institutional Arrangement:

All the logistic support related official travel will be borne by the KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka.

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 at least 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.

Note: Please ensure that all the documents to be uploaded should be combined in a single PDF file before uploading as the system has provision of uploading only one document.

General Conditions for Individual Contract- http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/india/docs/procurement/UNDP%20General%20Conditions%20for%20Individual%20Contracts.pdf

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.