Associate Programme Director – Livelihood & Entrepreneurship

The organization has been promoting ‘inclusive entrepreneurship’ – a phenomenon characterised by systemic change that enables under-represented groups such as youth and women to access entrepreneurship opportunities, thereby leading to social inclusion, quality employment, and sustainable economic growth. In order to do so, our projects leverage social innovation tools to unleash entrepreneurial energies in women and youth and build positive ecosystems.

We are looking for an Associate Programme Director – Livelihood Security and Inclusive Entrepreneurship to join the team. You would report directly to the Team Lead, Policy Research and Planning Domain and be responsible for the overall programmatic development across research and analysis, policy advocacy, capacity building and knowledge management in the livelihood security and inclusive entrepreneurship space. 

The candidate should demonstrate: -

• Leadership and problem-solving abilities.
• Enhanced understanding of rural livelihood policies and programmes at the state and national level.
• Strong analytical and research skills; working knowledge of data visualisation is an added advantage.
• Excellent communication and networking abilities.
• Good working knowledge of MS Office (Knowledge of Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and online tools for collaboration.
• Working proficiency in English and Hindi language.

The candidate should be open to travel as per the project’s demand.

Duties and Responsibilities

Programmatic Leadership

• Develop programme, identify opportunities and enable policy integration on green economy, green entrepreneurship, community and women-led enterprises, sustainable/blended/micro-financing, etc., at the subnational and national levels.
• Programme management, including financial, contractual and team management to ensure timely and effective project execution.
• Business development and resource mobilisation, including partnerships, to build long-term sustainability and scale for the programme.
• Manage client communication externally and develop inter- and intra-domain synergies within org.

Technical Leadership

• Conceptualise new policy research ideas and oversee the development of tools/frameworks and knowledge products aligned with the programmatic priorities.
• Identify, scope and design policy and regulatory recommendations for a wide array of actors (governments, financial institutions, regulatory bodies, private investors, etc) for green and inclusive livelihood and entrepreneurship development at sub-national, national and international levels.
• Position org as a knowledge expert on the aforementioned thematics through publishing editorials, blog articles and other knowledge pieces relevant to the practice.

Network and Positioning

• Anchor a team of researchers and field resources to build and manage relationships with the State Government Departments, including the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM), Directorate of Industries and other relevant offices, State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), NABARD Regional Office and other financial and non-financial stakeholders on behalf of DA.
• Manage networks, build consortiums and develop long-term, impact-driven partnerships with like-minded private and public sector entities at various levels.
• Position the work carried out by DA at national and international platforms.