United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) invites applications for the post of Chief Operating Officer (Skills) – DDU-GKY

Organization: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under GOALS project

Position: Chief Operating Officer (Skills) – DDU-GKY
Post Level: SB-5

Supervisor: JS (Skills) MoRD and Programme Analyst, UNDP

Type of Contract: Service Contract
Duration: One year (extendable)

Location: New Delhi

Minimum Eligibility Requirements:

Educational Qualification: Master’s Degree or equivalent in Economics, Social Sciences, Political Sciences, Rural Development, Development Studies or related fields.
Experience: 
> Minimum 9 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in rural development, rural livelihoods, skill development and/or related fields.
> With minimum 2-3 years of experience in
— Leading large scale rural livelihoods promotion/skill development programmes
— Coordination and facilitation of senior, complex teams
— Providing management advisory services
> Hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of rural development/skill development projects.
> Experience in handling partnerships including funding.
> Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Advanced knowledge of spread sheet, database and research packages will be an asset.

Skills required: 

> Knowledge and Skills:
— Extremely strong influencing and facilitation skills.
— Strong communication (written and oral) skills

> Corporate Competencies:
— Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
— Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
— Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
— Treats all people fairly without favoritism and discrimination Demonstrates/safeguards ethics and integrity
— Demonstrates corporate knowledge and sound judgment

> Functional Competencies – Knowledge/Technical Expertise:
— Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of rural development and livelihood promotion
— Knowledge about India’s development administration systems.
— Good understanding of development issues such as human development, inclusive development, gender, participation
— Applies a rights-based approach to development programming
— Keeps abreast of new developments in the area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally
— Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

> Development effectiveness:
— Keeps abreast of new developments in the area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally
— Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks
— Focuses on impact and result for the client, builds strong relationships with clients and external actors
— Has the capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations; evaluates information accurately and identifies key issues required to resolve problems
— Good communication, interpersonal and presentation skills, with an ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
— Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking

> Building Strategic Partnerships
— Peoples’ orientation and the ability to work with people
— Ability to establish, build and sustain effective relationships, partnerships and alliances with Government Agencies and main constituents, advocate effectively and communicate sensitively across
— Strong networks across diverse sectors at leadership levels.
— Identifies needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners

> Leadership and Self-Management
— Establishes priorities for self and other members of the NMMU; schedules activities to ensure optimum use of time and resources; monitors performance against development and other objectives and corrects deviations from the course
— Shares knowledge across the organization and builds a culture of knowledge sharing and learning
— Builds staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation
— Builds and promotes effective teams using mentoring and conflict resolution skills
— Facilitates and encourages open communication in the team, communicating effectively
— Works as a team member
— Ability to work independently and under pressure
— Self-development, initiative-taking
— Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
— Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
— Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view. Also solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behaviour
— Willingness to travel extensively

> Language Requirements: Proficiency in spoken and written English. A good command over Hindi is an asset.

Roles and Responsibilities: The Chief Operating Officer (Skills) will work under the guidance and supervision of the JS (Skills) MoRD and Programme Analyst, UNDP. The incumbent will be primarily responsible for the work of the placement and skill development programme of MoRD. The COO will work towards attainment of the results envisaged by DDU-GKY to the required standards of quality and within the constraints of time and cost.

For this, s/he will ensure that the skill development component of NRLM:
— Delivers on its objectives; and
— Leads the skill development team at national and state levels in achieving its goals.

S/he will undertake any other task assigned by the JS (Skills) MoRD and Programme Analyst, UNDP.

Duties and Responsibilities: Under the guidance and direct supervision of JS (Skills), MoRD and Programme Analyst, UNDP, the COO (Skills)has the responsibility for the following tasks:

> Thematic Responsibilities:
1. Lead the skills and placement linked programme of MoRD to make skill development an entitlement of the poor.
2. Review and overhaul skill development and training systems for improving existing occupations.
3. Ensure a quality focus for the programme.
4. Ensure the programme targets are met in a timely manner.
5. Develop vibrant partnerships with various skill development organizations, the private sector, industry associations and sector specific employers’ associations.
6. Oversee programme delivery across the states.
7. Collect and analyse data and prepare quarterly and annual reports to be submitted to GoI and UNDP.
8. Perform any other related tasks consistent with the level of the post and/ or assigned by the JS (Skills) and Programme Analyst, UNDP.

> Regional Responsibilities: Over and above the thematic responsibilities, the COO (Skills) Chief Operating Officer would be assigned with specific regional responsibilities. The regional responsibilities will involve:

1. Ensuring effective support to the states for smooth functioning of the State Rural Livelihood Missions

2. Ensuring assistance to the states in preparation and implementation of the State Perspective Implementation Plan (SPIP) comprising but not limited to the following activities:
— Conduct of situational analysis/poverty diagnosis that covers the macro and micro levels and takes into account the diversity in the state, the underlying and structural factors for the marginalization of poor and the existing/ potential opportunities for livelihood promotion.
— Holding of stakeholder consultations and strategy workshops;
— Designing of strategies for social mobilization and institution building, financial inclusion and livelihoods;
— Putting in place HR and administration structures;
— Institution of MIS system and its operation, dovetailed with the national system which takes into account the dynamic changes in the livelihoods of the disadvantaged groups;
— Developing financial management framework and the related manuals;
— Developing procurement management framework and the related manuals;
— Developing social management framework consistent with the national framework; and

3. Ensuring effective programme implementation in the states by supporting the states to carry out the following activities:
— Developing operations manuals including community operation manual for programme implementation;
— Fine-tuning of program strategies for social mobilization and institution building, financial inclusion and livelihoods based on learning from pilots;
— Updating the HR plan and facilitating recruitment in tune with the project expansion strategy;
— Developing guidelines for implementation of specific interventions as and when they are being introduced and scaled-up;
— Support for operationalization of MIS and learning systems including process monitoring, CBO self- monitoring, development audit and reviews; and
— Support for troubleshooting during implementation.
— Managing convergence and partnerships;
— Monitoring the employment creation mandate of NRLM in the states

4. Be a Resource Person for UNDP in its other projects/programmes, as necessary.
5. Perform any other related tasks consistent with the level of the post and/or assigned by the JS (Skills), MoRD and Programme Analyst, UNDP.

Remuneration: Rs. 2,18,380-2,58,243 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.

Application Process: Interested candidates should apply online by visiting Job_COO-DDUGKY_UNDP

Last date to apply: 22 February 2017

Note: 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 selection is on merit.


About UNDP and its project:

UNDP Country Programme (2013-17) is aligned with the Government of India’s Twelfth Plan priorities and seeks to improve the effectiveness of national programmes and policies for disadvantaged regions and groups especially women, Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes, minorities, displaced persons and persons with disabilities. UNDP’s partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) under “Governance and Accelerated Livelihoods Support” aims to strengthen the effectiveness of key Ministry programmes by providing (a) technical assistance to the state government and NGOs in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha to improve sustainable livelihoods with linkages to Panchayati Raj Institutions for governance in focus districts; (b) provide advice and technical assistance to the Ministry and the state governments to help improve the efficiency, accountability and inclusiveness of National Rural Livelihoods Mission and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme; and (c) provide advice and technical assistance to the Ministry and state governments to help “green” select schemes.

According to Census 2011, India has 55 million potential workers between the ages of 15 and 35 years in rural areas. At the same time, the world is expected to face a shortage of 57 million workers by 2020. This presents a historic opportunity for India to transform Indian rural youth into a powerful demographic dividend that can help realize the nation’s ambitious target of skilling 500 million by 2022 and contribute to its economic growth agenda. The Ministry of Rural Development, GOI is a critical partner to this national agenda and aims to contribute to the same through the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).

The DDU-GKY, a part of the National Rural livelihood Mission (NRLM ), was restructured in September 2014 and launched with a revised focus on building skills of rural youth benchmarked to global standards. The DDU-GKY is a part of a long and pioneering history of skill development which saw the origin of placement-linked skill training programmes to the launch of the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana-Special Projects in 2004-05 and its evolution to Aajeevika Skills in 2013 and its further revision to DDU-GKY.

UNDP, under the GOALS Project, is partnering with the Ministry of Rural Development to provide technical support to NRLM for efficient and inclusive implementation through (a) positioning professional managers and domain experts to improve implementation at the state level; (b) strengthening the social mobilisation in favour of women from persistently excluded groups; and (c) developing and testing of context-specific, market-led, livelihood strategies that will enable institutions of the poor women to secure their role in markets and supply chains and ensure higher and sustained returns.

As part of this support, UNDP is looking for a dynamic individual for the position of Chief Operating Officer (Skills) DDU-GKY.