Job Opportunity for Project Coordinator- NTFP Livelihoods at Selco Foundation in Bengaluru

SELCO Foundation seeks to inspire and implement socially, financially, and environmentally inclusive solutions by improving access to sustainable energy. SELCO Foundation’s key objectives are systematically identified the diverse needs of the poor, understand and define the role of sustainable development, poverty alleviation, and decentralized energy, create and deploy innovative solutions that positively impact the well-being, health, education, and livelihoods towards the alleviation of poverty and foster the development of enabling conditions or an ecosystem through holistic thought processes in technology, finance, entrepreneurship, and policy.

As one of the priority development verticals, we are working to develop sustainable energy-driven solutions for Agriculture. Under the Agricultural vertical, we have been working on specific value chains such as millets, rice, spice, tomato, and potato and with agri cooling,as a value chain cutting across all horticulture produce.

Currently, SELCO Foundation is exploring Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP’s), and seeks to develop sustainable energy solutions to improve, and diversify farm incomes , and reduce drudgery across the NTFPs value chain. We are specifically looking at technologies that bring value for small- marginal farmers, native entrepreneurs, FPOs, FPCs, SHG, and other stakeholders.

Technology interventions that lead to better utilization of NTFPs and consequently expand opportunities not only in improving incomes of forest-dependent resource gatherers but also contribute to the national economy through trade of value-added NTFPs have been documented globally to make non timber forest product value chains sustainable. Raising awareness on the possibilities for increasing returns from NTFPs through transformative yet sustainable technologies that yield commercially-viable products empower those who adopt them to anchor ecosystem welfare decisions for the community.

You can find more information on this program on our Program Website. You can find more information about the SELCO Foundation on our Organization’s Website.

The Role

As a project coordinator for NTFP, you should have a good sectoral understanding, and proven experience in the developmental sector preferably, Agriculture, Forestry and allied activities. The coordinator is expected to conduct deep-dive studies and work towards creating evidence and knowledge products that bring out the organization’s approach and plan implementation across NTFPs.

Key Responsibilities

• To support the agriculture team for research, identification of viable NTFP commodities to innovation (both tech and financial), and implement Decentralized Renewable Energy based technologies for NTFPs
• Keep abreast with schemes, policies, trends, narratives and practices emerging in innovative – across the vast NTFP- Agro Forestry sector
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with relevant stakeholders ( NGO partners, Govt. Institutes, etc.,) related to all the nodal points within the NTFP value chain.
• To map and profile the technology providers/ manufacturers for the identified technology nodal points and coordinate for the smooth implementation of projects.
• To visit sites/ partner organizations to identify different end user/ commodity typologies to develop prototypes and test new technologies relevant to the value chains. And, to develop different business & financial models for these typologies.
• To coordinate with the other geography teams of SELCO and support them in developing and implementing programs to create cross-learning platforms for the specified value chain.
• To coordinate and help in collecting data and sharing it with the knowledge team to develop the knowledge deliverables (case studies, presentations, reports, etc)
• Conduct site visits and prepare case studies with pre and post-implementation learnings, and financial profitability for all the implementations.
• Support the team in conducting the training and capacity-building requirements from the implementations and create training modules with relevant stakeholders.
• To coordinate with end users for maintenance and troubleshooting support for implementations at each site by coordinating with the technology providers to resolve the same.
  Share data, case studies, learnings & newly identified typologies with the geography teams and also with the partners.
• Support the team in bringing out the newsletters including case studies, learnings, new typologies, etc which will be shared with the partners, and geographies monthly.
• Coordinate with the outreach team for sharing the learnings through various social media channels.

Key requirements

• 2-3 years of relevant work experience in the development sector/Agriculture/Agro – Forestry, with domain knowledge of sustainable energy and non timber forest products is preferred with a specific Interested in energy access, livelihood, and ecosystem building
• Strong management and operation skills, along with Stakeholder management and relationship building capabilities
• Strong communication skills- written and oral
• Ability to analyze data and derive meaningful learnings and insights from the information gathered in order to create knowledge products.
• Demonstrating proactive approaches to problem-solving with strong decision- making capability and ability to work in an interdisciplinary and multicultural environment.
• Proficiency in using Microsoft Office, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Willingness to travel extensively within and outside the State as and when required. 

To apply please send in your CV and cover letter to apply@selcofoundation.org with “Project Coordinator- NTFP_Agriculture ” in the subject line.