Website Swaniti Initiative

Position: Project Manager

Location: A central location in West Bengal

Nature of Position: Project Management and Implementation

Remuneration: Commensurate with market standard and relevant experience

Overview of the project:

The project is focused towards the identification of the availability and extent of accessibility of tea workers to government welfare schemes and other entitlements in the state of West Bengal. This will require an assessment of the current state of access and mapping bottlenecks in the delivery of public services under various schemes. The project requires extensive surveying and interviewing of beneficiaries to recognize limitations and opportunities. Following the assessment study, the team will map out a set of actionable recommendations and collaborate with state and district administration to strengthen systems and processes. The capacity-building exercises will be undertaken for a tractable public program delivery mechanism by identifying interventions suited for the local context. The larger vision of the program is to establish a strong bottom-up policy formulation and implementation framework that can be scaled across the State for a larger impact.

Job Summary:

Swaniti Initiative is looking for an enthusiastic, curious, empathetic, and action-oriented professional, who is eager to contribute to the government system by providing inputs on the basis of extensive primary and secondary research, inter-governmental department liasoning, help implement locally suited interventions that contribute towards improving access and inclusion in social protection schemes for tea garden workers of West Bengal. The work will be centered around a primary survey, need assessment, situation analysis, data analysis, brainstorming with relevant stakeholders, collaborating with the local bodies, and allied departments of the Government of West Bengal. The Project Manager may get an opportunity to make focused interventions in the government systems. The team member will be a resource person to several departments of the government and will report directly to the Program Manager of Swaniti Initiative. The position provides tremendous opportunity to get exposure to multiple domains while working with the allied departments of the government.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Program Management:

The Project Manager is expected to summarize evidence from the field research and plan the corresponding strategy for the execution of the action plan.
To manage the day-to-day operations of the team and represent the team at the relevant policy review meetings at different levels of the government in coordination with relevant stakeholders

Stakeholder Management and Relationship Building:

Build and maintain effective relationships with strategic authorities at the state headquarters like the secretaries of the departments, commissioners of the allied departments, directors, and project officers at the divisional and district level
Establish a consistent communication network among each of these stakeholders for immediate course correction measures
Cross-vertical collaboration: Initiate and participate in cross-vertical collaboration opportunities across the various departments in the State machinery such as providing systematic support to an on-going research project etc.

Institutionalize Systemic changes:

The Project Manager is expected to provide recommendations and support to the government in institutionalizing structural policy interventions.
Work with policymakers if needed to get the reforms institutionalized
The Project Manager has to provide required assistance and guidance to the government stakeholders to ensure that the recommendations are adopted and disseminated at each level of the administrative machinery.

Eligibility Criteria:

Masters in subjects like Rural Management, Development Studies, Economics, Regulatory Governance, Public Policy, Rural Development/Statistics, etc.
Minimum two years of work experience is required. Preference will be given to professionals having work experience with the government
Excellent communication skills and writing abilities (in English) to draft policy memos, proposals, and project reports, etc.
Prior experience of working with tea garden workers can be previously involved in primary research or secondary research. Primary research preferred)
Prior experience with any field surveys in rural areas
Ability to communicate in Hindi, Nepali will be preferred

Skill and aptitude required: