Job Opportunity for Senior Manager – Humanitarian Innovation at SEEDS India in New Delhi

ABOUT SEEDS

SEEDS is a not‐for‐profit organisation that helps make communities resilient through comprehensive interventions in the areas of disaster readiness, response, and rehabilitation. Since 1994, the organisation has worked extensively on every major disaster in the Indian subcontinent, integrating locally‐based approaches to build the long‐term resilience of the communities it serves. As SEEDS looks at completing 28 years of outstanding service to humanity, it is re‐anchoring its approach to building resilience through innovation.

As part of its Strategy 2030, SEEDS is helping more than 300 million people, who are vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis in India, be resilient despite recurring disasters. Innovation would be the key for overcoming some of the most insurmountable challenges and would cut across all of SEEDS’ action areas in this journey. Moreover, there is a need to break the lagging inertia in the system that continues to deploy archaic tools and methods in dealing with new complex challenges.

Recognising that the task in hand is too ambitious for any one organisation to make a significant impact, there is a need to create an ecosystem with shared objectives. Such an ecosystem of like‐ minded individuals, organisations, and enterprises would stand a better chance of bringing about change at scale and diversity. The ecosystem will need to be enabled with sustained efforts in building partnerships and local capacities. With that background, SEEDS has conceived and hosts a Humanitarian Innovation Lab acting as an accelerator for local humanitarian actors who have limited capacities for innovation management.

POSITION

The ‘Manager – Humanitarian Innovation’ will primarily work on managing and growing this program. This will include program management, budget control, collaborations with other organisations both within India and internationally, communications, and business development. She/he/they will be responsible for a host of tasks, details of which are mentioned below. They will report to ‘Sr. Associate – Co‐founders’ Office’ at SEEDS.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure all program deliverables are completed within the promised deadline and the earmarked budget
• Manage and nurture relationship with local innovators with utmost sensitivity, while ensuring the expectations from funding partners are communicated clearly in a timely manner
• Manage and nurture relationship with funding partners and support them with understanding of the local context and practices
• Support the strategic growth of the program with planning, research, writing, and evidence generation
• Scout opportunities in the space of humanitarian innovations and localisation
• Reach out to and build active partnerships with relevant actors including potential donors, knowledge partners, government agencies, etc.
• Lead the preparation of presentations, reports, and budgets, for meetings/consultations with relevant actors and for internal meetings
• Develop collaterals and content for program outreach and support communications team with media opportunities for the program
• Participate in periodic review and planning meetings with other departments for coordination, especially finance
• Any other duties related to this position that emerge from organisational management planning as and when required
• Travel to project locations as and when required

QUALIFICATIONS

• A Bachelors/Master’s degree in any discipline. Candidates with training in social sciences will be preferred
• Should have at least 3 years of professional work experience in a program management role
• Can understand, articulate, and communicate complex interconnections and position them to different stakeholders
• Can ensure clarity of thought in writing
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to communicate clearly and effectively
• Possess strategical thinking
• Ability to stay motivated when working independently
• Ability to structure, track and monitor tasks and their progress

WE VALUE

• Ability to collaborate with teams in a multi‐cultural, multi‐disciplinary environments
• Strong analytical and persuasion/negotiation skills, with the ability to influence, negotiate, motivate, advocate, and resolve conflict
• Ability to succeed in often ambiguous and highly flexible environments
• Ability to work and deliver independently as well as part of a team
• Ability to understand the implications and assess the appropriate degree of acceptable risk and take actions to minimize risk

LOCATION

New Delhi, with willingness to travel up to 30% of the time, sometimes in emergency situations

TERM

1 year; possibility to extend

JOINING DATE

ASAP; Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

HOW TO APPLY

Please send the following to joinus@seedsindia.org with the subject “Application: Manager – Humanitarian Innovation”:

1. Resume

2. Cover letter highlighting your interest, relevant experience, and suitability (applications without a cover letter will not be considered)

3. Mention current and expected CTC

SEEDS is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages all candidates from marginalised castes (SC/ST/OBC), genders, sexuality, religions, and abilities to apply to become a part of the organisation.