Job Opportunity for Specialist – Capacity Building and Partnerships at IIHS in Chennai

About the Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP)

The Department of Municipal Administration and Water Supply, Government of Tamil Nadu Municipal (MAWS, GoTN) aims at scaling up access to safe and sustainable sanitation to all its urban areas in the next five years. Tamil Nadu will be poised to becoming a fully sanitised and healthy state, substantially eliminating open defecation, achieving improvements through the entire sanitation value chain, safely disposing an increasing proportion of its human excreta, and re-using/ recovering resources therefrom. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is supporting GoTN to achieve the Sanitation Mission of Tamil Nadu. This support shall enable the GoTN to invest resources towards innovative solutions to achieve mission goals.

A Technical Support Unit (TSU) has been set up to be the comprehensive technical arm for the MAWS-GoTN, and assists in implementation of state-level and city-level initiatives, based on agreed parameters. In addition, two sub-TSUs have been set up in two select urban locations.

IIHS is supporting the Government of Tamil Nadu, and is the lead agency for implementation of the TNUSSP (see tnussp.co.in).

Job Description

The Practice Team at IIHS is responsible for providing cutting-edge and integrated solutions to India’s urban development challenges by bringing together faculty and experts across diverse domains of knowledge and practice; exposing learners to real-life problems and integrating the practice into academics and research.

The Specialist – Capacity Building and Partnerships will be part of the TNUSSP team, located within the larger Practice team at IIHS. The incumbent will be responsible for delivery of the proposed programme components related to Capacity Building, and coordination of the grant acquisition and partnership management for resource mobilization.

The position will be based out of Chennai, with travel as necessary to other locations within the state and country.

Activities and Tasks

Responsibilities would include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Supporting all activities in the Capacity Building component, including Capacity Needs Assessment Report, Capacity Building Strategy and Action Plan, implementing systems and procedures;
• Contributing to the preparation of training material for different training target segments including government officials, private sector operators, sanitation workers, masons, etc.;
• Coordinating with the thematic leads of content creation/curation and managing quality assurance of the content;
• Working closely with relevant internal teams for preparation of Teaching and Learning Material including Digital Based Learning;
• Researching opportunities, creating and managing strategies for prospect cultivation;
• Coordinating and leading market study, donor mapping and planning to ensure a strong fundraising pipeline;
• Gathering relevant and timely intelligence information necessary for grant acquisition; identifying grant opportunities and relevant institutional guidance materials to share with relevant programmes;
• Identifing and interfaceing with prospective donors;
• Building strategic relationships with institutional and corporate partners in the best interest of the institution;
• Working with other teams internal to the organisation to ensure that partnership goals are synchronised with institutional goals;
• Creating a range of outputs (proposals, presentations, briefs) for the proposed programmes;
• Providing support to other IIHS activities including academics, research, training, practice, operations and others;
• Participating in all activities of Institution-Building at IIHS; carrying out tasks as assigned by IIHS; and travelling on IIHS work within or outside the country as and when needed. 

Structure and Reporting

The Specialist – Capacity Building and Partnerships, TNUSSP will report to the Team Leader, TNUSSP or to any other person designated by the Team Leader, and will be required to collaborate effectively with a diverse group of internal teams and external individuals/organisations, and students.

Person Specification

• The candidate is required to possess Post-Graduate education with 5 to 8 years of relevant experience in partnership management and capacity building.
• S/he should have a demonstrable track record of having run capacity building programmes with content development and delivery experience. Preference will be given to candidates with experience and understanding of environmental services, sanitation, and working with Government agencies and personnel.
• Partnership experience must ideally include experience in building and managing partnerships with both corporates and institutions.
• The candidate should also have experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams, good people management and facilitation skills, and significant competency in documentation and IT skills. Reading and writing skills in Tamil and English are essential. Preference will be given to candidates with work experience in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) partnerships.

This offer is on an exclusive basis, which implies that other professional assignments (whether compensated or not) that bear a potential conflict of interest with IIHS cannot be undertaken.

The search will remain open until the position is filled.

Location

This position is based in Chennai and may entail travel to other locations in India.

Review and Assessment

The role and performance of the incumbent shall be subject to normal review and assessment systems at IIHS.

Diversity Policy

IIHS is an equal opportunity employer that encourages women, people with disabilities and those from economically and socially excluded communities with the requisite skills and qualifications to apply for positions.