Job Opportunity for Young Professional- Power Sector at CEEW in Lucknow

Designation Offered: 

Young Professional

Focus Area: 

Power Sector (Vidyut Sakhi PMU)

Reporting to: 

Programme Associate

Location: 

Lucknow or nearby district headquarters in UP

Duration

1 years with a possibility of extension depending on work requirements

Purpose: 

CEEW Young Professionals programme equips young early-career aspirants with the skills and experience of action-research to further public policy and its implementation. Launching for the first time, the programme will provide a first-hand opportunity to be exposed to the inner functioning of the government institutions, policy drafting and implementation, and supporting state rural livelihood generation programmes.

CEEW is supporting the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (UPSRLM) in the implementation of the Vidyut Sakhi programme – a joint initiative between UPSRLM and UPPCL (holding company of power distribution companies, discoms). The initiative aims to  provide income-generating employment opportunities to SHG women in rural areas by way of door-to-door electricity bill collection and in turn improving revenue recovery for the discoms . 

Our engagement with UPSRLM entails developing and administering a robust information and communication system for monitoring the activities of Vidyut sakhis and coordinating with the discom officials and other stakeholders to improve the collection efficiency from the electricity consumers and ensure smooth implementation of Vidyut Sakhi model.

Selected YPs will be spearheading the interventions to support the Vidyut Sakhi programme on ground, and will have to ensure that activities planned with the UPSRLM are implemented in a timely manner. Further, the candidate will also have to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate and document how on-ground actions are resulting in improved livelihoods of Vidyut Sakhis and collection efficiency of Uttar Pradesh discoms.

Key Responsibilities 

Project management

• Undertaking consultation and discussions with Vidyut Sakhis to identify issues and provide insights to help them in a proper manner.
• Developing and implementing a standardised process from recruitment of Vidyut sakhis, their training and providing handholding support to ensure effective troubleshooting on-ground.
• Organising and leading the training programme for Vidyut Sakhis across identified districts .
• Monitoring the activities of Vidyut Sakhis through dashboards and periodical visits and data collection from the field.
• Coordinating with the discom officials and other stakeholders (bank, etc.) to assist Vidyuts Sakhis in improving the collection efficiency from the electricity consumer.
• Providing inputs on the communication strategy to ensure proper assistance to the Sakhis and creating consumer awareness strategy and recognition for Vidyut Sakhis to build consumer trust
• Assessing the impact, qualitatively and quantitatively and document how on-ground actions are resulting in improved collection efficiency in Uttar Pradesh.

Outreach and stakeholder management

• Building awareness around Vidyut Sakhi Programme’s objectives and other related work of CEEW in Uttar Pradesh.
• Leading CEEW’s engagement with the UPSRLM, Discoms, administration officials and other relevant departments at the district level.
• Forging strong relationships and associations with the relevant state/district-level departments and civil society stakeholders and organising public and closed-door stakeholder meetings and consultations to facilitate improved coordination between government and civil society stakeholders.
• Present relevant research in a coherent manner that can be understood by a wide range of audiences. 

Selection Criteria

Education

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with specialisation in Rural Development and Management, Livelihoods or related field.
• Understanding of relevant ministries and departments and their schemes promoting livelihoods and microenterprises in India is a plus.

Work experience

• 1-2 years of relevant work experience in the field of programme implementation and project management, preferably in the livelihoods and rural development programmes.
• Candidates with prior experience of working with SHG groups or on the implementation of government programmes/schemes in rural areas will be preferred

Key skills

• Coherent thinking with excellent communication and presentation skills
• Strong networking and interpersonal skills with an ability to strike conversations.
• Strong project management skills
• Ability to use MS Office application suite including MS Excel
• Ability to adapt to new environment and deliver under tight deadlines in a professional environment
• Patience and perseverance for building relationships with new partners and opening doors
• Should have the ability to effectively work in a team while being able to independently drive deliverables with minimum assistance when time demands
• Willingness to learn, grow and develop a personal and professional front, at a rapid pace with a steep learning curve.

Compensation

CEEW offers competitive compensation commensurate with the experience and matches the best of standards adopted by industry or other similar organizations for similar roles.For the YP’s programme, there is a fixed limit of INR 40,000/month. 

CEEW Mentorship, especially for the Young Professionals Programme: The selected YPs will have assigned mentors from the senior team members at CEEW. Mentors will provide advice on various topics ranging from research and project management skills to identifying career opportunities throughout the YP experience.