Implementation Manager – Landscape restoration, Madhya Pradesh – Sustainable Landscape and Restoration, WRI India

What is WRI?

WRI India, an independent charity legally registered as the India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. WRI India’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being. 

We are inspired by and associated with World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization. Currently over 150 researchers are working with WRI India in our offices at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. 

Position Overview:

WRI India seeks a consultant for coordinating landscape implementation work housed in the Sustainable Landscapes and Restoration program in India. With his/her knowledge of landscape-level programme implementation in India, the consultant will support the vision of the Sustainable Landscapes and Restoration program to protect, maintain and restore landscapes to secure the livelihoods of 700 million people directly dependent on forests and agriculture and strengthen India’s environmental well-being. WRI India adapted the Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology (ROAM) developed by IUCN and WRI for the Indian context by applying it in Sidhi district in Madhya Pradesh. This position supports the implementation work for landscape restoration in Madhya Pradesh and Sidhi district as a critical Nature-based Solution (NbS). The candidate will work with key stakeholders within the state. The consultant will work closely with the Department of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (DP&RD) office, Madhya Pradesh, other relevant state government departments, implementation partners, other civil society organizations (CSO) in the region, and staff from WRI India. The candidate will support developing a landscape restoration implementation plan to scale up landscape restoration as an NbS in Madhya Pradesh and Sidhi district. This position involves a combination of leading collaborative planning processes, providing direct technical support in selected areas, and coordinating technical support from WRI India colleagues and consultants in other areas.

Responsibilities:

Goal

Technical assistance (50%)

• In collaboration with partners in the Government of Madhya Pradesh and Sidhi, guide establishment of landscape restoration coordination and partnership platform for selected landscape(s) that brings together government, community, private sector, and technical partners to support restoration, sustainable landscape management, and livelihoods improvement
• Steward landscape restoration multi-stakeholder groups to set a vision for the restoration of selected landscape(s), develop a landscape restoration implementation plan, and put the plan into action
  • Implementation plans are likely to include components on: vision and principles, governance, landscape restoration technical interventions, financing, monitoring, and communications, and advocacy. They will build on District landscape restoration assessments, District Development Plans, and other sources

• Be the point of contact between WRI India and the implementing agency and guide, support, and provide technical assistance in developing and implementing the landscape restoration plan(s) and monitoring, as necessary.
• Document lessons learned and best practices from project implementation to foster learning and knowledge sharing across the landscape and beyond.
• Collaborate with WRI colleagues and other stakeholders in the selected landscape(s) to raise awareness about landscape action plans, landscape restoration efforts, lessons, and best practices.

Project coordination (50%)

• Represent WRI India in meetings with the government, project consortia, and other partners. Share approaches, best practices, and lessons learned from WRI’s landscape work in these for a smooth implementation.
• Facilitate setting up and coordinate activities of the steering committee at the state level.
• Support setting up and functioning of the Project Management Unit in Sidhi district, housed within the district administration’s office.
• Coordinate WRI India’s technical assistance in the development and implementation of the landscape restoration plan as necessary
• Maintain close contacts with partners, ensuring adequate communication of landscape activities across all stakeholders including Government, private sector, and NGO partners and foster multi-stakeholder participation, with particular emphasis to local communities.

• Interact closely with the implementing partner for developing landscape restoration implementation plan and establishing monitoring systems.
• Lead awareness campaigns at the landscape(s) to foster sustainability of proposed actions on the ground
• Support organization of policy accelerators in Madhya Pradesh.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Post-graduation in relevant field
• Minimum 12 years of full-time work experience in implementation and/or management of landscape restoration or natural resources management project.
• Prior experience and demonstrated ability in partnership-building and coordination of activities between different stakeholders (government agencies, NGOs, private sector at all levels) in Madhya Pradesh essential.
• Understanding of landscape restoration approach and familiarity with restoration related policies, schemes and programmes in Madhya Pradesh.
• Fluency in Hindi and English Languages
• Flexibility to live, work and travel to remote areas. This work would require frequent travels to Sidhi district.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Good analytical skills
• Expertise in GIS is an added advantage
• Proficiency in MS Office – Word, Excel & PowerPoint
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently as well as part of a team in a high performance environment.

Potential salary: 15,00,000 to 18,00,000 INR CTC 

Salary and Benefits:

Salary shall be commensurate with experience and skills. WRI India offers a generous and comprehensive benefits package.

Duration: Term hire – 2 years(extendable for longer period depending on performance)

Location: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Start date: June 1, 2021

To Apply:

Only Qualified applicants should apply online at https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/jobs. All applications must be submitted online through this career portal in order to be formally considered. 

List of Documents to be attached:

• Cover Letter/ Resume/ Writing Sample/ Reports/

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for interview purpose. Finalized candidate will be required to take a writing/analytical test.

We believe in equal employment, it is our policy to recruit, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to caste, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, sexual preference, parental status, or disability.