Project Associate

UNDP has been working in India since 1951 in almost all areas of human development. Together with the Government of India and development partners, we have worked towards eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, strengthening local governance, enhancing community resilience, protecting the environment, supporting policy initiatives and institutional reforms, and accelerating sustainable development for all.

With projects and programmes in every state and union territory in India, UNDP works with national and subnational government, and diverse development actors to deliver people-centric results, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. As the integrator for collective action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the UN system, we are committed to supporting the Government of India’s national development vision and priorities and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs for the people and the planet.

Our new Country Programme (2023-2027) builds on our prior work and aims to provide an integrated approach to development solutions in three strategic portfolios:

• Strong, accountable and evidence-led institutions for accelerated achievement of the SDGs
• Enhanced economic opportunities and social protection to reduce inequality, with a focus on the marginalized.
• Climate-smart solutions, sustainable ecosystems and resilient development for reduced vulnerability

South-South cooperation, gender equality and social inclusion are promoted across the pillars. The programme is supported by a framework of renewed partnerships and blended finance solutions, strategic innovation and accelerator labs, and data and digital architecture.

You are invited to join a team of future-smart development professionals to support India in achieving the national and globally agreed goals. As part of the UNDP team, your focus will be to work with diverse stakeholders to find country-specific solutions that lead to sustainable development and reach those furthest behind first.

The Action for Climate and Environment (ACE) Unit focuses on the interconnected challenges of climate change, nature protection, disaster management and circular economy and chemicals management. Under the ACE unit, The Plastic Waste Management Project is designed to minimize negative impacts and risks to environment and human health in India. The aim is to enhance sustainable plastic waste management (segregation/collection/recycling) practices through a socio-technical model in line with Swachh Bharat Mission in India, while ensuring compliance with regulations and ensuring improved use of resources. The project targets institutionalization of waste pickers (safai sathis) through improved governance mechanisms, capacity building and improved social conditions. The project also targets community engagement to enhance responsible waste disposal behaviour, and cross-stakeholder engagements for improved action on plastics.

To achieve the project objective and outcomes, the project is structured in 4 components.

• Component 1 aims to develop, support, and implement an economically sustainable model (ESM) for packaging plastic waste management.
• Component 2 focuses on design and implementation of Pilots in Material Recovery Facilities (Swachhta Kendras) for improved plastic waste management in administrative wards of selected cities.
• Component 3 is directed mainly to design, sustain, and provide elements to institutionalize Swachhta Kendras in governance bodies and to obtain improved socio-economic conditions for waste pickers.
• Component 4 aims towards developing knowledge management, monitoring and communication mechanisms based on in-built adaptive feedback system during the project duration.

This Position directly reports to Project Analyst, (NPSA 9) PWM UNDP and Overall reports to Senior Advisor and Team Leader, Action for Climate and Environment Unit.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Main Purpose: The candidate will support the conceptualization, planning, implementation, and management of project activities to meaningfully incorporate gender and social inclusion considerations and lead to positive outcomes towards the same.

Act as gender and social inclusion focal point for the Project Uthaman

• Support and monitor the overall Safai Saathis inclusion programme under the Plastic Waste Management Programme.
• Ensure to provide quality implementation support and achievement of results by partner organizations at field level.
• Maintain partnership with donor partners, government agencies and other key stakeholders for updating project progress, challenges, and mitigation.

Ensure monitoring and implementation support of KPIs identified for the project and support field team in compiling the information. This includes:

• Working in close coordination with UNDP M&E and field team.
• Review and improve the quality of project/ partner organization’s existing data, data collection tools/databases/reporting templates for capturing gender and social inclusion outputs.
• Develop annual work plan, monitor actions, and draft monthly, quarterly, and annual reports on social inclusion activities.

Support Gender Mainstreaming in Project Design at ACE unit:

• Collaborate with the ACE project teams to integrate gender perspectives into the design of climate and environment-related initiatives.
• Conduct gender analyses to identify specific needs, vulnerabilities, and opportunities for women, men, and other gender identities in the context of climate and environmental projects.
• Develop and implement strategies to ensure the inclusion of gender-sensitive indicators and targets in project monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
• Provide technical assistance to build the capacity of team members to recognize and address gender-specific challenges and opportunities.
• Develop and disseminate educational materials on gender equality and its intersection with climate change and environmental issues.
• Support the development of concept notes, white paper, project documents, success stories, SOPs, reports, policy frameworks, research areas, and other thematic papers as required from time to time.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

ross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Business Direction & Strategy          

• System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexists within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact other parts of the system.   
• Monitoring: Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results 
• Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise, and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication, to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience; Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

Audit and Investigation      

Collection and analysis of evidence:  Ability to extract and analyze all relevant types of evidence and be able to draw reasonable inferences and conclusions.        

2030 Agenda: Planet         

• Nature, Climate and Energy: Green Economy: Circular economy concepts and tools           

2030 Agenda: People         

• Gender: Gender Issues & Analysis, Gender Mainstreaming   

Required Skills and Experience:

Education:

• Secondary Education is required. OR
• University Degree in Gender Studies, Development Studies, Rural Development, Political Sciences, Social Sciences, or equivalent field will be given due consideration, but it is not a requirement.

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years (with high school diploma) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible experience at the regional, national, or international level working on implementing social protection programmes is required.
• Experience in the use of computers, office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and web-based management systems, and advanced knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages
• Experience in Excellent research, writing, editing, and communication skills is desired.
• Experience in writing proposals on the issues related to gender and social inclusion is an asset.
• Experience and strong familiarity with current theories, policies and issues in social inclusion, gender, development studies and human rights is an asset.
• Experience in project coordination, monitoring, partnerships, and stakeholder management is an asset.
• Experience in report writing, workshop facilitation and capacity building skills is desired.
• Experience and deep understanding of the sensitivities of working with different kind of stakeholders is an asset.

Required Languages:

• English and Hindi

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/requisitions/job/17148