Indian producers face several challenges to secure their household’s income, food provision while making an important economic contribution for the country. And one reason for the rising farm distress is crop failures and yield losses triggered by the vagaries of climate.  The livelihood of a large proportion of India’s population—as the largest private enterprise with ~138 million farm families with an 18% contribution to national GDP—is at risk.   Any shock on agricultural production already has social and financial repercussions for both the population and the country as a whole; it impacts rural income levels, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and, in the worst years, poverty rates.

The Government of India’s flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), compensates farmers for any crop losses.  The scheme insures farmers against a wide range of external risks — droughts, dry spells, floods, inundation, pests and diseases, landslides, natural fire and lightning, hailstorms, cyclones, typhoons, tempests, hurricanes and tornadoes.  While the idea of insuring farmers against crop losses isn’t new, the PMFBY is an attempt to plug the gaps in the previous crop insurance schemes — the National Agriculture Insurance scheme (NAIS) introduced in 1999 and the Modified NAIS (mNAIS) introduced in 2011.

The scheme came into operation from 1 April 2016 with a Central government budget allocation of Rs 5,500 crore for 2016–17.   Further, the Central government plans to bring 40 per cent of agricultural area under PMFBY in 2017–18 and, accordingly, a provision of about Rs 9,000 crore has been made in the 2017–18 budget.
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana promotes sustainable agriculture production through  – i) financial support to farmers against crop losses due to climactic or external shocks ii) securing incomes iii) improved, modern and innovative farming practices for better yield iv) enhancing credit availability in the agricultural sector.

The Country Programme Document (2018-2022) of United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) approved by the Government of India has defined one of its foremost programme priorities and outcomes as “Institutional and systems strengthening for service delivery” as the single most innovations to achieve last mile developmental impact.  UNDP will leverage its expertise in systems strengthening to support the Ministry of Agriculture to set up a Technical Support Unit for the implementation of PMFBY, to improve institutional and programme responsiveness, increase coverage and better access among the marginalised and excluded farm households offering innovative measures for risk management and reduced crop loss for the rural population in India.  

The TSU will strongly focus on providing Capacity Building and Training support to the participating state-level government departments involved in PMFBY and advancing the scheme among new states for improved uptake.
 

Core Competencies: 

• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the organisation

Functional Competencies: 

Job Knowledge/ Technical skills

• Sound knowledge and experience in the field of IT systems design and development with capacity to function independently with minimum supervision.
• Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and requirements of the post with excellence;
• Possesses the capacity for strategic planning, result – based management and reporting;

Communication Skills

• Good communication skills
• Tailors and presents information to diverse audiences using a variety of communication delivery methods (e.g., written, electronic, oral, interpersonal) Documentation
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity;

Management skills

• Demonstrated skills connecting with a wide range of stakeholders – insurance agencies, farmer organisations, state agencies etc.,
• Ability to participate and contribute consultative meetings at national and state level with partners and senior stakeholders to identify priorities and manage the timely delivery of project activities.
• Reliable in delivering own parts of the work as part of a team effort
• Demonstrates excellent work/project planning skills;
• Is open to change and ability to manage complex, ever-changing environments;

Education: 

B.Tech / BE from a reputed University

Experience: 

Essential
• 3-4  years of experience in the IT sector with reputed organisations
• Strong background in design and development of IT enabled Portal and data management systems
• Experience of working with Central and/or State Governments/ international agencies/ on similar assignments will be preferred.

Desirable
• Relevant Experience at the national level working with Governments and private entities in the insurance sector  

Language Requirements: • Excellent oral and writing skills in English and Hindi

Remuneration package is INR 1,82,746 /- per month (taxable).  UNDP also offers additional benefits which includes medical insurance coverage and limited pension reimbursement for the contract holder and encourages work life balance

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Workforce diversity

UNDP is committed to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

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Contract Duration: Project Manager- IT