The Women Artisan Skill Enhancement Project (WASEP) is a partnership between UNDP and Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) which works with tribal communities in Mumbai and Thane districts of Maharashtra with the aim to generate livelihoods for women in the area by reviving traditional forms of art – Warli, Clay and Terracotta. This is an area based focused intervention which intends to enhance the capacities of women artisans and link them with the market with the objective to enhance their household income.

The partnership has been renewed for a three-year period (April 2020 – March 2023) building on the current intervention. This new phase, with the objective to enhance incomes of women artisans through reviving Warli art, will work with 2500 artisans (2000 additional and 500 new) in Mumbai and Thane districts to build their skills in Warli art and link them with the market, both online and offline.

The project is expected to begin in April 2020.

Project Components

1.    Institution Building
The project will work with the existing 2000 artisans mobilized under the current phase and will identify 500 additional artisans to work with. The project will organize the new artisans into self-help groups/ producer groups, strengthen existing groups, and explore the feasibility of formation of a producer company. Training will be conducted for forming and strengthening of these community institutions.

2.    Setting up of a Common Facility Centre
The project will set up a common facility centre in a central area (vis-à-vis the project locations). This centre will house all training sessions, will have equipment such as computers to aid product development and design training, and will also be the location for storing of raw materials as well as regular exhibition of artisan products.

3.    Facilitating Market Linkages
Under the project, all 2500 artisans will be given basic training on product development. In particular, training of 1000 artisans on product design and development will be done intensively. Intensive training will include training on software to generate warli designs as well as production of innovative products. A select group of artisans will also be enrolled into an online selling training program which will build the capacity of these artisans to interact with online sellers/ websites, upload their products, align their online financial transactions, etc. In addition to this, buyer-seller meets and tie-ups with institutional buyers will be given priority by the project to ensure a continuous sale of products of the artisans. In addition to interventions on the demand side, the supply side will also be focused on. For this, the project will conduct periodic market scoping studies to understand the demand and design products accordingly.

4.    Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Communications
An IT Platform and dashboard will be developed for tracking artisans, training, production, inventory, sales per artisans, per producer group, per cluster, per block, etc. This will serve as a detailed MIS to track progress of the project as well as income enhancement of the beneficiaries, and will also show progress on the SDGs relevant to the project. The project will develop knowledge products – case studies, learning notes, best practice documentation, etc. to disseminate to key stakeholders, the local government to aid in policy decisions. Baseline, project progress evaluation and end-line studies will also be conducted, as is standard procedure.

Milestones

Year I

Year II

Year III

Total

No. of artisans

2000

500

–

2500

No. of production centers

1

–

–

1

No. of artisans digitally trained

500

500

–

1000

No. of artisans trained on product development

1000

1000

500

2500

No. of producer groups formed

50

75

–

125

No. of new product types developed

50

50

–

100

No. of artisans linked to market

500

500

1000

2000

No. of artisans selling online

20

80

100

200

IT Platform/ MIS Dashboard

1

–

–

1

Market Studies

1

1

1

3

No. of institutional buyers

2

5

5

12

UNDP will establish a Project Management Unit that will coordinate and manage the project at the state level, with guidance and supervision from the UNDP Country Office in New Delhi. The project will hire technical partners to implement the project on the ground, with the PMU team being responsible for overall coordination and project management.

Summary of Key Functions: 

Working under the overall guidance and supervision of the Project Design and Partnerships Officer, the Project Officer will exercise overall responsibility for planning, implementation, management, monitoring and coordination of the project and achievements of its results. The Project Officer will set strategic directions for the project, provide expertise and technical assistance and manage the project’s day to day activities (including supervision, coordination and management of implementing partners) and ensure proper management of financial and human resources. S/he will be nodal person to interact with LTI, District and Block administration in Mumbai and Thane districts, and other key stakeholders. S/he will be responsible for achievement of overall KPIs of the project. S/He must ensure that project being implemented are as per deliverables mentioned in term of references shared with the various implementation partners. 

The Project Officer will be responsible for:

1.    Overall management of the project and completion of project KPIs

• Exercise overall responsibility for planning, implementation, management, monitoring and coordination of the project, including supervision of technical partners;
• Providing leadership to the PMU team to achieve deliverables and ensure quality in project implementation.

2.    Operational Management of the Project

• Preparation and review of detailed project reports and implementation plans for the technical partners of the project
• End-to-end management of the production center to be set-up under the project, including hiring the facility, contract with landlord, upkeep and maintenance, buying/ renting of equipment and their maintenance, etc.
• Facilitating convergence block and district administration for various aspects of the project, as and when needed
• Ensure the overall relevance, and performance of support for effective realization and quality of outputs, and adherence to applicable UNDP global standards, rules and regulations;
• Ensure the timely and efficient delivery of project outputs and products leading to the achievement of expected results;
• Manage efficiently the financial resources of the Project, including budgeting and budget revisions, as well as expenditure tracking and reporting;
• Continuously record and maintain relevant project activities, issues, risks, etc. in the UNDP Atlas Project Management Module (software platform) ;
• Lead and coordinate the organization of meetings, workshops, conferences, trainings, study tours and related activities relevant to the implementation of the project;
• Liaise with Country Office to coordinate project implementation strategies and progress, provide information on priorities and policies of the executing agency and to ensure timely follow up actions
• Identify priorities and capacity development needs in the design of work plans, and establish a timely and participatory work planning process

3.    Coordination with donors, stakeholders and effective communication of results

• Ensure high quality information and visibility of the project activities to the stakeholders
• Seek input of donor wherever required
• Ensure close coordination and strong partnerships with all partners and stakeholders
• Backstop technical partners in the process and creation of project related publications, reports, research papers, and presentations, and ensure that information available is accurate
• Prepare documents for review and steering committee meetings

4.     Effective Monitoring and Evaluation of the Project

• Identify key performance indicators as well as develop and maintain a monitoring system to ensure effective information sharing, provision of feedback and elaboration of high-quality progress reports
• Manage and coordinate project progress evaluation studies and other market studies being undertaken as a part of the project
• Ensure timely reporting by technical partners
• Ensure timely review meetings and project steering committee meetings
• Develop a well-coordinated and well-planned system of production of project progress and financial reports, plans of action and other documentation requirements of CO.
• Ensure data is collected from the project for updating in the SDG dashboard
• Document case studies and best practices
• Ensure effective risk management for the project

Functional Competencies    

Project Management
•    Ability to provide technical inputs on livelihoods development to technical partners.
•    Ability to create and catalyse partnerships with multiple stakeholders.
•    Expertise on business development and sustainability of livelihood-based enterprises
•    Ability to deliver project outputs as per schedule consistently

Result Orientation
•    Ability to achieve objectives of the project in a time bound manner.

Knowledge Management and Learning
•    Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the project
•    Acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills in the project
 

Development and Operational Effectiveness
•    Ability to apply conceptual models in support of formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources
•    Good knowledge of Results Based Management
•    Strong IT skills
 

Management and Leadership
•    Ability to provide leadership to project team and technical partners
•    Focuses on impact and results and responds positively to feedback
•    Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
•    Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
•    Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure
•    Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complex situations

Educational Qualifications    

• Essential: A minimum of Bachelors in the Social Sciences preferably in Economics, Public Policy, Governance, social science or rural management related discipline.
   
• Desirable: Master’s Degree in social sciences preferably in Economics, Public Policy, Governance, social science or rural management related discipline with relevant professional qualification and necessary knowledge to undertake the assignment.

Knowledge and Skills    

• Working knowledge and skills in IT (MS office) is a prerequisite for the assignment. Preference will be given to the candidate possessing high quality of professional excellence in result-based project management. Being part of a dynamic team, he/ she must be able to perform effectively as a good team member and equally capable to undertake independent assignments.
• Basic understanding of technical requirement of handicraft, especially warli art activities will be an additional advantage.

Experience:    

• Minimum 8 years of working experience in large implementation projects, donor assisted projects or development agencies with focus on project management, institutional development and capacity building of non-profit organisation; partnership development and management with private sector and government institutions and development sector public sector institutions.
• Experience in managing non-farm/ handicraft projects will be preferred.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Hindi

Remuneration package is INR 1,39,858/- per month (taxable). UNDP also offers additional benefits which include medical insurance coverage and limited pension reimbursement for 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: Till March 31 2021 (extendable)