About PCI India

PCI India, a registered Indian society, has been working in India for the past 28 years. We drive interventions to transform the lives of communities at scale by solving complex development problems. In the past year, PCI India reached more than 2 crore (20 million) people across 200+ districts in 23 states.

Our Vision and Mission

Vision – A happy, healthy, safe and a sustainable world for all.

Mission – Rooted in community realities, we co create and scale sustainable solutions to complex development problems.

Our Values

• Excellence – Quality in everything no matter how small, is paramount.
• Respect – There is inherent value in all people for who they are and what they contribute.
• Collaboration – Only through collaboration we can address complex development problems.
• Boldness – Boldness requires disruptive thinking backed up by courage and conviction.
• Creativity – Creativity ensures dynamic responsiveness, relevance and impact.
• Integrity – Integrity is non-negotiable in both personal and professional domains.

PCI is an Equal Opportunity Employer

PCI is committed to providing equal opportunity to all working for it and in creating an inclusive work environment. We respect the diversity of our people and follow a fair, non-discriminatory approach in terms of gender, age, nationality race, caste, religion, community, marital status, physical challenge, and sexual orientation.

We promote diversity in the workplace and ensure a culture of zero tolerance to any form of discrimination, abuse or harassment whether sexual, physical or psychological.

PCI provides equal opportunity in recruitment, appraisals, promotion and career progression. Our people policies are fair, objective and non-discriminatory and everyone is expected to adhere to them.

About the Position

• Job Title: Consultant – Economic Empowerment Pathway Implementation and Livelihood Linkages for Shakti Sadans
• Number of positions: 4
• Location: Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh
• Duration: Four months (September–December 2026)
• Type: Consultant (Deliverable-based)
• Qualification: Post-graduate degree in Social Work, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Rural Development, Livelihoods, Economics, Business Administration, Public Policy or a related discipline.

Experience Required

• At least five years of relevant professional experience in livelihoods, women’s economic empowerment, skill development, employment facilitation, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, rehabilitation or social-protection programming.
• Demonstrated experience in livelihood and market assessments, participant profiling, career counselling, individual livelihood planning, training and government-scheme linkages, safe placement, enterprise support and outcome tracking.
• Demonstrated experience designing and facilitating capacity-building sessions for institutional staff, frontline workers or allied service providers and preparing practical training materials and tools.
• Experience working sensitively with women in vulnerable situations, survivors of GBV, shelter homes, Shakti Sadans, One Stop Centres or comparable protection and rehabilitation settings is strongly preferred.
• Proven experience in multi-stakeholder coordination, government and service-provider convergence, community mobilization or GBV awareness, and preparation of high-quality technical reports and IEC/training materials.

Skills & Attributes

• Sound understanding of survivor-centred, rights-based, trauma-informed, gender-responsive, safe-work and do-no-harm approaches.
• Strong training facilitation, livelihood counselling, partnership development, stakeholder coordination and negotiation skills.
• Ability to assess the credibility, accessibility, safety and local feasibility of training, placement and enterprise opportunities.
• Strong analytical, planning, ethical documentation, monitoring, problem-solving and follow-up abilities, including proficiency in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Excellent written and spoken English and Hindi; knowledge of relevant regional languages and willingness to travel are advantages.

About the Project

PCI India, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is implementing the Shakti Saarthi project to strengthen systems for a multi-sectoral response to gender-based violence (GBV). The partnership seeks to improve the quality and accessibility of survivor-centred services by strengthening Shakti Sadans, building the capacities of frontline service providers, enhancing community engagement, and supporting pathways for long-term rehabilitation and reintegration of women survivors.

Shakti Sadans provide integrated relief, rehabilitation and safe spaces for women affected by violence and women in difficult circumstances who require socio-economic, legal and other support. Recognizing that sustainable rehabilitation extends beyond immediate protection, the project seeks to facilitate access to market-relevant skills, career counselling, life skills, financial literacy, government social protection and livelihood schemes, safe employment, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, market linkages, and other locally appropriate opportunities. Interventions are tailored to women’s strengths, aspirations, readiness, care responsibilities, mobility, safety needs and local market conditions, so that economic rehabilitation promotes independence, dignity and sustainable recovery.

The Role

The Consultant will support PCI India in contextualizing, operationalizing and piloting the approved Economic Empowerment Pathway for women residing in selected Shakti Sadans. The Consultant will implement the activities required to establish an enabling ecosystem of support, services, and linkages that enables women to access relevant skills, livelihood opportunities, employment, entrepreneurship, financial services, and government schemes — with a focus on informed choice, safety, sustained economic participation, and longer-term economic independence.

The Consultant will adopt a participatory, survivor-centred, strengths-based, rights-based, trauma-informed, gender-responsive and market-responsive approach throughout the assignment, ensuring livelihood decisions are based on informed choice and individual readiness, with non-participation never affecting access to protection, shelter or other services.

Key Responsibilities:

Month 1

• Submit an inception report setting out the implementation methodology, four-month Gantt Chart/Work plan, timelines, coordination arrangements, safeguarding measures, quality-assurance process and reporting schedule.
• Assess institutional and implementation gaps affecting economic rehabilitation, including gaps in staff capacity, referral systems, information, documentation, partnerships, mobility, safety, care responsibilities and follow-up support.
• Prepare a site-wise training and capacity-strengthening plan for Shakti Sadan administrative/main staff, supporting staff, allied service providers and relevant stakeholders, together with draft session plans, practical tools, handouts and mentoring arrangements.
• Prepare a detailed stakeholder, institution, government-scheme courses map being offered by relevant departments, State Rural Livelihood Missions, skill missions, recognized training institutes, employers, financial institutions, market actors, CSR initiatives, philanthropic organizations, civil-society organizations and other service providers. The map must record available courses/schemes, eligibility, duration, location, fee or stipend, certification, placement support, accessibility and safety considerations, contact person and referral process.
• Conduct a rapid, location-specific assessment of livelihood opportunities, existing services and market demand, including feasible local training, certification, employment, self-employment, home-based enterprise, financial-inclusion and market-linkage options for women residing in each participating Shakti Sadan.
• With informed consent, complete participant profiling and livelihood-readiness assessments covering aspirations, education, existing skills, work experience, interests, care responsibilities, mobility, documentation, financial inclusion, safety considerations and support needs; prepare individual livelihood plans and identify an initial cohort of at least ten women in Shakti Sadan for suitable training, scheme or course linkages.
• To support the technical expert by providing required information for designing the Economic Empowerment Pathway.
• Submit the Month 1 progress report with assessment findings, participant status, stakeholder mapping, risks, mitigation measures and supporting evidence, reflections, challenges, successes.

Month 2

• Conduct structured, in-person capacity-building training at each selected Shakti Sadan for administrative/main staff and supporting staff; include allied service providers and relevant stakeholders where appropriate on survivor-centred, strengths-based, rights-based and trauma-informed economic rehabilitation; livelihood counselling; participant profiling; skills and employability assessment; individual livelihood planning; informed consent; safeguarding and safe-work principles; etc.
• Provide approved training materials, practical tools and handouts in editable/soft-copy format, and offer post-training mentoring or refresher support to strengthen implementation, coordination, monitoring and sustainability.
• Facilitate individual career counselling and group sessions on life skills, employability, financial literacy, digital and financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and safe work, tailored to participants’ interests, readiness and individual livelihood plans wherever required.
• Engage and coordinate with mapped stakeholders through consultations, convergence meetings and documented follow-up. Validate the availability, credibility and suitability of identified training institutions, government schemes and courses, including safety, accessibility, certification and realistic livelihood outcomes.
• Facilitate and document referrals/enrolments for at least five women per participating Shakti Sadan into suitable locally available training institutes, government skill-development or livelihood schemes, recognized courses, apprenticeships or other approved skill-building opportunities.
• Plan and conduct PCI-approved community mobilization activities to improve awareness of GBV response services, referral pathways, and rehabilitation and reintegration support available through Shakti Sadans and other relevant services. Engage Panchayats, self-help groups, frontline workers, community institutions and local stakeholders, as appropriate.
• Submit the Month 2 progress report with staff-training records, participant counselling and referral records, enrolment status, stakeholder engagement minutes, updated maps, implementation challenges and corrective actions.

Month 3

• Follow up with participating women, Shakti Sadan staff, training providers and government schemes to support attendance, retention and course completion and to address barriers related to documentation, mobility, care responsibilities, safety, fees, stipends, equipment or other support needs.
• Link at least four women per participating Shakti Sadan with safe, locally appropriate livelihood outcomes. This would include safe local semi-skilled wage employment, apprenticeship, placement with a verified employer, or a viable home-based enterprise/self-employment option, based on each woman’s informed choice, readiness, individual plan and safety assessment.
• Develop safe placement and enterprise-support arrangements, including employer/provider due diligence, safe-work checks, role and wage clarity, referral pathways, reasonable follow-up, and linkages to financial services, enterprise schemes, markets, mentorship, equipment or other support where feasible.
• Establish or strengthen partnerships and convergence with relevant government departments, livelihood and skill-development programmes, training institutions, employers, financial institutions, CSR initiatives, philanthropic organizations, community institutions and market actors to mobilize technical and financial resources and expand sustainable opportunities for women.
• Adapt or develop concise IEC materials and handouts in soft-copy/editable format for Shakti Sadan community mobilization and GBV awareness, in consultation with PCI India. Support translation, dissemination and use at project locations and document reach, participant profile, stakeholder engagement, feedback and evidence in approved formats.
• Assist in translation of the developed material into local language.
• Submit the Month 3 progress report with participant training and placement status, partnership and convergence records, community-awareness documentation, risks, corrective actions and supporting evidence.

Month 4

• Support completion of the pilot implementation of the approved Economic Empowerment Pathway, including participant tracking, referrals, training participation/completion, safe placement, home-based enterprise/self-employment, government-scheme access and other livelihood outcomes.
• Monitor implementation quality, participant safety, safeguarding and do-no-harm compliance; promptly report risks, delays, dropouts, unsafe conditions or barriers to PCI India and support agreed corrective actions.
• Validate the pathway’s operational processes and tools through pilot evidence and submit practical recommendations for refinement and future scale-up, without independently changing the approved framework.
• Document good practices, short case studies, partnership and convergence results, challenges, lessons learnt and recommendations for strengthening economic rehabilitation, staff capacity, participant safety, community mobilization and future implementation.
• Submit a final consolidated report and handover package covering participant records, livelihood plans, training and placement evidence, stakeholder mapping, partnership and staff-training documentation, IEC materials, mobilization and safeguarding records, case studies, lessons learnt, recommendations, and all agreed supporting documents.

 Methodological and Safeguarding

The consultant will adopt a participatory, survivor-centred, strengths-based, rights-based, trauma-informed, gender-responsive and market-responsive approach. Livelihood decisions will be based on informed choice and individual readiness. No woman will be pressured to participate in training, employment, enterprise or community-facing activities, and non- participation will not affect access to protection, shelter or other services. The consultant will work closely with PCI India, Shakti Sadan teams, and relevant stakeholders, and must comply with confidentiality, informed consent, data protection, survivor safety, child and adult safeguarding where applicable, safe work standards, and the do-no-harm principle. Sensitive information will be collected only, when necessary, stored securely and shared through PCI-approved mechanisms. Photographs, quotations and case studies will require specific consent and PCI approval.

Reporting and Coordination

Report to the Gender Lead / Project Associate, PCI India, and work closely with PCI India, UNFPA, Shakti Sadan teams and relevant government and technical stakeholders. Participate in regular virtual and in-person review meetings at agreed intervals; maintain a concise action tracker and provide timely progress updates. Submit one concise progress report each month covering activities, participant and linkage status, stakeholder engagement, safeguarding, risks, corrective actions and supporting evidence. Submit all major deliverables for PCI review and approval and incorporate feedback within agreed timelines. Undertake required travel, maintain ethical and secure documentation, and immediately escalate any safeguarding concern, unsafe placement, confidentiality breach or serious implementation risk through PCI-approved channels.

Performance and accountability

Performance will be assessed against approved timelines, the quality and usability of deliverables, achievement and documentation of agreed targets, effective participant and stakeholder engagement, responsiveness to feedback, and compliance with safeguarding, confidentiality and reporting requirements. All reports, frameworks, tools, templates, participant records, databases, training materials, IEC materials, handouts and other outputs prepared or adapted under this assignment will be jointly owned by PCI India and UNFPA. The consultant must maintain strict confidentiality and may not publish, reproduce or share any assignment-related material without prior written approval from PCI India and UNFPA.

What You Can Expect at PCI

• A warm, inclusive, and happy work environment
• Performance‑driven reward mechanism

Recruitment Process

1. Applications will be shortlisted based on the criteria mentioned in the job description.
2. The process may include a presentation of the assignment.
3. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for one or more rounds of panel interviews.

The complete process usually takes 2–3 weeks. Candidates moving to the final round will hear from the People & Culture team. In‑person meetings are preferred, but virtual meetings are conducted where distance is a constraint.

Note

After the final round, if you are not selected for the advertised position, you will be informed via email. However, you are encouraged to apply for other open positions, as PCI welcomes engagement with talented individuals who add value in various capacities.

PCI is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work, including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity, and financial misconduct.

Application Closure Date: 9th September