About PCI India
PCI India, a registered Indian society, has been working in India for the past 26 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 1.7 crore, i.e. 17 million people in 202 Districts of 15 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 | Project Associate-WEE |
| Number of positions | 1 |
| Location | Patna, Bihar |
| Type | Project Based |
| Qualification required | The ideal candidate shall have a post-graduate degree/ diploma in management preferably business management/rural management. |
| Experience required | 1. Minimum 3 years of professional experience in managing large-scale projects.
2. Extensive experience of working with government department. |
| Skills and Attributes | 1. Good analytical and problem-solving skills
2. Strong understanding on functioning of JEEViKA. 3. Excellent oral and written English skills 4. Digital literacy including word processing, database systems, and PowerPoint. Strong command of excel and budget management is a plus. |
About the Project
PCI aims to support Bihar SRLM in transforming the livelihoods of Self-Help Group (SHG) women across Bihar through innovations, systems strengthening, capacity building & forging partnerships within the non-farm sector. This ambitious initiative will deploy a comprehensive strategy that operates across systemic & community level to ensure sustainable and scalable economic growth. The project is centred around two key initiatives: Didi Ki Rasoi and PMFME Entrepreneurs. Didi Ki Rasoi” (DKR), an initiative by JEEViKA, aims to establish community-based canteens across Bihar for providing quality and hygienic food to institutions like hospitals, schools, government offices, and individual customers. Fully owned and operated by women, DKR empowers rural communities while ensuring homely, hygienic meals. The PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme, launched under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, is a centrally sponsored initiative aimed at enhancing the competitiveness and formalization of India’s unorganized food processing sector. Under this scheme JEEViKA is promoting individual micro-enterprises, self-help groups (SHGs), farmer producer organizations (FPOs), to set up enterprises by leveraging on the benefits the scheme provides. To ensure dedicated support to the above initiatives of JEEViKA, PCI has established a Technical Support Unit (TSU), which plays a pivotal role in supporting the Didi Ki Rasoi initiative of JEEViKA & women entrepreneurs promoted under PMFME, across Bihar. The TSU plays a central role in driving the initiative forward by providing specialized technical assistance and real-time solutions tailored to the unique challenges of the program. The TSU actively collaborates with stakeholders at all levels, including government departments and community organizations, while placing field teams for supporting PMFME entrepreneurs & for piloting new privatized business models on food enterprises (such as cloud kitchens/restaurants/Dhaba’s/food trucks etc.) to facilitate systemic uniformity in operations across Bihar. Additionally, TSU would prioritize the institutionalization of business solution tools for DKR and foster partnerships to create a robust ecosystem of support for the initiative to thrive.
About the Role
Job Summary:
The Project Associate-WEE would be a part of the embedded team of the TSU and is expected to play a pivotal role in supporting operational strategy, implementation & management of the project to ensure efficient delivery. S/he will be accountable for successful systemic support to Didi Ki Rasoi, fostering market convergence for PMFME supported enterprise & operationalizing convergence strategies for impact. S/he will work closely with JEEViKA state team, relevant government departments, and institutional partners to drive systemic impact, women-led food businesses, and create market linkages. S/he shall be responsible for building and nurturing government partnerships for enterprise promotion. S/he will be responsible for coordination with the relevant thematic verticals of the SRLM for ensuring smooth implementation of the project. S/he will support in enterprise identification & development by ensuring on-ground engagement on regular basis with field team. S/he will ensure continuous information flow with all TSU members and professionals of SRLM, as per the requirement. S/he will support in providing regular reports to different stakeholders as and when required.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Project Implementation Support & Management
- Support the team in conducting needs assessments to identify challenges and opportunities for rural women entrepreneurs engaged in food business.
- Develop and ensure implementation of strategies for promoting women-led food enterprises like DKR, privatized food business models, focusing on sustainability and scalability.
- Develop detailed enterprise & location specific project implementation plan (PIP).
- Assist in creating market linkages, including access to local, national, and digital markets.
- Identify and manage specialist partners that would support Women-owned food enterprises to build the required business and technical skills.
- Identify any shortcomings, address, and report to TSU lead to ensure uninterrupted project implementation.
Business Management & Compliance Support
- Support in designing business plans for DKRs and private food enterprises to ensure long-term sustainability and profitability.
- Suggest on development of monitoring matrix of DKRs, PMFME enterprises for managing financial performance, including budgeting, cost optimization, and revenue generation for minimum DKRs to set standards of practice.
- Support in establishment of at least 2 model kitchens.
- Ensure mitigation of risks associated with food enterprise operations, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and quality standards.
- Ensure systems setting for business efficiency, uniformity of business practices across state for DKR.
Stakeholder and Partnership Management
- Maintain excellent relationships and association with the state governmental officials to ensure that the technical support provided by the WEE team is valued by them and potential of WEE team is optimally utilised in supporting their work.
- Oversee branding, digital campaigns, and partnerships with platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.
- Work closely with the state PCI team members in addressing any requirements for the donor and other major stakeholders.
Reporting & Documentation
- Finalise captured learnings, project activities and best practices for dissemination at different online & offline platforms for upkeeping projects visibility.
- Support the designing and finalising of state indicators & MIS and ensure timely reporting.
- Work closely with PCI team members to produce knowledge and learning products for knowledge sharing, aiming to communicate with government, donor, partners, development agencies and civil society
- Finalise meeting notes, draft articles, speeches, briefings, presentations, reports, documents and collated information as and when required for the national and state office
Expected Competencies
Academic Qualifications:
The ideal candidate shall have a post-graduate degree/ diploma in management preferably business management/rural management.
Professional Experience:
- Minimum 3 years of professional experience in managing large-scale projects.
- Extensive experience of working with government department.
Skills and Attributes:
- Good analytical and problem-solving skills
- Strong understanding on functioning of JEEViKA.
- Excellent oral and written English skills
- Digital literacy including word processing, database systems, and PowerPoint. Strong command of excel and budget management is a plus.
What can you expect in PCI:
- A warm, inclusive and happy work environment
- An empowering organisation structure which values individual’s skills, competencies and potential
Recruitment Process:
- Applications will be shortlisted based on the specified criteria mentioned in the Job Description.
- The process could also include presentation of the assignment.
- Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend one or more rounds of panel interview/s
The complete process usually takes 2 to 3 weeks. Those moving to the final round of interviews will be hearing from the People & Culture team. We prefer in person meetings but in case of location distances, we are happy to meet you virtually.
After the final round, if you are not selected for the position advertised, we will inform you over a mail. However, we invite you to apply to other open positions. We always look forward to engaging with talent that add value to our endeavours in various capacities.
PCI is committed to prevent any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct.