Program Associate - Early Childhood Friendly Cities, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

You will work with WRI India in supporting Indian cities to enhance public spaces, transport and streets as part of the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge. Reporting to the Program Manager, you will support close engagement with the city of Jabalpur in preparing comprehensive solutions to help government agencies, civic groups, professionals and other partners to develop and implement projects to enhance wellbeing of young children and their caregivers. This would be achieved through systematic enhancement of public spaces and environment of cities by engaging with them to implement projects; capacity building; data-based decision making; and induce policy, regulatory and institutional changes towards achieving the goal.

 

The Program Associate will conduct all project related activities in Jabalpur such as surveys and data collection, engage with partner ecosystem, prepare project reports, capacity building, support activation and sustained usage of spaces and institutionalize the solutions in the government agencies. You will be involved in research on multiple topics related to integrated transport including inclusive public spaces, non-motorised and public transport, policies and regulatory provisions related to early childhood development. You will be asked to need to be equally good at conducting workshops, preparing communicating drawings, visualisations, written reports and communication material. You will be asked to work independently and coordinate with team members and partners to achieve the deliverables. You need to be energetic and agile, willing to learn and respond quickly, outcome oriented, team player and available to travel at short notice.

You will be asked to handle a range of program responsibilities. Some of the important responsibilities will include:

 

Program development and Co-ordination

·     Responsible for all daily engagement with the City Government and partners to coordinate towards achieving project goals.

·     Coordinate technical documents for the projects including data collection, conduct surveys, compilation, analysis, base maps, design drawings, 3D visualizations, reports, presentations, general graphics and info graphics.

·     Lead conducting focused group discussions with Local Government agencies, local community groups, NGOs, experts, private agencies such as Schools, CSR agencies etc. and involve them in program activities.

·     Organize capacity building sessions for city officials, service providers and community groups for helping them sustain actions in the long-term.

·     Support WRI India in any other research or projects related to urban development related areas.

 

Communications and partnership

·     Schedule meetings regarding projects, make presentations, help conduct partner consultations and workshops.

·     Communicate with WRI India internal team members towards meeting goals of the project and constant progress reporting.

·     Help prepare internal and external communications and media such as brochures and web content.

 

Research

·     Focus on early childhood development, attention to vulnerable groups, gender and poverty.

·     Support development of knowledge products for the program such as training modules, toolkits, guidebooks, capacity building modules, etc.

·     Post-graduation in Urban Design / Urban Planning.

·     2 to 4 years’ experience in relevant field, with responsibility of all deliverables related to designing of streets, public spaces and related activities. Experience working with government partners or programs will be preferred.

·     Passionate about enhancing quality of life of children in Indian cities, good understanding of public spaces and transport, familiar with sustainable development principles, public policies, general awareness of environment and climate change.

·     Ability to conduct quantitative and qualitative data analysis around public spaces is a requirement.

·     Strong design skills, understanding of landscaping, construction materials, specifications and procurement processes would be helpful.

·     Proficiency in AutoCAD, Adobe software, 3D visualization, Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint is a requirement. Working knowledge of GIS is preferred.

·     Strong drawing and presentation skills, ability to present complex information.

·     Ability to work individually and with the team and enthusiastically work under pressure situations

·     Fluency in Hindi is preferred.