Field Officer – livelihoods

About Raintree Foundation:

Raintree Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Raintree Family Office. It leverages catalytic philanthropy to strengthen the development ecosystem and amplify impact. It acts as facilitators and conveners between the government, non-profits, technical experts and the communities it works with through a participatory and structured approach, judiciously combined with multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Raintree approaches its program area in Velhe Block (Pune District, Maharashtra) through an ecosystemic lens, where the resident human population is considered as one component of a larger, complex ecosystem. At the core of Raintree’s work is the belief that environmental prosperity and human development can intersect and lead to community stewardship of ecosystem conservation.

The Sustainable Landscape Management (SLM) program is being implemented in a 2,100-hectare geography spread over 9 villages in Velhe Block near Pune city, Maharashtra. The targeted population is 4,131 people, including 710 families. The SLM Program has three thematic areas:

• Community Development - Water Security, Sustainable Livelihoods, People’s Participation (institutional strengthening, capacity building of the community on citizenship awareness), Gender and Social Inclusion
• Environment - Ecological Conservation and Environment Education
• Disability & Mental Health - Mental well- being of people, gender- just community and change in norms & perceptions around gender & masculinity and workplace mental health

Reports To: Field Implementation Manager

Based at: Velhe, Maharashtra

Description:

Raintree Foundation is looking to recruit a dynamic professional to implement Agri and allied livelihood projects on ground with high quality technical knowledge in agri domain, market information and handholding support to the community. He/she will be responsible for implementation (mobilization, coordination, facilitation, handholding, documentation, data and reporting) of the on-ground programs activities through community participation and key stakeholders’ engagement . He/she will be working closely with Program Manager- Livelihoods on developing strategy and executing field level activities for promotion of Agri and allied livelihood initiatives.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Field Officer- Livelihood

• Planning the schedule for field implementation and process documentation of day-to-day activities for the sustainability of farm-based livelihood initiatives at the field level.
• Conduct orientation & training sessions as co-facilitator with project partners
• Ensure quarterly preparation of field calendar and coordinating the same with community resource persons (CRPs).
• Responsible to ensure coordination with implementation and knowledge partners, consultants and experts.
• Mentor the CRPs while working on livelihood projects in community for on-ground implementation of activities, new initiatives (pilots) and projects.
• Orienting, counselling, follow up with farmers (men & women) for new initiatives and strengthening of Agri and allied activities.
• Identify potential market & financial linkages for sales of produce
• Knowledge about different government schemes and linking to beneficiaries
• Facilitating participation in exhibitions, exposure visits, study tours for beneficiaries.
• Manage strong relationships with key government stakeholders and community
• Collaborate and facilitate the Communications team for field related information to be published on social media

Reporting to Program Manager Field Implementation

Joint reporting to Field Implementation Manager and Program Manager Livelihoods for implementation of livelihood activities on field.

The above tasks, responsibilities and reporting are decided by the management of the organization and are subject to change or modification. It also includes any other tasks and responsibilities assigned by Head of Programs and Raintree Foundation from time to time as required for the program.

Workdays: 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturday will be working for this position, apart from the regular office working days.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 4-6 years’ work experience in Agri & allied livelihood projects (e.g SRI, organic farming kitchen garden, horticulture, Poultry, Dairy, fisheries, etc)
• Graduate/Master’s in Agriculture from a recognized university.
• Should have a strong agriculture background and domain knowledge
• Age Preference: 28 to 40 years
• Experience in working with farmers groups, farmer producer organisation, women collectives, communities etc.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to get along with people.
• Expertise in market analysis, demand assessment, input management etc
• Project Management skills, Documentation, Data collection & MIS.
• Fluency in Marathi language is mandatory (Read, Write and Speak)
• Fluency in English language is desirable (Read and Write)
• Should have a two-wheeler