Job Title: Innovations and New Initiatives Lead
Position Number: TBD
New or Refill: New
Core position: Yes No
Salary Grade: 4
Division/Dept.: Programs/Asia
Dept#/Subproj WO: TBD
Reports to: Heifer Nepal Country Director (with a dotted line to Heifer Labs)
Supervisor POSNO: 222051
Supervisor RESNO/Name: 123023/Shubh Mahato
Supervision: Employees Yes No | Volunteers Yes No
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Relocation Funds: Negotiable
Travel Required: Minimum 30% annually
Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with some form of specially-abled.
FUNCTION:
The Innovation & New Initiatives Lead (INIL) will be responsible for working with Heifer Labs and participating cooperatives/smallholder farmers to discover, test, and implement digital trainings, infrastructure, and software solutions in an effort to support smallholder farmers and cooperatives to bridge the Digital Divide which keeps them from benefitting from and participating in digitally enabled systems and economies. Under the leadership of the Nepal Country Director and technical support from Heifer Labs, the INIL will help educate Heifer employees, cooperatives and program partners and participants about the benefits of these new technologies while insuring consistent adoption rates and best practices throughout implementation.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND DELIVERABLES: (including approximate percentage effort)
Innovation and New Initiatives Design and Planning (40%)
Manage and coordinate efforts for innovation and new initiatives in the country program
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Identify and respond to opportunities for innovations, develop concepts, and plan for testing.
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Identify and engage strategic partner organizations for funding, collaboration, and implementation.
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Participate in the analysis, design (including Theory of Change), planning, and implementation of digital platform innovations.
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Ensure and support development of project summaries, multi-year budgets in partnership with country staff and Heifer Labs.
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Ensure and support development of project goals, product metrics, and MELS criteria in partnership with country staff and Heifer Labs.
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Ensure quality, impact, scale, and efficiency of program goals and objectives.
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Support the design of digital transformation programming in coordination with the Heifer Labs team at HQ, country program team, and Asia area program team.
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Lead user research and human-centered design workshops with country program teams and the Asia area program, and cooperatives/farmers to support program design, development, and continuous improvement during implementation.
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Cultivate and coordinate partnership opportunities with appropriate stakeholders (government, for-profit, non-profit, etc.) to support project implementation.
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Develop a clear strategy and recommendations for process improvement and scale up.
Project Management (50%)
- Support high-quality resourcing, budgeting, project management and monitoring, communication, and reporting.
- Manage a portfolio of digital technologies which support implementation.
- Provide recommendations for process improvement and expanded/scaled implementation.
- Surface opportunities, issue(s)/constraints, and questions for testing throughout program implementation.
- Lead the day-to-day in-country implementation of disruptive innovation that will provide new ways of governance, economic support, and technical assistance to cooperatives/farmers.
- Provide input on the contextualization, adaptation, and/or development of new code of digital solutions in-step with both tech vendors and cooperatives/farmers.
- Support effective, timely, and high-quality project management with excellent delivery and collaboration among project stakeholders (internal and external).
- Curate detailed, high-quality, and shareable documentation of ongoing program methodology/pivots, lessons learned, impact, and opportunities for scale.
- Manage all stakeholders effectively (government, private sector, NGO, internal staff, etc.) and ensure clear roles and responsibilities.
- Ensure adherence to all legal processes, including but not limited to, procurement, MOUs, and ICAs.
May perform other job-related duties as assigned (10%)
QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS:
- Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university plus a minimum of eight (8) years’ experience in a combination of agribusiness, agricultural economics, computer programming/information technology or community development and agtech or a related technical expertise/discipline, plus a minimum of three (3) years’ experience in relevant product or project management.
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, Professional Scrum Master (PSM), Lean Six Sigma, Design Thinking/Human Centered Design or other related project/product management certifications
- Supervisory experience
- Strong working knowledge of blockchain technology, DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs; working knowledge of tokenomics
- Demonstrated experience in scaling up digital agtech solutions
- Demonstrated experience in partnership development with government, agricultural, technology, and/or multilateral organizations
- Demonstrated experience implementing digital solutions to smallholder farming communities/cooperatives
- Knowledge of and experience with planning, monitoring, and evaluating projects
- Knowledge of and skill in managing institutional and project budgets
- Knowledge of and experience with or within community and grassroots organizations
- Fluent in local language(s) and English, both spoken and written
- Excellent management qualities, including, negotiation, communication, and organization, and problem-solving skills
- Excellent understanding of and sensitivity to poverty, social, and ethnic issues
- Excellent collaborator who proactively seeks advisory input and knows how to listen and synthesize learnings into tangible product/project pivots
- Comfortable with self-management and self-direction and demonstrates resourcefulness
- Demonstrate a high degree of honesty and integrity
ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES:
- Constant face-to-face, telephone and electronic communication with colleagues and the public
- Ability to prepare documents in a well-designed and attractive format with superior attention to detail
- Ability to work flexible hours across multiple time zones
- Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work cooperatively, tactfully and diplomatically with a culturally diverse group of people
- Willingness and ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed
- Ability to perform multiple tasks with the willingness to be part of a cross-functional department
- Ability to work with data and transform information into shareable content
- Ability to work with sensitive information and maintain confidentiality
- Constant sitting, standing and walking, with occasional bending and lifting; may work at a computer for extended periods of time
- Occasional lifting and carrying of up to 30 pounds (14 kilograms) floor to waist