Council on Energy, Environment, and Water (CEEW), New Delhi
CEEW Young Professionals Programme (CEEW-YPP)

Terms of Reference

At CEEW, we are deliberate about what we stand for (and what we don’t stand for!) as an employer. So, if the below description strikes a chord, we would love to hear from you!

At CEEW, we build careers in public policy

• We offer strong visionary leadership – with emphasis on research and impact at scale
• We actively promote leadership through initiative
• We celebrate talent and ambition
• You will be surrounded by smart people who will challenge you and help you grow
• You will learn faster than your peers in other organizations
• Curiosity and irreverence, as well as responsibility, come together at CEEW
• You will get above-market remuneration
• We provide a safe space for all
• At CEEW, your life is your example for others

Purpose

CEEW’s Young Professionals program equips young early-career aspirants with the skills and experience of action research to further public policy and its implementation. Launching for the first time as a part of the CEEW-Villgro Powering Livelihoods initiative, the program will provide a first-hand opportunity to be exposed to the inner functioning of the government institutions, policy drafting, and advocacy, promoting large-scale sustainable technology adoption and supporting state rural livelihood generation programs.

Powering Livelihoods is a joint initiative between CEEW and Villgro that works to catalyze the transformation of India’s rural economy with clean energy solutions. It works with enterprises, financiers, investors, state governments, and distribution channel partners to develop and mainstream the ecosystem for clean energy-powered livelihood solutions with an explicit gender lens integration.

Powering Livelihoods has recently partnered with Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission (UPSRLM) to mainstream Decentralised Renewable Energy (DRE) technologies in all rural productive use applications, with gender inclusion at its core. Our engagement with UPSRLM especially focuses on
1) Developing and administering a robust information, education, and communication (IEC) program for building capacity and awareness around DRE technologies and
2) Providing strategic and technical inputs to UPSRLM to mainstream these technologies, such as demand mapping, sales, and marketing strategy, supply chain management, etc.

Selected YPPs would critically contribute to operationalizing this partnership and lead key district-level engagements. YPPs will be ensuring that all the activities and objectives planned are implemented in a timely manner in their allocated region and active liaison with these different stakeholders to advocate for the program vision. YPPs will also lead the research activities pertaining to their allocated region including qualitative and quantitative evaluations and documentation of the on-ground impact.

The fellowship will act as a perfect springboard toward a career in the development sector. YPPs would also receive mentoring support on an ongoing basis.

Job duties and accountabilities

Primary Responsibilities

Research and analysis

• Support the team in developing a time-bound district-level (building up to state level) implementation plan for the adoption and promotion of DRE-powered livelihood solutions.
• Support the team in developing a robust monitoring and evaluation system, KYC Collection, and MIS system for this partnership and overall Prerna Ojas company’s growth.
• Support the team on research design, data collection tools, and data analysis for insights generation.
• Taking a lead on the data collection in the allotted regions for need assessment, technology mapping, impact assessment, monitoring, evaluation, etc.
• Identifying relevant use cases, business potential, and case study stories of DRE livelihood appliances with a focus on the impact on incomes, new livelihoods created, active repayment of loans, business sustainability, marketing, and sales success, etc.
• Collecting and documenting field observations, learnings, and recommendations on how to make this partnership more impactful for all the stakeholders involved (UPSRLM, PL, Prerna Ojas, End users, Civil Society, Financiers, etc).
• Keep a tab on the sectoral development, new findings, research pieces, etc in the DRE livelihood space and plug it into the work we do.

Program Management

• Support the team in managing the progress, challenges, and new opportunities in the state on a proactive basis.
• Ensure proactive communication, and transparency, and manage expectations of key local stakeholders including partners, enterprises, policymakers, and ecosystem stakeholders.
• Lead the district-level engagement with the UPSRLM team, Prerna Ojas team, and PL-supported enterprise partners ensuring that DRE livelihood technologies are being sufficiently deployed in the target region.
• Ensure the timelines and the commitment under the partnership with UPSRLM and Prerna Ojas are met on a regular basis.
• Providing technical and administrative support to UPSRLM, Prerna Ojas in designing, identifying, and implementing appropriate strategies required to meet the goals and overall objective of our partnership.
• Support Powering Livelihood DRE Enterprises in mitigating the challenges they face in reaching, converting, delivering to, and servicing end customers in the region.
• Leverage the on-ground presence to deepen CEEW’s engagement across other work programs at CEEW.

Outreach and stakeholder management

• Supporting the CEEW’s Powering Livelihoods team’s engagement with the UPSRLM, Prerna Ojas, UPNEDA, and other relevant departments at the district and state levels.
• Forging strong relationships and associations with the relevant district heads of the state departments and civil society stakeholders.
• Building awareness around Powering Livelihoods objectives and other related work programs of CEEW in their allocated region.
• Organizing public and closed-door stakeholder meetings and consultations to facilitate improved coordination between government and civil society stakeholders.
• Unlock new engagement opportunities for the CEEW team.
• Connecting the dots between CEEW’s research and policy developments with the work happening in the state and disseminating their findings in appropriate settings.
• Developing policy notes/memos/presentations in response to government requests.
• Present relevant research in a coherent manner that can be understood by a wide range of audiences.

Selection Criteria

Qualification

• Bachelors or Master’s degree preferably with a specialization in Public Policy, Renewable Energy, Rural Development, Livelihoods, or a related field.
• Exposure to productive use of energy, rural development (women beneficiaries), and gender lens is a plus.
• Understanding relevant state departments and their scheme promoting livelihood and microenterprises are desirable.

Work experience and requirements

• 0-2 years of relevant work experience in the field of program implementation and project management, preferably in the livelihoods and renewable energy domain.
• Candidates with prior experience in working on the implementation of government programs/schemes will be preferred.
• Some research experience preferably in the energy access/livelihood domain will be preferred.

Key skills and personality traits

• Coherent thinking with excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Good writing skills; YPs are expected to write public pieces regularly.
• Strong networking and interpersonal skills with an ability to strike conversations.
• Strong project management skills.
• Ability to use MS Office application suite including MS Excel.
• Strong analytical and research skills.
• Ability to adapt to the new environment and deliver under tight deadlines.
• Patience and perseverance in building relationships with new partners.
• Ability to effectively work in a team while being able to independently drive deliverables with minimum assistance.
• Ability to dig deeper into details, while keeping a sense of the broader objectives.
• Willingness to learn, grow and develop on the personal and professional front, at a rapid pace with a steep learning curve.
• CEEW operates in a dynamic environment and the candidate will be required to show flexibility in undertaking a variety of tasks.

Compensation and benefits

CEEW offers competitive compensation commensurate with the experience and matches the best standards adopted by the industry or other similar organizations for similar roles. For the YP program, there is a fixed limit of INR 40,000/month.

CEEW Mentorship, especially for the Young Professionals Programme: The selected YPs will have assigned mentors from the senior team members at CEEW. Mentors will provide advice on various topics ranging from research and project management skills to identifying career opportunities throughout the YP experience.

Application

CEEW is an equal-opportunity employer and the selection process does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, caste, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality. Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Interested applicants are advised to apply at the earliest possible.

Only shortlisted candidates will be notified by us. We appreciate your interest.