Arghyam invites applications for Director - Grants and Advocacy

About Arghyam

Arghyam is an Indian public charitable foundation set up in 2001 with a personal endowment from Rohini Nilekani with a vision of 'Safe, sustainable water for all'. Arghyam's focus is exclusively on addressing the single biggest challenge India is facing today, which is of ensuring availability of clean water for drinking and sanitation  purposes to every  citizen. Through its grants and partnerships with national, state and local governments, civil society organisations and networks and academic institutions in over 20 states in India, Arghyam has built an international reputation as an organisation noted for its innovation and values. We are a small, diverse team comprising individuals who have come together sharing the same dream and passion for making a difference to the people of India. The core members have had decades of experience in running projects in the not-for-profit, corporate and Government settings. 

About the Position

Arghyam is looking to hire Director - Grants and Advocacy, a leader with the insight, ability and commitment to lead large grant programmes, implemented through partners, in the water and sanitation space. These programmes are intended to help Arghyam build a strong, presence in this space differentiated impact in the areas of service delivery in difficult terrains, governance, technical innovations in research, networking, advocacy and citizen awareness building. The Director - Grants and Advocacy will report to the Chief Executive Officer.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Responsible for planning, developing, implementing and reviewing the strategic and operational plan and policies for partner grant programmes.
• Understand the domain issues that arise, in order to drive the right decisions. Monitor trends, legislation and regulation that are relevant to the programme’s mission and make the appropriate programme and advocacy recommendations to the board.
• Manage grant partner relations, and relations with key stakeholders.
• Develop full scale programme plans and associated communication documents. Forecast and prepare annual budget and action plans.
• Support the entire process of conceptualizing, design, coordinate and the implementation of a social development plan in association with various partners. This would include gathering requirements, prioritization, design, managing schedules, tracking progress, resolving bottlenecks etc.
• Effectively communicate programme expectations to the team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion.
• Develop, direct and implement public relations and communication strategies to support programme goals and increase community awareness of programme.
• Build a strong relationship with government bodies at the at all levels to be able to influence them to implement recommended policy interventions.
• Should aim to improve accountability, citizen field participation.
• Motivate and inspire the team involved in planning and implementation of programme to work at their highest potential. Attract high quality professionals with strong domain expertise to the team. 
• Expand and manage relationship with the advisory board to leverage their skills most effectively.

Requirements

Qualifications, experience and professional attributes: 

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree from a reputed educational institution.
• Experience of at least 10 years with at least 3-4 years in a reasonably senior decision making role is a requirement. Experience in directing and leading grant management initiatives on social development issues in rural and urban areas in an NGO or institutional setup; proven track record of core involvement in multi-sectoral projects would be desirable.
• Should have a thorough understanding of the current governance, policy and legal context which impact the issues and the solutions being planned.
• Skills in taking different stakeholders into confidence and build consensus on various issues through effective communication. 
• Ability to get multiple groups and partners to work towards a common goal.
• Ability to represent the organization credibly and confidently.
• Foster new ideas, technology and different approaches to development based on an understanding of social and political change, processes, impulses and systems in governance.
• Demonstrated ability to work with people at all levels, urban and rural in a non-patronizing manner.
• Excellent analytical, written and oral communication skills required in English.
• Willingness to undertake extensive travel.

Personal Attributes: 

• Interest and understanding of the development sector and commitment to social justice based on reflection, analysis and the role of civil society.
• Strong in fundamentals of social development, issues of inequity, gender, vulnerable communities and good domain knowledge and understanding in water and sanitation sector.
• Ability to understand community dynamics and to identify vulnerable groups.
• Passion for working in the social sector driven by a need to give back to the society in a tangible manner.

Compensation

Competitive and commensurate with experience and abilities.

Location

How to apply:

To apply for this post, please e-mail your updated resume to: jobs@arghyam.org with mandatory subject line “APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF DIRECTOR – GRANTS AND ADVOCACY”.