Consultant, Policy and Governance- IWP

Location: Remote or Bengaluru
Last Date to Apply: 31st August 2026

About India Water Portal

India Water Portal is a platform that shares knowledge and builds communities around water and related issues in India. Managed by Arghyam, the Portal has become a valuable archive of resources, working papers, reports, data, articles, news, events, opportunities and discussions on water. India Water Portal was encouraged by the National Knowledge Commission, which proposed the need for knowledge portals in various areas back in 2005. Since then, it has evolved in the spirit of openness and sharing to become one of the foremost sources of information in India for water, sanitation, agriculture, the environment, climate change, biodiversity, and other related thematic areas.

As water becomes increasingly central to conversations around climate, livelihoods and governance. India Water Portal is building a dedicated policy and governance vertical to strengthen informed public discourse on water.

We are looking for someone to help us co-build this vertical.

About the Role

Your role will be to identify and analyse the most important policies shaping India's water sector, build relationships across the ecosystem, commission and create high-quality policy content, and help establish India Water Portal as a trusted destination for water policy and governance.
You will sit at the intersection of policy, knowledge and public communication.
You will also shape the editorial direction of the policy vertical while working closely with the existing editorial and communications teams.

What You'll Do

1. Shape the policy vertical

• Map India's water policy ecosystem and identify priority themes.

• Build relationships with government, think tanks, academia, civil society and practitioners.

• Hold online/offline consultations with stakeholders in the water ecosystem.

2. Build high-quality policy content

Help build a recognised community of trusted voices by publishing diverse policy-focused content, including:

• Policy explainers

• Guest essays

• Interviews

• State policy spotlights

• Opinion pieces

• Analysis of emerging policy developments

3. Grow an expert contributor network

Develop and nurture relationships with experts across:

• Government

• Academia

• Research institutions

• Civil society

• Media

• Legal and governance institutions

4. Produce flagship knowledge products

Lead the development of two policy briefs aligned with the overall strategy and focused on mutually agreed priority thematic areas.

What We're Looking For

You may be a policy researcher, policy journalist, or communications professional with deep exposure to public policy.

You should have:

• At least 4-5 years of relevant experience

• Strong understanding of India's public policy landscape

• Familiarity with water, climate, environment or rural development is highly desirable

• Excellent writing and editing skills

• Experience commissioning or managing external contributors

• Strong stakeholder management skills

• Ability to translate complex policy into clear, engaging content

• Curiosity and sound editorial judgement