NGO JOB: PROJECT OFFICER

ORGANIZATION: WOMEN WEAVE


Third Sector Partners, a leading CxO and board search firm in the Not for Profit sector has been retained by Women Weave to recruit the Project Officer for the Gudi Mudi Project in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh.


OVERVIEW

Women Weave came into existence in 1998, under the leadership of Sally Holkar, a political science graduate from Stanford University. She has a long history with handloom and with the weaving community of Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh. Sally is well known in the not- for-profit society for more than 30 years with consistent developmental work in design, marketing and quality control.

The Women Weave (WW) mission is to support and sustain women who weave on handlooms around the world. Through inclusive and participatory processes, they strive to empower these women to access markets effectively and to derive the best value for their labor. WW works on developing principles of fair trade and lasting and durable change to sustain the livelihood of women handloom weavers. WW strives to achieve dignity and respect for micro entrepreneurs. The principal focus of WW’s efforts is to create an atmosphere where women handloom weavers could seek the highest market value for their production and foster sustainable linkages with the marketplace.
Gudi Mudi Project is training and production project in Maheshwar, MP, the objective of which is to ensure sustainable income for marginalized women in the area in spinning and hand weaving of the local cotton. At present a staff of 6 is involved in managing the production of hand-woven khadi with approximately 60 women in one unit at Maheshwar.


THE OPPORTUNITY

Women Weave seeks to recruit a dynamic and committed individual as Project Officer for the Gudi Mudi Project, who understands the rural industry and who will be able to take on a leadership role to connect women weavers in India through innovative and productive means, and enable them to become self reliant weaving communities.
Women Weave’s activities have grown considerably since its inception in 1998. The initial phase focused on training the artisans and building trust and relationship with the community. In the subsequent years, marketing and production of the weaves has seen significant momentum.

In the current phase, the incumbent would be responsible for overseeing the production activities in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh, monitor the quality standards, timelines, delivery schedules and regularize the weaving activities by setting systems and processes at the production centre.
The incumbent will interact with weavers at every stage from design, marketing to life improvement. S/he will play a pivotal role in developing the weaving community in India and link them to SHGs and microfinance organisations.
There is also a need for the incumbent to, over time, promote and initiate the Synergy Weaving Centre which envisaged as being an information and technology sharing centre for the handloom weaving industry.
For the location, Madhya Pradesh will be first preference and the position would report directly to Sally Holkar, Founder of Women Weave.


RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROJECT OFFICER

• Responsible for managing the overall functioning of the production facility in Maheshwar. Provide Strong management direction on ground for the project.
• Know and understand the dimensions of the project and ensure scale up and stabilization of the Maheshwar project.
• Ability to be stationed in Maheshwar at least 20 days a month and travel to other handloom areas with which WW partner for projects.
• Manage the existing partners and scale the number of project members from 135 to 500 women in the next 3 years.
• Set timetable and plan for major project activities based on project proposal, implementation plan, and relevant consultant, weaver cluster or partner group.
• Implement program activities in cooperation with weaver clusters.
• Assist in transforming Women Weave from a small scale unit to a medium scale unit.
• Manage the rural enterprise with a strong focus on people, accounting, and general management.
• Assist in forming links with the Microfinance organizations for the second phase of Women Weave’s growth.
• Interface with multiple stakeholders including clients, local government, weaver groups, community partners and staff members, amongst others. Assume a key representational role for the organization to all external stakeholders.
• Over time, give impetus to the Synergy Weaving Centre: envisaged to be an information and technology sharing centre for handloom weavers in India.


MUST HAVE

• An overall experience of 5+ years in the rural sector of which at least two years experience in managing and running any rural production unit/program.
• It would be preferable for the incumbent to have demonstrated skills in running programs aimed at making rural communities self reliant.
• Skills in building and strengthening networks and partnerships with multiple stakeholders with the ability to communicate effectively with people from across segments (clients, customers, strategic partners, community groups, local government, to name a few)
• Excellent written and spoken communication skill: English & Hindi
• Excellent computer skills.
• Readiness to live and work in Rural India.


COMPENSATION DETAILS:

The compensation is commensurate with qualification and experience.


Interested individuals may please submit their CV, a cover note and 3 references by email to womenweave.po@gmail.com with the subject line indicating Project Officer - WW. Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted.





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