The/Nudge Institute - State Lead - Inclusion Program

About The/Nudge:

The/Nudge is an action institute building resilient livelihoods to alleviate poverty. We work with women, farmers, tribals and youth on rural development, agriculture, skilling and economic inclusion, along with 15+ central and state government partners.

Our economic inclusion journey for 25 million Indians, has reached 10 states with $250M of government funding to cover 1.25M people. Our incubator, accelerator and grand challenges have supported 200+ social entrepreneurs including 17 Forbes 30U30, 3 EarthShot Prize winners, 1 Time Magazine cover and more.

Set up with support from 90+ eminent philanthropists , 40+ corporates and 15+ foundations including Gates, Mackenzie Scott, Vinod Khosla, Nandan Nilekani, Tata Trusts, Skoll, Meta, LinkedIn, HDFC, Mphasis, KPMG and L'Oreal, we are contributing towards a "poverty-free India, within our lifetime".

Who are we solving for?

We are solving for households in poverty who are also financially and socially vulnerable through a targeted, multi-faceted, and sequenced model called the graduation approach, which has demonstrated that we can durably pull households out of poverty.

What are we solving for ?

- At The/Nudge Institute, we have been piloting this program for the past 3 years and are in the process of catalyzing the propagation of the same. Our purpose is to contribute to making the most excluded individuals a contributing member to the economy:

- Enable govt to adopt by providing research, design, and implementation support
Continue to implement on its own to iterate the design for impact at scale

- Enable more NGOs to adopt technical and capacity-building support

- Continue to generate data on poverty and evidence on graduation approach to nudge governments to adopt at-scale

- Build technology solutions for NGOs and governments to adopt and implement at scale & with quality.

What will you do?

Position Overview:

- The/Nudge is working with the DAY-NRLM, MoRD, Govt. of India and Madhya Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (MPSRLM), Govt. of MP, to help increase adoption of the graduation approach/ economic inclusion program by targeting the most vulnerable households, through community institutions.

- As part of this effort, a State Project Management Unit (SPMU) is being set up at MPSRLM, Bhopal, to help the Government of Madhya Pradesh to design and implement a special program called- 'Madhya Pradesh - Samaveshi Aajeevika Yojana' (MP-SAY). This position is for the SPMU at Bhopal, MP-SRLM and will report to the Head of Operations.

Key Responsibilities:

- Provide leadership to The/Nudge's PMU efforts in the State by creating an agency-ship for The/Nudge in Madhya Pradesh

- Should lead all operations and products concerning this program and cont. Work with all stakeholders, importantly with the Government, to scale up the program

- Work closely with all necessary Departments to ensure the timely flow of budgets for the smooth running of the operations on the ground

- Ensure 100% adherence to the stationary compliances, reporting, and documentation as described/ prescribed by the Government and The/Nudge

- Support MPSRLM in the research and development of a strategy and program design to target the ultra-poor through the 'Graduation Approach'/ 'Economic Inclusion Program' built on top of community institutions enabled by the MPSRLM/DAY-NRLM

- Support MPSRLM in planning the activities, orientation to necessary activities and its regular implementation along with proper monitoring

- Support MPSRLM in the implementation of action research of the graduation approach through a special project based on the strategy and design developed in consultation with key stakeholders

- Enable convergence of various state initiatives (social security, livelihood promotion, financial inclusion, social empowerment) and programs towards the end goal of graduating women and their households living in ultra-poverty out of it.

- Own the implementation and outcomes of the special project

- Support MPSRLM and the DAY-NRLM review the progress of the special project periodically in order to iterate and scale

- Support the mission on the use of data and technology to ensure continuous flow of data from the field

- Build relationships with key government stakeholders in MPSRLM such that the special project is successful

- Build relationships with key government departments and support the successful adoption of strategies targeting the ultra-poor

- Continue working for the learning and development of the team working in this program

Qualifications and Skills:

- About 12+ of experience and is a Postgraduate

- Demonstrated a growth mindset - learning/improving constantly

- Demonstrated success in starting and leading initiatives, working under uncertainty & able to articulate the vision and secure buy-in from stakeholders

- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Fluent in English & local language

- Strong analytical and critical thinking skills

- The ability to collaborate with diverse stakeholder groups in a fast-paced environment

- Set aside personal bias to do what is right for the community

- Experience in designing/managing multi-stakeholder development sector programs designed around (or with) SHGs, Community Institutions and MPSRLM

- An openness to travel extensively and live in designated districts/blocks/panchayats as per the needs of the program's goals

- A passion for serving those in need with humility & sensitivity