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Chetna Organic (Solidaridad/ICCO Organic & FT Cotton Program India) |
7/4/2007 |
About us: Chetna Organic is a large fair trade and organic supply chain programs in India, mainly focused on supporting the development of smallholder cotton farmers from the rainfed & dryland areas in Andhra Pradesh (Telangana), Maharashtra (Vidarbha & Western), Western Orissa (Kalahandi & Bolangir), Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Chetna is primarily supported by Solidaridad & ICCO (from Netherlands), Ford Foundation (India) and other donor agencies and primarily executed by NGOs at different levels in the chain. The first phase (3 years) of the project ended in December 2006 and the 2nd phase (5 years) begun in January 2007. There are currently 9,000 farmers registered with Chetna. As part of the larger aim to handover the ownership to these farmers, a national level farmers’ society (Chetna Organic Farmers Association or COFA) with founding members from its existing farmer cooperatives has been established recently to manage/implement the entire program in India. COFA would henceforth manage/implement the entire program with active collaboration from partner NGOs, local communities, government organizations, INGDO and companies in the supply chain. The project is dynamic and the operations/operational strategies at the field level are decentralized and developed/executed principally by the local
communities and local administration. In addition to the field extension support on socio-technical issues, developing access to ethical & sustainable markets for these smallholder farmers through ensuring best practices related to pre & post harvest, quality control, participatory certification systems, etc are some of the
key focus areas in the project. In this context, COFA is currently facilitating the setup of a farmers’ owned company to manage all trade
related issues. Chetna Organic is also a brand name registered under TM.
Project Chetna is seeking applications from highly qualified and committed professionals
for the following positions, with the required skill sets. |
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Position – A: National Marketing and Quality Control Officer (ONE VACANCY) |
7/3/2007 |
S/he will report directly to the CEO / Executive Director and work closely primarily with the state level marketing executives and other professional staff under Chetna.
Key Responsibilities:
As a National Marketing & QC Officer, you shall be directly responsible for:
Developing organic /in-conversion/NPM and fair-trade markets for cotton and also non-cotton
crops (especially dryland crops) for Chetna farmers;
Assisting the project team (esp. state level marketing executives) and Chetna farmer
societies in developing an integrated business plan for marketing the produce thereby
ensuring a strong foothold for the marginalized farmers in the supply chain;
In the scope of this responsibility you will contact potential buyers, make market
projections, ensuring transparency and ethical market dealings through interfacing between
farmers and markets and work closely with the State Marketing Executives to ensure smooth
sale transactions and timely payments to farmers;
Working closely with the State level Marketing Executives and from time to time with the internal inspectors of the program to ensure full proof quality monitoring of organic, fair
trade and other necessary certifications systems / standards adopted by Chetna;
Guiding state level marketing executives to ensure compliances at field level for all kinds of certification systems adopted by Chetna (Organic, Fair Trade & NPM);
Working closely with the ED, Communications Officer and M&E Officer to support other
market access initiatives & related policy work in line with the program objectives;
Working closely with the Communications Officer in brand promotion and visibility issues;
Providing inputs for registering the farmers company and building it;
And line managing the state level marketing executives.
Required Qualifications: To excel in this role of a National Marketing & QC Officer for Chetna Organic, a person necessarily needs to have strong commitment towards marginalized farmers. Apart from a keen ethical understanding of farmer issues and socio-environmental implications of sustainable agriculture the person needs to be/have:
PG preferably in Marketing or Business Development, Economics or Social Sciences
MBA from a reputed institute will be a plus point;
Five years experience in specialty and / or agri-produce marketing and /or agribusiness
development;
Past experience of handling /dealing in organic & good food products marketing would be
preferred;
Exposure to Fair Trade, Ethical Trade and understanding of corporate social responsibility
and development issues is crucial;
Successful candidate will be - a team player with a learning attitude, innovative, determined
and professional, willing to travel and stay in rural areas, able to communicate with farmers
and gender sensitive.
For How to Apply - See Desirable Qualification and Contact details below |
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Position - B: State Marketing Executives (TWO VACANCIES) |
7/3/2007 |
S/he will directly report to and work closely with the National Marketing & QC Officer.
Key Responsibilities:As state marketing executives, you shall be responsible for:
Developing independent business plans for the local farmers cooperatives and federations;
Identifying, promoting and facilitating setup of community based agri-entrepreneurship
initiatives and enhancing their capacities towards enterprise management;
Developing markets (focus on captive & domestic) for organic/fair trade/NPM produce (mainly non-cotton food crops) of the small scale farmers and their federations;
Collaborating with the field level NGO counterparts and other field staff and ensuring a
compliant working standard necessary for dealing with quality control issues and coordinating the
organic, fair trade and NPM certification;
Random sample checks for ensuring proper documentation of processes at the farm level and
building on the existing group/peer certification processes and internal control systems for
reasons of credibility and authenticity;
Assisting the project staff and NGO counterparts in identifying potential farmer monitors and training them on pre/post harvest, quality control and field appraisals necessary for certification;
Working closely with the National Marketing and QC officer to carry out research/studies
pertaining to value added market development, support other market access initiatives & related
policy work– all in line with the program objectives;
Required Qualifications: The candidate must understand that s/he is ultimately a representative of the farmers owned company and thus shall carry an ethical comprehension of issues concerning marginalized farmers and sustainable agriculture. To succeed in fostering the farmer’s needs and benefits the candidate needs to have/be:
Graduate: preferably in Marketing or Business Development;
MBA from a reputed institute will be a plus point;
Three to five years experience in specialty and / or agri-produce marketing and/or agri-business development.
Past experience of handling /dealing in organic & good food products marketing would be
preferred;
Exposure to Fair Trade, Ethical Trade and understanding of corporate social responsibility and development issues is crucial;
Successful candidate will be - a team player with a learning attitude, innovative, determined and professional, willing to travel and stay in rural areas, able to communicate with farmers and
gender sensitive.
For How to Apply - See Desirable Qualification and Contact details below |
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Position - C. Program Administrator (ONE VACANCY) |
7/3/2007 |
S/he shall report to the Executive Director and work closely with the Accounts Officer.
Key Responsibilities:
Communication: Handling calls & queries, maintaining mail and courier records.
Office Admin: Assisting in day to day administrative functions including overseeing and
coordinating office administrative procedures and review, evaluating and implementing
new/appropriate administrative procedures; Liaison and follow-up with necessary agencies /
consultants for maintenance of office assets viz., telephone, fax, photocopier, computers,
printers, etc; Coordinating staff travel arrangements and ensuring travel bookings; Handling staff leave issues and personnel files.
Secretarial: Providing secretarial support in preparation of documents, ToRs with consultants,
reports etc related to the project.
Database Management and PR: Maintaining and updating database of all the vendors, suppliers
and other partners of COFA and cataloguing them under specific sub-heads; Archiving reports and
documentation of various campaigns and programs; Assisting the Communications Officer, the
M&E Officer and Marketing Coordinator in updating of Chetna website, track & trace systems and
database management; Assisting the Communications officer in archiving documents, PR and
liaison with media and ad-agencies.
Office maintenance & Procurements: Handling house-keeping issues; Handling procurements of
office equipment and service jobs like printing following appropriate procedures and maintaining
a record of inventory purchased.
Accounts: Assisting the Accounts officer in bank transactions, filing of IT returns and other legal documents, settlement of vouchers and ensuring timely payment of bills viz., telephone, mobile, electricity etc.
Required Qualifications:
Candidate must be a graduate from a recognized University;
Excellent communication skills with good command over English (written & oral);
Knowledge of administration policies, legal issues of a developmental concern, systems and
procedures;
Candidate should be well-versed with MS Office, Tally, internet, Emails etc.
Understanding of the purpose, background and policies of the organization and understanding of
the roles of other staff;
Communication and listening skills, and the ability to relate to people from different cultures and backgrounds;
The ability to use general office equipment such as photocopiers, printers and data shows, and practical skills such as being able to set up a data show work on accounts package like Tally
Planning and organizational skills;
Time management skills and the ability to prioritize tasks;
Decision-making and problem-solving skills;
Desirable Qualification for all the three position and Contact details
Prior experience of working in the development sector and /or agri-business development and /or companies adhering to CSR practices;
Willing to work in a highly charged and passionate environment committed to small farmers;
Fluency in English and Hindi (a must) and ability to converse in Telugu and /or Marathi;
Chetna promotes a gender sensitive and highly transparent working environment. Chetna also offers an excellent compensation, mentoring and scope for personal development for the right candidates.
Interested candidates may send their CV with a letter of interest expressing her/his suitability for the applied position to:
Siddharth Tripathy, Communications Officer (siddharthttripathy@gmail.com,
info@indianorganicproducers.org)
Chetna Organic 12-2-416/34, 1st floor, Mohan Nivas, Ushodaya colony, Gudimalkapur
Hyderabad, India – 500028.
Telefax: +91-40-2351-1083/2352-0021.
Chetna is an equal opportunities employer. Qualified woman candidates are encouraged to
apply. Only shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview.
Last Date: Last date for receipt of applications: 12th July 2007 (17:30 hrs)
Interviews: 20th & 21st July 2007
At Chetna Organic 12-2-416/34, 1st floor, Mohan Nivas, Ushodaya colony, Gudimalkapur
Hyderabad, India – 500028.
Telefax: +91-40-2351-1083/2352-0021. |
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