Senior Programme Coordinator

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About the Organization

Better Cotton is a global not-for-profit organisation supporting the production of more equitable and sustainable cotton at farm level. We exist to catalyse the cotton farming community with partners, governments and others to continuously drive positive impact by setting standards and facilitating the supply and demand of more sustainable cotton from farm to brand. In just 15 years we have aligned more than a fifth of the world’s cotton with our standard and helped farmers and farming communities thrive. Join us in building a better, more sustainable future for cotton worldwide.

Job Description

As Senior Programme Coordinator, you will lead an innovative project that combines field-level programme implementation with supply chain engagement and traceability. You will lead the day-to-day management and successful implementation of the 3-year Regenerative Cotton Project in Gujarat with an existing Programme Partner of Better Cotton.  This role requires a dynamic individual with strong leadership, project management, and stakeholder engagement skills, committed to driving sustainable agricultural practices and improving farmer livelihoods.

This role will be reporting to the Senior Programme Manager based in India and will be working very closely with the Grants Manager in London.

Job Responsibilities

In this role, you will be responsible for:

Project Management & Oversight (Project Lead)

• Lead the overall project management and day-to-day implementation of the 3-year Regenerative Cotton Project in Gujarat, ensuring all activities are delivered on time, within scope, and within budget.
• Proactively identify and assess risks to the project, communicate these internally, prepare comprehensive mitigation plans, and ensure their effective implementation.
• Ensure the project supports Better Cotton farmers to grow regenerative cotton, sell their seed cotton to registered gins[MG1] , and enables the donor to source certified and traceable regenerative Better Cotton lint
• Work closely and effectively with Ambuja Foundation, various internal Better Cotton teams (e.g., MEL, Finance, Supply Chain, Traceability, Gender, Climate Change experts) and other key stakeholders such as the funder, FPC’s, ginners and spinners to ensure project goals are aligned and achieved efficiently.
• In partnership with the Core Project team, oversee the implementation plan, risk management, reporting, and budget for the project.
• Organize and follow up on meetings, ensuring key decisions are made and actions are tracked.
• Conduct regular monitoring and support visits to Gujarat to assess project progress and provide implementation support
• Facilitate effective coordination of donor visits as required

Stakeholder Engagement

• Support the core Project team at the Programme Partner in delivering on this project in accordance with the agreed activity plan and timelines.
• Support the Programme Partner in making objective, evidence-based decisions on programme outcomes, particularly related to practice adoption and impact areas.
• Ensure strong alignment between the Programme Partner's activities and the project’s strategic objectives, especially concerning procurement agreements, forward contracts, and farmer incentives.
• Support the Supply Chain team in India to engage with ginners and intermediaries to ensure their onboarding and certification to the Better Cotton program, along with implementation of Farm to Gin Traceability mechanism, which is crucial for linking regenerative cotton from farm to gin.

Internal Reporting and Communication

• Collaborate with the Core Project team to map all reporting requirements for the GIF Project and the external donor, and develop user-friendly reporting templates for narrative and financial reporting 
• Strengthen the capacity of Programme Partner to deliver timely, detailed high-quality narrative reports by providing training, guidance, and ongoing support.
• Ensure that Programme Partner submits accurate financial reports in the prescribed formats and within agreed timelines, offering hands-on assistance where necessary.
• Develop communication materials to effectively share the outcomes and achievements of the Project with internal teams and external stakeholders, ensuring alignment with Better Cotton’s messaging and donor visibility requirements.

Supply Chain and Traceability

• Lead effective engagement with Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) involved in the procurement of regenerative cotton, ensuring alignment with project objectives and timelines.
• Support FPCs in establishing and maintaining a robust and efficient data management system tailored to project requirements, including traceability and reporting.
• Coordinate closely with identified ginners to ensure a streamlined and transparent procurement process from farm to gin is established and implemented.
• Support FPCs and Ginners in the day-to-day operations of the Seed Cotton Procurement and Verification System.Oversee the implementation of the farmer incentive payment system, ensuring it is executed accurately, efficiently, and in line with project guidelines.
• Ensure all stakeholders, including FPCs, ginners, and Programme Partner, clearly understand the incentive payment verification process through capacity building and clear communication.
• Work closely with the Supply Chain team in India to embed traceability into project plans, ensuring regenerative cotton from farmers is sold to strategic gins and integrated into donor’s supply chain.
• Support the Supply Chain team in strategizing improvement of uptake in critical areas and motivating Programme Partner to implement those, ensuring compliance with the project contract.

Financial Accountability

• Support the Programme Partner in preparing detailed budgets that align with programme goals and donor requirements
• Monitor expenditures against approved budgets, ensuring prudent and effective use of financial resources, and that financial reports are accurate and submitted on time.
• Ensure that all grant recipients under the project strictly adhere to relevant financial policies and compliance standards.
• Ensure robust financial oversight and risk management throughout project implementation.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Support

• Collaborate with the MEL team to ensure robust data management system is implemented for this project covering collection, analysis, and reporting of outcome indicator data, informing data-driven decision-making and reporting to the donor
• Support the establishment of a baseline and full MEL framework within 3 months of the project start date, with yearly reporting to the donor on indicator progress.
• Ensure that all field-level data related to the project is accurate, up to date, and submitted within deadlines, in full compliance with Better Cotton’s Field Data Requirements and through the designated portals.
• Identify barriers to continuous improvement in farm-level performance and support the project in addressing these, utilizing outcome-based reporting.
• Support the project to plan, implement, monitor, and communicate continuous improvement both internally and externally.

Assurance Delivery Support

• Coordinate and ensure alignment on Certification-related assurance processes between Programme Partner / Producer Unit staff and relevant Better Cotton functions.
• Proactively identify and communicate risks or issues that could impact the effective delivery of the BCI Assurance Programme under this project, ensuring timely communication with the Assurance Team.
• Provide targeted support to Producer Unit teams to resolve non-conformities identified during audits, ensuring that Corrective Action Plans are effectively implemented to prevent recurrence and promote continuous improvement.

 Programme Management Support 

• Identify the capacity strengthening needs of the Programme Partner to achieve the objectives of this project and work in collaboration with the India Programme team to ensure that PP is supported adequately.
• Support the Relationship Management of the Project in Gujarat, highlight the achievements of the project and equip PP to clearly identify risks to delivering on impact areas and barriers to continuous improvement, fostering open discussion, and supporting the implementation of solutions.
• Identify cross-learning opportunities across the India Programme ensuring that the project benefits from such exchanges.
• Support/lead capacity strengthening interventions of the India Programme team depending on the need 
• As the case may be, provide general support to the Programme Management in India

Others

• Support the Programme team with ongoing cross-functional collaborations with other teams and functions
• Undertake other duties as determined by the Line Manager and the India Country Director which are compatible with the role and job description.

Education Qualification/Required Skills & Experience

• Master’s degree in any relevant field
• Minimum of 8 years of experience, with at least 3 years in independently managing projects
• Demonstrated experience in managing complex, multi-year projects, ideally within the agricultural sector, sustainable supply chains, or regenerative agriculture
• Proven experience in partner management, including capacity strengthening and monitoring performance.
• Experience in financial management, budget preparation, forecasting, and reporting for donor-funded projects.
• Familiarity with monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks and outcome-based reporting.
• Excellent skills to communicate with diverse set of stakeholders
• Ability to identify stakeholders, build relationships with them and manage those relationships
• Demonstrated ability to identify best practices, cross-fertilise ideas and support learning among different stakeholders
• Fluent in English – ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both written and verbal
• Fluency in Hindi – ability to communicate clearly in Hindi.
• Proven ability to work productively in a fast-paced multi-cultural environment
• Strong problem-solving skills, and demonstrated ability to understand behaviour change, and ability to influence change
• Excellent IT Skills including MS Office
• Willingness to travel – up to 30% of time

Desirable

• Fluency in Gujarati
• Experience working with international non-profit organizations
• Experience of working with cooperatives or FPCs
• Familiarity with Voluntary Standard Systems
• Prior experience working in the cotton sector/ agriculture
• Knowledge of cotton supply chains and traceability
• Experience working with remote teams

For more information please check the Link

 

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