Program Director For Sustainable Transportation

Job Title: PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

Organization: SHAKTI SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOUNDATION

Reporting to: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Background:
The Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation is a private foundation which works at the intersection of public health, energy security, and low carbon growth and aims to catalyze policy development and implementation. It envisages contributing to nation-building through sustainable energy as a means of India’s development. A Section 25 nonprofit organization under the Companies Act, Shakti has been registered under Indian law, and is governed by a national board of directors, and partially funded by Indians. It has a strategic and targeted approach to grant-making and convenes local NGOs, experts, and academic researchers in order to help build and implement smart energy policies.

Shakti is part of the ClimateWorks network, a worldwide philanthropic network organized to win the battle against climate change. The ClimateWorks network works in the nations and economic sectors with the highest potential for low carbon economic growth.

Shakti is a new and growing organization comprised of an engaged Board and dedicated staff members, based in New Delhi. The organisation has a strong emphasis on building a collaborative work culture and its personnel are expected to represent the organizational values.

Mission:
The Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation’s mission is to create a secure, sustainable, and equitable future for India’s citizens by supporting policies and significantly, policy implementation that promote energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable energy.

Focus Areas of Work
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation focuses on enacting policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the following areas:
• Energy efficiency for industry, buildings, appliances, and vehicles, and demand-side management in the power sector.
• Green and sustainable cities, especially transit-oriented development and low-cost, sustainable transportation solutions.
• Rural energy services that provide cleaner and more reliable energy for cooking, lighting, and other household uses.
• Renewable energy, including implementation of India’s National Solar Mission.

The Opportunity
Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation seeks to recruit a committed, responsible, energetic, and professional individual to join their effort as Program Director for Sustainable Transportation. The position will be responsible for creating and managing strategies that generate policy and policy implementation wins, which would contribute maximum energy and carbon savings and air pollution reduction, in the transportation sector. A key focus area at the national level would be advancing fuel efficiency, and regionally, through transit oriented development.

Job responsibilities:
Strategic Grant making
• Develop a detailed strategies for internal consideration about how to work on issues related to urban design, fuel efficiency, Bus Rapid Transit System and the automobile sector in India with the goal of achieving maximum energy and carbon savings and ensuring better life quality in cities.
• Advance a strategic portfolio of grants and contracts in the transportation area, and build the grantee network, to achieve maximum carbon and energy savings, and air pollution reductions.
• Oversee grants portfolio and monitor the impact of individual grants and broader strategies
• Write board dockets and strategy papers, and make occasional presentations, for board and staff consideration.
• Cultivate supportive relationships with experts in the field. Establish close collaboration with Best Practice Network (BPN) partners, NGOs and government officials.
• Commission studies on gaps in freight transport and other new areas, and its role in reducing emissions in India and work with internal and external stakeholders to identify whether the potential is also politically "realizable".
• - Accompany CEO to meetings with Ministers and senior government functionaries.
• Master ClimateWorks blue book and internal methodologies/ India Cost Curves
• Evolve strategies in collaboration with sector experts and program team.
• Clearly communicate sector strategies orally and in writing, ensuring documented strategies are accessible to all Shakti staff and ClimateWorks’ network.
• Anticipate funding priorities and gaps, and help develop and make a case for increased funding.
• Allocate budgets consistent with approved strategies.
• Solicit, review, and recommend projects for funding.
• Ensure that grants are disbursed in a way that meet internal standards and satisfy legal, audit and board requirements. Ensure grant files are up to date and grants process is followed.
• Think out of the box on campaign strategies to increase the impact of urban design and transportation to reduce carbon emission.
• Monitor the impact of individual grants and broader strategies.

External Leadership
• Maintain appropriate communication and relationships with grantees, experts and other partners, both providing expertise and genuinely listening to grantees and other partners.
• Participate in strategy calls and meetings; engage directly in the field, as needed.
• Identify and support capacity - building opportunities with grantees; enable grantee-to-grantee network building.
• Support the development of linkages between policymaking and policy implementation streams (NGOs, media, government, academia).
• Lead and leverage Climate Works’ network partners to support the achievement of goals in India, provide BPN partners with strategic direction in India’s context, and work collaboratively with them to achieve goals.
• Build and maintain domain expertise through regular contact with experts and thought leaders, and seeking out relevant literature and research; develop external stature through publishing papers, giving talks, and making presentations.
• Help identify fund-raising opportunities and work with the Shakti’s network of organizations and the Shakti fund raising team to mobilize funds.

Internal Coordination
• Work collaboratively within the program team and larger Shakti team and mentor younger staff.
• Consistently deliver high quality written docket materials, presentations, reports to funders, and proposals in a timely manner.
• Initiate and/or participate in sharing of knowledge, experience, expert contacts, and ideas across sectors by participating in regularly scheduled program and staff team meetings, program retreats, and other cross-sector meetings.
• Help prepare compelling proposals, reports, and other materials to support communications and fundraising work.

Qualifications and Essentials:
Must Haves
• An individual who can think of macro level issues emerging out of micro issues. A successful track record in driving local, regional, national, or international policy change or implementation success.
• Experience of working on collaborative projects and demonstrated networking capabilities. Experience working with government, academia, non-profit, business, and media.
• Knowledge of transportation law/policies, regulations, and programs at central, state and national level required.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present technical information to non-technical audience, write donor reports and prepare and use quantitative analysis.
• Good budgeting and project management skills.
• Ability to build a team and project from ground up.

Other Skills
• A passionate commitment to Shakti’s values, missions, and purpose.
• Impeccable character, integrity, and honesty.
• A quick learner, comfortable working in a start up.
• Comfort with qualitative and quantitative analysis of transport and air quality issues.
• Some experience in managing budget in an organization.
• A strong track record of applying sound political and strategic judgment in complex situations.
• Proven facilitation, convening, and negotiation skills.
• Good managerial skills with experience of managing two or more staff.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities in a fast-paced, start up environment.
• Can-do attitude; hard working and track record of delivering results.
• Strong intellect, creativity, flexibility, drive, and entrepreneurial capabilities.
• Collegial and collaborative work style with a willingness to share expertise across-sectors.
• Enthusiastic personality; good sense of humor
• Willingness to travel extensively domestically and often internationally.

Compensation Details: The compensation is commensurate with qualification and experience.

Location: New Delhi

Interested candidates can send in their CVs along with three references and a cover note to pdstud@gmail.com. Please mention in the subject line the position for which you are applying. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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