Program Associate

**OFFICE LOCATION**:
Chhattisgarh, India

**WHO WE ARE**:
**A PIONEER IN CONSERVATION LEADERSHIP**
This is an exciting time at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) as we are shifting our strategy for greater impact in the world, seeking to address some of the most complex challenges facing people and nature — issues such as climate change, conserving lands, waters, and oceans at unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient and sustainable.

**Our Mission**
TNC’s mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Rather than viewing development
- including economic growth - and conservation as contradictory goals, TNC works to demonstrate how nature has value for people and development and how nature can provide enormous economic benefit. TNC envisions a future where people and nature can flourish together.

**Our Vision**
A world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfil our needs and enrich our lives.

**The Conservancy Team**
We achieve this through the dedicated efforts of our 3,800 diverse staff, including more than 600 scientists, all of whom support conservation in 76 countries and all 50 United States. We are striving to develop a workforce as diverse as the places where we work, and we have a deep commitment to diversity.

**Organizational History**
TNC is the largest conservation organisation in the world, working in all 50 states in the United States and more than 76 countries. It was incorporated as a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia on October 22, 1951. TNC is science-based and in every place, we work, we partner with governments, businesses, and local communities. TNC is advancing its mission by protecting and restoring rivers, landscapes and oceans for people and their development at an unprecedented scale; it is transforming the way humanity uses the Earth’s natural resources to sustain ourselves.

**YOUR POSITION WITH TNC**:
This position is based in Chhattisgarh. They will work closely with the local partners who will undertake specific activities in the identified priority geographies, liaise with the governmental stakeholders at the state
- and district-levels. They will serve as the local point of contact for communities, partners, and government agencies in the state and in priority districts/clusters. They will be responsible for effective implementation of activities at the ground level, through partners. They will also support in identifying and troubleshooting challenges, that may arise.

This position is with a one-and-a-half-year fixed term contract and position is based in Chhattisgarh.

**ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS**

Program Associate (Restoration) is responsible for ensuring effective implementation of field activities, through partners, in the priority geographies. This position will be responsible for providing technical and programmatic management support to restoration, community forest management planning, and market linkages component of the initiative. They will be responsible for visiting field sites, implementing activities, coordinating work plan(s) at the field level, supporting technical design and execution of the planning process, managing partners and overseeing all field operations within the project. They will work closely with our field partners, local communities, and local government agencies and are a key representative of the project and organization in the landscape.

The incumbent will report to the project lead and work in close collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team working on this project, contributing significantly to the project technically and in managing stakeholder relationships. S/he will coordinate with a wide variety of stakeholders, manage local partners, prepare technical work products, and contribute to the overall project strategy.
- Executes field-level activities of the initiative, in coordination with local partners and a multi-disciplinary team.
- Provides technical and programmatic hand-holding support to local partners.
- Manages relationships and engagements with local partners, communities, and government agencies.
- Designs, facilitates and coordinates organizing trainings of partners’ teams, frontline staff from government agencies, community, other stakeholders.
- Organizes consultations, workshops, roundtables to advance project goals.
- Contributes to technical reporting of the project, for the state of Chhattisgarh.
- Provides technical inputs to the project lead on issues related to restoration, community-driven management planning, market linkages and inclusion of safeguards and co-benefits in the approach.
- Effectively communicates the field status and needs to the project lead.
- Captures lessons learned and applies an adaptive management approach.
- Manages reporting (both technical and financial) from field partners.
- Oversees work products (work plans, repo