Opportunities for social work consultants . . .

We've had approval of Community Health projects for the next 3 years. We are looking at the prospects of dynamic young specialists who would fulfil our organisational requirements for recruitment with a background in social work joining us for the smooth implementation of the projects. 

A narration about the first one, which would be working towards Community Based Adaptation to mitigate Climate Change in Satbarwa block. . . Below is a small write up and the requirements . . .

Climate change is something that has become a reality to almost the whole world. It is a serious risk to poverty reduction and can undo decades of development effort. While climate change is global, its negative impact is most severely felt by the poorest and marginalized in the society. The impact of climate change is determined not only the degree and the rate of change in climate variation, but also by the vulnerability of the region.

Satbarwa block, which is on the east end of Palamu district, which is a rain shadow area has borne the brunt of climate change. From an annual rainfall of 1250 mm rains, over the past seven years this has reduced to 350 to 450 mm a year. Rains have become erratic which affects seasonal cropping patterns. Crops produced from small land holdings are not enough to sustain families for a year.

There are communities living in the block who depend on non-timber forest products and rain fed agriculture for their livelihood. Shelac cultivation which used to be a major source of income has been affected due to changing climate patterns.

The overall objectives of the proposed project is to support efforts towards empowerment of communities for the poverty alleviation through a process of social mobilization and people centred development and mitigation.

The major components of the project would be

a.   Support social mobilization efforts for building and strengthening peoples organization.

b. Empower families with specific focus on the woman to receive training in leadership, management of thrift and credit schemes. They will be supported to access government welfare schemes.

c.    Assist in training and capacity building of organization of the poor, especially marginalized groups and women.

d.    Strengthening of existing/Formation of Village Forest Committees to ensure high level of local ownership and continuity of benefits. The VFCs would be trained on water conservation, harvesting method, fodder/drought crop cultivation, kitchen gardening and plantation for social forestry.

e. Improve natural resource base by promoting and demonstrating practices through integrating traditional systems with modern appropriate technologies.

f.  Strengthen the capacities of community based organisations in relation to technical, institutional apsects for enhancing their abilities to take up Natural Resource Management related and other livelihood interventions in their areas.

g. To focus on Disaster Preparedness Planning, Vulnerability analysis, hazard mapping, hazard reduction and formation of disaster mitigation team imparting requisite training to them.

Target Area: We are planning to concentrate our efforts in 30 villages in Satbarwa block totalling a population of approximately 35,000 (2011 census) of which 75% of them will be from either the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes. The project would be for a total duration of 3 years.

Staff needed:

1. Project Manager (1): Will be the leader of the team who would be responsible for the implementation of the project. The PM would be accountable to the unit, regional and central management structures. He would need to develop monitoring frame work as per the LFA indicators and ensure that the reporting system is done smoothly. Preferably he should be a Masters in Social Work or a graduate with previous experience in similar projects. 
2. Project Officer (1): Will assist the Project Manager in the monitoring of day to day activities through the help of 3 Community Co-ordinators who will from any of the 30 villages.  Preferably he should be a Masters in Social Work or a graduate with previous experience in similar projects. 

Well, there are couple of more projects for which we have opportunities about which I would put up in the next few days. 

Those who are interested may please contact me at jeevan@eha-health.org. You could also download the EHA applications from www.eha-health.org.