Program Manager-Nutrition

About PCI India

PCI India, a registered Indian society, has been working in India for the past 26 years. We drive interventions to transform the lives of communities at scale by solving complex development problems. In the past year, PCI India reached more than 1.7 crore, i.e. 17 million people of 202 Districts in 15 States.

Our Vision and Mission

Vision - A happy, healthy, safe and a sustainable world for all.

Mission - Rooted in community realities, we co create and scale sustainable solutions to complex development problems.

Our Values

• Excellence - Quality in everything no matter how small, is paramount.
• Respect - There is inherent value in all people for who they are and what they contribute.
• Collaboration - Only through collaboration we can address complex development problems.
• Boldness - Boldness requires disruptive thinking backed up by courage and conviction.
• Creativity - Creativity ensures dynamic responsiveness, relevance and impact.
• Integrity - Integrity is non-negotiable in both personal and professional domains.

PCI is an Equal Opportunity Employer

PCI is committed to providing equal opportunity to all working for it and in creating an inclusive work environment. We respect the diversity of our people and follow a fair, non-discriminatory approach in terms of gender, age, nationality race, caste, religion, community, marital status, physical challenge, and sexual orientation.

We promote diversity in the workplace and ensure a culture of zero tolerance to any form of discrimination, abuse or harassment whether sexual, physical or psychological.

PCI provides equal opportunity in recruitment, appraisals, promotion and career progression. Our people policies are fair, objective and non-discriminatory and everyone is expected to adhere to them.

About the Position

• Job Title: Program Manager-Nutrition
• Number of positions: 01
• Reporting: Chief of Party (UP)
• Location: Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) primarily PCI office and working in close coordination with the UPSRLM and ICDS UP departments, as required.
• Salary Range: Competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Duration: 2 years
• Qualification required: Post Graduate Degree in Dietetics, Nutrition, Food Science, Community Medicine, Food Technology, Food Processing, or a related field from an accredited program from Tier-1 institution.

• Experience required:

1. Five or more years of relevant experience in a public health nutrition program, food processing and technology, and quality control aspects of food and nutrition products etc.
2. Experience of working with the Management Consulting Firm (one of the Big 4 Deloitte, EY, KPMG or PwC) or UN agencies will be an added advantage.
3. Experience of working with the large Government programs as an embedded team member pertaining to nutrition would be an added advantage.
4. Understanding and relevant experience of food fortification and packaging would be an added advantage.
5. Experience and understanding of the Nutrition landscape and policies of the country.
6. Experience and understanding of management the large-scale enterprise units.
7. Experience of supply chain management of nutrition based large projects would be preferred.
8. Experience of implementing Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) standards and training and capacity building around quality control and safety aspects of food processing units.

Skill and Competencies:

1. Experience working with the Government or providing technical assistance to the
2. Possess leadership skills and is decisive, action-oriented, and
3. Strong networking and relationship-building skills
4. Ability to work against tight
5. Excellent knowledge of MS Office
6. Fluency in verbal and written English and Hindi
7. Willingness to travel to the field and support

How to apply: Interested candidates can apply for the Position by using the following link:

Application closure date: 02nd January 2025

About the Role

The Program Manager THR will work under the overall guidance of the Chief of Party (UP)

in achieving the objectives of the initiative. S/he will be responsible for supporting the State Lead on various assignments pertaining to the design and implementation of Take-Home Ration (THR) recipe optimization/development and other initiatives/studies towards improving the uptake and providing strategic support for streamlining the recipe based THR supply chain including its distribution.

1. Support in assessing the daily production of THR across the enterprises as per the demand raised by ICDS.
2. Support in monitoring the distribution of THR across the Anganwadi Centers in alignment with the Demand Indent (DI) issued by ICDS.
3. Provide data based insights on the THR supply chain including distribution to beneficiaries.
4. Support in ensuring Quality Control and Quality Assurance in all the THR Manufacturing Units. Support in securing HACCP certifications and other relevant certifications.
5. Support in need based contract management with ICDS.
6. Coordinate with technical partners like United Nations-World Food Program (UN-WFP)/UNICEF/IHAT-Uttar Pradesh Technical Support Unit (UPTSU)/ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN)/Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI)/Academic Institutes etc. for work pertaining to recipe optimization as per the revised National Food Security Act (NFSA) Guidelines of 2023 and reviewing the progress of the initiative.
7. Regular support in terms of Monitoring of THR Manufacturing Units.
8. Undertake field visits to assess and build capacity of SHG Microenterprise members on a regular basis.
9. Support in ensuring that all the THR units are doing timely delivery of THR to the AWCs and are raising the bills.
10. Coordinate with the concerned district Mission Units & ICDS officials for seamless implementation of the project.
11. Support in ensure timely lifting and distribution of Dry Ration at Anganwadi Centers.
12. Support in handholding ICDS frontline workers for Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) for counselling the ICDS beneficiaries around promoting consumption of THR products.
13. Support in strategizing the community driven initiatives towards increasing the uptake of THR amongst the ICDS beneficiaries.
14. Support in developing SOPs for couple of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) - Take-Home Ration (THR) Micro-Nutri-enterprises.
15. Will be responsible for documentation and reporting of THR project.
16. Support other nutrition related interventions of PCI India.
17. Any other task assigned by supervisor

About the Project

All Self-Help Group (SHG) women led production and distribution of Take-Home Ration (THR) Nutri Enterprises

Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP) has been taking various proactive policy measures to address malnutrition and unleash the power of women s collectives for rural development. As a part of the same a long-term agreement was signed between Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihoods Mission (UPSRLM) and Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), GoUP for decentralized production and supply of Take-Home Ration (THR) to Anganwadi Centers (AWCs) by engaging cluster level federations of SHGs.

PCI, a technical partner to UPSRLM for Health and Nutrition through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) supported Prerna Technical Support Programme (PTSP), has been providing technical assistance to UPSRLM in conceptualizing the decentralized production and distribution of THR through SHG-operated Food Enterprise.

PCI is keen on ensuring viability and efficiency of these enterprises by developing three Food Processing Enterprises as Centers of Excellence (CoE), which will serve as learning and immersion sites for other units. Further, PCI partnered with Decentralized Renewable Energy partners and is demonstrating the impact of solarization of 3 THR enterprises in the state with the objective of ensuring optimum production of THR enterprises which are solarized.

What can you expect in PCI

• A warm, inclusive and happy work environment.
• Performance driven reward mechanism.
• Best of class benefits with competitive remunerations.
• Health Insurance coverage for self, spouse & Children.
• Group Terms Life Insurance and Group Accident Insurance for Self.
• All other statutory benefits.
• Regular Recognition of performance and PCI Value display in work
• An empowering organization structure which values individual s skills, competencies and potential.
• Opportunities to operate in cross functional role.
• Higher responsibilities and larger roles are merit based.
• Young Talent Programs for developing future leaders.
• Leadership roles for women is encouraged and given preference in selection and training.

Recruitment Process

1. Applications will be shortlisted based on the specified criteria mentioned in the Job Description.
2. Shortlisted candidates will appear for a written assignment (if required).
3. Group Discussions may be part of the interview process for certain positions.
4. The process could also include presentation of the assignment.
5. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend one or more rounds of panel interview/s.

The complete process usually takes 2 to 3 weeks. If your application is not shortlisted, you will receive a mail from the People & Culture team. Those moving to the final round of interviews will be hearing from the People & Culture team. We prefer in person meetings but in case of location distances, we are happy to meet you virtually.

After the final round, if you are not selected for the position advertised, we will inform you over a mail. However, we invite you to apply to other open positions. We always look forward to engaging with talent that add value to our endeavours in various capacities.

PCI is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct.