Livelihood Programs

Manager, Product Design & Research ,Asha Kiran

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Work Type: Full Time

About our Organization

The/Nudge is an action institute building resilient livelihoods to alleviate poverty. We work with women, farmers, tribals and youth on rural development, agriculture, skilling and economic inclusion, along with 15+ central and state government partners.

Our journey to enable 25 million Indians out of ultra-poverty, has reached 10 states with $250M of government funding to cover 1.25M people. Our incubator, accelerator and grand challenges have supported 200+ social entrepreneurs including 17 Forbes 30U30, 3 EarthShot Prize winners, 1 Time Magazine cover and more.

Set up with support from 90+ eminent philanthropists , 40+ corporates and 15+ foundations including Gates, Mackenzie Scott, Vinod Khosla, Nandan, Tata Trusts, Skoll, Meta, LinkedIn, HDFC, Mphasis, KPMG and L'Oreal, we are contributing towards a "poverty-free India, within our lifetime".


Who are we solving for in the Asha Kiran program?

  • women farmers who are landless, marginal, and small landholders

  • they have an average family size of 5-6 members

  • they are dependent on unpredictable wage labor

  • the male members of the families migrate in distress for work

  • they need diversified & sustainable income:

    • to withstand life shocks

    • improve their food & income security

    • improve assets & savings

    • get access to safety nets and financial instruments


What are we solving for in the Asha Kiran program?

The Asha Kiran program aims to catalyze impact at scale by partnering with the private sector and government, to implement livelihood interventions for women in poor households.

This involves building a deeper understanding of the value chain to create incentives for markets to participate and leverage government resources to solve for: 

  • infrastructure (land and assets, Information & Technology) 

  • Standardisation of rearing practices 

  • forward & backward linkages for farmers

  • Collectivisation through community institutions (SHGs)

  • The BYP program currently has 3 modules 

    • Acquisition - Responsible for enrolling/mobilising didis into the program

    • Adoption - Responsible for end-to-end operations which includes training didis, planning & managing field staff. 

    • Market Linkage - Responsible for ensuring the farmer’s produce gets the best price realisation in the shortest time possible. 


What are some of the principles/approaches we use?

  • First principles thinking

  • Human-centred design (thoughtful, action-oriented, experimental & iterative process) with a gender lens (unbiased and reflective approach) 

  • Systems thinking (analytical, stakeholder-oriented and holistic)

  • Strategic planning (result-oriented, logical & coherent with clearly defined outcomes, grounded on the current realities)

  • Being Detail Oriented, Data-centric & Action biased is critical for success in this role.


What will you do?

  • Take ownership of the entire product development process for a module, encompassing the identification and definition of problem statements, the design and development of scalable solutions, and the piloting of these solutions prior to their deployment in the operational environment.

  • Develop the operational framework for the program, delineate roles and responsibilities for each stakeholder in the ops team, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for the program, and collaboratively manage budgets and annual goals for the program alongside the operations team.

  • Actively engage in gathering user insights both from field observations and data analysis to enhance the user experience consistently.

  • Design strategies that help operation team to streamline implementation  

  • Collaborate and align with key program partners and stakeholders to deliver on new launches.


What will help you succeed in this role?

  • Past experience in designing Programs/products or Reserach and evaluation with experience of managing people

  • Working in a 0-1 environment while building the first leg of growth would be a great plus. 

  • Embracing ambiguity while ensuring clear direction for short-term and medium-term growth strategies.

  • A strong ability to influence stakeholders and get things done

  • A bias for action and collaboration


Who are we looking for in this role?

  • Overall work experience of 4 - 9 years.

  • Past experience of desining programs/products for complex problems

  • Demonstrated ability to learn continuously and collaborate. 

  • Ambiguity and stakeholder management

  • Written and spoken fluency in Hindi and English

  • Willingness to stay and travel in deep rural areas


We aspire to be an inclusive and diverse organisation and encourage qualified individuals to apply irrespective of their religion, caste, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, or any other dimension of identity.

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