Program Manager - Capacity Building, Food, Land and Water Who we are and what we do?WRI India, an independent charity legally registered as the India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. WRI India’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being.We are inspired by and associated with World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization. Currently over 250 researchers are working with WRI India in our offices at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Program Overview for Food, Land and Water: WRI India’s Food, Land and Water program aims to inform India’s transition towards sustainable and resilient food and land use systems focusing on developing interdisciplinary nature-based solutions like landscape restoration, sustainable agriculture to mitigate climate impacts, enhance jobs and livelihoods and improve nutritional security. To catalyse systems, change with a focus on circular food systems in India, we also focus on developing equitable strategies to reduce food loss and food waste and mitigate climate impacts.With broader systems change and food systems perspective, we work with diverse stakeholders like governments, businesses, civil society partners and farmer producer organizations to inform and develop land use strategies based on robust evidence and analysis to build the resilience of local communities to mitigate climate impacts, bridge capacity gaps, monitor progress, and inform a pathway to building a restoration economy for people, nature, and climate. About your role:Nature based solutions like landscape restoration and sustainable agriculture are gaining momentum in India as a strategy that delivers multiple benefits, including food and water security, biodiversity enhancement, job creation, livelihood improvements and reduce climate risks. Bridging capacity gaps is critical to this effort, in order to equip locally led enterprises, farmer producer organizations, and NGOs - or ‘Restoration Champions’ - with the knowledge, skills, tools, and networks they need to implement, scale, and sustain innovative nature based solutions and communicate the environmental and socio-economic impacts of their work externally.
Your role will be to design and implement a customizable capacity building program through rigorous needs assessments and driven by strong partnerships. You will lead the development of learning systems, toolkits, and partnerships that empower Restoration Champions to grow their organizations as well as amplify and communicate their impacts. You will design and refine frameworks that foster institutional capabilities in landscape restoration, community resilience, rural development, and restoration focused organizational growth. The ideal candidate combines strategic vision with hands-on expertise in crafting accessible, context driven curricula, cultivating a network of sector experts and partners, and driving bottom-up change across India’s diverse landscapes to nurture a self-sustaining innovation ecosystem for restoration.How your day will unfold: Needs Assessment, Strategic Design and Knowledge Development (40%)
• Lead in-depth needs assessments with restoration champions to identify capacity building and technical assistance gaps across a range of critical areas, including but not limited to, planning and managing restoration initiatives, value chain development, organizational governance, legal and financial management, intellectual property, business operations, sales and marketing, technology integration, strategic networking, gender mainstreaming, monitoring and reporting impact, storytelling, and leveraging government policies and schemes.
• Supplement assessment findings with insights from stakeholder consultations, monitoring reports, and field observations to build a nuanced understanding of the ecosystem and organizational needs to design and deliver learning modules with support from an interdisciplinary team and external mentors.
• Synthesize inputs to design a tailored capacity building approach, prioritizing content, refining intervention strategies, and shaping the annual training and engagement calendar.
• Plan and oversee the development of modular, context‑specific training curricula, toolkits, and learning assets that translate technical and theoretical knowledge into training-friendly and actionable resources.
• Identify and mobilize the necessary internal and external resources, including staff, mentors, industry experts, program partners, and implementation partners, to deliver high-quality learning experiences. Curate and maintain a roster of mentors, trainers, and speakers for all learning events, ensuring thematic and regional relevance. Program Delivery and Technical Support (30%)
• Drive the rollout of a comprehensive and scalable capacity building program.
• Oversee the delivery of all online and in-person learning events, such as workshops, digital learning modules, mentorship sessions, discussion forums, technical assistance engagements, learning videos, webinars, and field immersions, ensuring seamless planning, deployment of resources, and smooth execution, with support from the team.
• Manage the collection and analysis of feedback from the trainees and facilitators to drive continuous improvement.
• Work in close collaboration with training partners, domain experts, and mentors to maintain high standards of content delivery, facilitation quality, and learner engagement.
• Provide strategic, hands-on support and guidance to the trainees, helping them contextualize and apply the learnings to strengthen and scale their restoration and community development efforts. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (10%)
• Collaborate with the PMEL (Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning) team to design, develop and deploy robust tools and identify key indicators, frameworks and processes to monitor learning outputs, and long-term organizational and ecosystem impacts.
• Analyze qualitative and quantitative data from surveys and observations to refine curricula, demonstrate program effectiveness, and inform adaptive management.
• Lead the development of high-quality reports, case studies, impact narratives, policy briefs, and strategic recommendations that articulate program outcomes to donors, investors, policymakers, program partners and other key stakeholders. Internal Collaboration and Thought Leadership (10%)
• Coordinate closely with the program teams, thematic experts to ensure capacity building work aligns with the broader FLW program and WRI India objectives.
• Continuously explore innovations in capacity building, learning and development, adult education, and digital pedagogy to keep the capacity building program at the cutting edge.
• Facilitate the development of internal platforms that promote knowledge sharing, collaboration and continuous learning across pillars/programs.
Stakeholder Engagement and Ecosystem Building (10%)
• Facilitate learning workshops, peer exchanges, and partner consultations to promote knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
• Represent WRI India at national and regional events, coalitions, and roundtables, showcasing suite of tools and resources, amplifying the visibility of the program and its Champions, and aligning efforts across the restoration ecosystem.
• Work with the communications team to craft compelling visual and written assets for publishing on in-house and external web platforms.
Qualifications and requirements we seek: • Master’s degree or equivalent in environment, natural resource management, forestry, public policy, rural management, social science, development studies, or a related field.
• 7-10 years of relevant experience in designing/delivering capacity building programs, developing training content, conducting needs assessments, managing post training evaluation, program leadership, organizational development, and/or similar roles.
• Experience within the not-for-profit, private and/or public sectors, related to land use and/or restoration. Experience working with grassroots organizations, community institutions, or rural development programs, will be an asset.
• Proven ability to build and manage multi-stakeholder partnerships to meet program objectives, including government, civil society, private sector, funders, and technical experts.
• Strong grasp of learning frameworks, knowledge management and participatory methods relevant to adult learning and organizational development.
• Prior experience in working on monitoring and evaluation systems and processes is desirable.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and strong team leadership. Communicates effectively across audiences, from field staff and grassroots organizations to corporates, donors and policymakers.
• Strong facilitation and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to lead diverse teams and guide complex processes.
• Ability to think strategically while staying grounded in operational realities and responsive to community needs.
• Data-driven approach to decision-making and continuous improvement.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Professional fluency in English, fluency in one more Indian language (e.g., Hindi) is an advantage.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to field locations across India’s restoration landscapes.
• Additional certifications in capacity building, adult learning, sustainability leadership, organization development, or related fields will be considered an asset.
Salary and Benefits: 18,00,000 to 24,00,000 CTC Per AnnumSalary shall be commensurate with experience and skills. WRI offers a generous and comprehensive benefits package. Location: New Delhi, India Duration: 1 Year (extendable based on performance and project requirements). The start date is as soon as possible.List of Documents to be attached: