Project Name: U60
Project Description:
About the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)
Established in 1976, NIUA, is a premier Institute of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India for research and capacity building for urban sector in India. NIUA’s broad objective is to bridge the gap between research and practice on issues related to urbanization. For more than 40 years now, NIUA has been the vanguard for contributing to and building the urban narrative for a fast-evolving Urban India. The Institution has been actively working on bringing forth key areas of concern for urban India in order to build the urban discourse at various urban scales. It has utilized its competencies in research, knowledge management, policy advocacy and capacity building to address urban challenges and continuously striving to develop sustainable, inclusive, and productive urban ecosystems in the country. It has emerged as a thought leader and knowledge hub for urban development in India and is sought out by both Indian and International organizations for collaborations and partnerships in India’s urban transforming journey. NIUA is committed towards aligning its efforts towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through all its initiatives and programs.
About NIUA’s Water and Environment Vertical
The Water and Environment vertical at NIUA focuses on creating frameworks, mechanisms, and pathways that enable Indian cities to manage their water and environmental sectors sustainably. Aligned with India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, our efforts are geared towards driving tangible, on-ground change. We collaborate with the Ministry to implement various national Urban Missions and initiatives that impact urban water and environmental management. Additionally, we partner with a wide array of national and international resource organizations with similar goals and mandates.
Our work in urban water and environmental management typically includes:
• Developing national-level strategic frameworks, guidance documents, and advisories to facilitate actionable outcomes across all cities.
• Creating digital tools and instruments to help cities advance their capabilities.
• Conducting action-oriented research on emerging, underexplored topics.
• Supporting the piloting of innovative concepts and technologies through demonstration projects.
• Designing specialized capacity-building modules and certification programs.
Developing Urban River Management Plans for cities in the Ganga Basin (Code: U60): Since 2020, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and NIUA have been working on a programme to improve the state of urban rivers in India. One of the notable outputs of this programme is a national framework for managing urban rivers that river cities in the Ganga Basin and beyond can adopt for developing city-specific river management plans. The framework called Urban River Management Plan (URMP) framework requires cities to take concrete actions against a ten-point agenda. The URMP framework goes beyond mere pollution control to also include aspects related to river economy and connecting citizens with the river. The actions that cities need to take against the 10-point agenda of the URMP framework include tangible projects, regulatory measures, planning interventions, and citizen engagement programmes. This objective of this project is to support sixty cities from Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal in preparing their URMPs.
Job Description:
Core Responsibilities:
- Review the baseline assessment, gap assessment, interventions for urban river management and provide technical inputs on urban environmental aspects.
- Support in reviewing and providing feedback on project deliverables (inception report, baseline assessment report, draft urban river management plan report) submitted by the agencies/consultants engaged by the team
- Liaise with agencies/consultants engaged by the team for timely completion of project activities and submission of project deliverables.
- Liaise with State/city officials for execution of project activities.
- Prepare project briefs, monitoring reports, presentations for submission to the client.
- Travel to the project cities for on-ground monitoring and reporting.
- Support in preparing content for capacity building and training programmes organized for different stakeholders.
- Support the track lead in overall execution of project activities, monitoring, evaluating and report requirements.
- Provide support to the team for conducting key events (e.g. workshops, conferences, review meetings etc.)
- Carry out any other additional tasks assigned by the Track Lead.
Education Qualifications & Experience
- Post graduate (Masters) qualification in Environmental Planning/Management, Environmental Engineering, Water Resources Management, Urban Planning/Management, or related disciplines from a reputed university/institute.
- 8-10 years of relevant professional experience in urban master planning/environmental planning/environmental engineering/infrastructure planning/bio-diversity and ecology conservation etc.
- Experience in preparation of city master plan, city development plan, city sanitation plan or any other city wide plan preparation is desirable.
- Experience of working in Project Management Unit (PMU) of relevant national missions, state missions/programs or city level project implementation would be desirable.
- Excellent writing and communication skills in English.
- Strong inter personnel and co-ordination skills, working independently, and flexibly.
- Willingness to travel to the project locations across India as required
Nature of employment and duration – This position is offered on a contractual basis, with an initial duration of one year. The contract may be renewed based on the candidate’s performance.
No of Positions: 2
End Date: 19th Mar 2025
Job Description pdf: Senior Environment Specialist_U60.pdf
