Local recruitment: Practice Lead – Environment

Qualifications

Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s degree in Environmental Science, Natural Resource Management, Climate Studies, Ecology, Rural Development, or related fields.
• Minimum 12–18 years of experience in environment-based programs with demonstrated success in integrating multiple thematics. 
• Proven experience in community-based environmental intervention, strengthening, participatory development, and government engagement.
• Experience in developing intersectional M&E frameworks and leading data strategy adoption.
• Demonstrated success in donor engagement, reporting, and proposal development (CSR, grants, institutional funding).
• Strong experience in managing diverse teams, and fostering interdepartmental collaboration are highly desired.
• Strong project management skills, particularly in handling multi-thematic programs, are highly desirable.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and analytical skills.
• Proficiency in English (must have) and basic Marathi (must have); strong documentation and presentation skills.
• This role will involve frequent travel to program locations and field sites.
• The position demands flexibility, team collaboration, and strong field engagement.

Job role

Department – Program Team

Reports To – CEO / COO

Role Overview – 

The Practice Lead – Environment integrates and coordinates across the Raintree Foundation’s environment-based thematic programs, as well as collaborates closely with the community development-based thematic programs. This role will ensure strategic alignment, cross-thematic collaboration, and coherence across all initiatives related to Environment as well as aligning with the Community Development programs. The role aligns with Raintree’s mission of securing dignity and wellbeing of people and the planet. The Environment thematics include (but are not limited to):

• Watershed Ecology
• Biodiversity
• Clean Energy
• Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
• Solid Waste Management 
• Disaster Preparedness 
• Urban Climate Resilience 

Acting as a thematics integrator, the Practice Lead will strengthen program impact by fostering shared learning, building synergies, driving data-informed decision-making, representing the Foundation in technical forums and ensuring community participation is embedded across all initiatives. They will be responsible for further developing excellence in Environment-related thematics by encouraging sharing of knowledge, tools, methods and best practices within the thematic specialists. They will drive the integration of environmental sustainability with community development, ensuring alignment across all thematic perspectives. They will also support performance evaluation and hiring decisions for people in the above and related thematics across distributed teams, as well as mentor and coach them.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Program Integration & Strategic Alignment

• Coordinate across all thematic programs to ensure a unified approach to environment development.
• Facilitate cross-thematic program planning, implementation and review.
• Work with Program Managers to align program objectives with community needs and organizational mission.
• Ensure program integration in design, planning, delivery and monitoring.

2. Community Systems Strengthening

• Promote inclusive and participatory approaches that empower communities to drive and co-own environment-related interventions.
• Guide Program Teams on strengthening institutions and local governance structures through systematic capacity-building and trust-building activities.

3. Thematic Coordination and Technical Support

• Provide technical guidance to program teams to ensure coherent designing and implementation of multiple thematics based programs within the community.
• Identify opportunities for synergy between thematics promoting holistic environmental and community well-being.
• Support the integration of innovation practices and cross-learning across thematic areas. thematic 
• Facilitate development and dissemination of technical resources, tools, and guidelines to strengthen thematic knowledge and practice across teams.

4. Stakeholder Engagement, Government Relations and Donor Interface

• Build and sustain relationships with government departments, local bodies, civil society personnel, and environment-based organizations.
• Ensure government interface is embedded in environment action plans
• Support donor engagement for environment-led programs, including progress reporting, presentations, and field visits.

5. Community Voice and Communication

• Work closely with the Grassroots Communications team to amplify environment themes, successes, stories, and feedback.
• Ensure consistent, culturally relevant messaging across environmental initiatives.
• Integrate community feedback mechanisms into all programs to guide ongoing adaptation.

6. Learning, Monitoring & Documentation

• Support documentation of case studies and knowledge products showcasing impact across thematic areas.
• Develop and implement intersectional Monitoring & Evaluation frameworks that cut across all thematic areas, especially environmental sustainability indicators
• Ensure adoption of data-related strategies across all levels of the organization.
• Be accountable for the consistency, accuracy, and quality of program data.
• Facilitate knowledge management, lessons learned, and dissemination of best practices.

7. Team Collaboration and Leadership

• Provide leadership, mentorship, and performance management for program teams
• Promote a culture of shared responsibility, inclusion, and continuous learning across the program team.
• Oversee project timelines, deliverables, and budgets, ensuring effective project management practices are followed.
• Collaborate with internal teams (e.g. MEL, MarComm, Fundraising) to deliver aligned outcomes.
• Contribute to the organization’s visibility and influence by authoring articles, case studies, and technical pieces in relevant sectoral and thematic publications.

8. Resource Mobilization & Proposal Development

• Collaborate with the fundraising team to develop grant, CSR, and funding proposals for environment-based initiatives.
• Provide programmatic insights to strengthen funding pitches and concept notes.

9. Representing Raintree in Various Forums

• Represent Raintree in external forums, networks, and sectoral platforms, sharing insights and learnings to enhance organizational visibility and thought leadership in the environment and community development space.