Precision Agriculture for Development - Project Associate

Project Associate for Odisha

- Precision Agriculture for Development, Inc. (PAD) is an early stage global technology enterprise using rich data and smart algorithms to help smallholder farmers make better production decisions. We are advised by top academics at Harvard and Brown Universities and backed by global funders.

Background - 

- PAD is adapting precision agriculture for smallholder farmers in the developing world. We are building an intelligent platform that provides individualized production recommendations based on theory and data. Our vision is better livelihoods for the poor, drawn from a more productive, environmentally-friendly landscape.

- In a rigorous randomized controlled trial in India, the alpha version of our voice-based service increased yields by 8.6-28%, with a social benefit to cost ratio of 10/1 (Cole and Fernando 2016). We have scaled up our pilot, growing from 200 to 56,000 users over the past 24 months in Gujarat. We are also operational in Odisha and are actively exploring new opportunities in multiple states of India.

- PAD's senior leadership team includes professors and global experts in technology and development with considerable combined experience in sub-Saharan Africa and India as well as deep expertise in data sciences and monitoring and evaluation. The board includes Professor Michael Kremer (Harvard University), Professor Shawn Cole (Harvard Business School), Professor Daniel Bj- rkegren (Brown University), and Heiner Baumann (Harvard Business School alum, former McKinsey).

Opportunity - 

- With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PAD has partnered with the Government of Odisha to bring high-quality mobile phone based-agricultural extension to 1-2 million farmers by end-2020. PAD will bring best practices from operating its service in Gujarat as well as from research efforts and other partnerships around the world.

Job Description - 

- The Project Associate will oversee the implementation of on-ground operations for PAD India in partnership with the Government of Odisha, including: project management, data collection activities, monitoring and analyzing usage of the service, managing the user database, external relations, human resources, and administration.

The Project Associate will be responsible for the following tasks:

- Assist the Program Director for Odisha in implementing field operations;

- Ideate, design, and implement A/B tests and experiments to advise on product features, systems improvement and to increase operational efficiency;

- Perform market research, conduct interviews, and lead focus group discussions with farmers to understand needs and gaps in agricultural advisory;

- Maintain and analyze PAD's usage data to offer testable hypotheses for service improvement;

- Support the project team in hiring and training team members;

- Develop and document project protocols and processes;

- Work with the government counterparts and other partners to support implementing project protocols;

- Gather qualitative and quantitative data to inform program and process designs; and

- Coordinate with the government counterparts and other partners to monitor program usage data, clean and analyze data, and support complementary monitoring and evaluation efforts.

Desired qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Economics, Statistics, Public Policy, Business Administration, or related fields

- Familiarity with STATA required

- 2-4 years of work experience, prior work experience in a developing country context preferred

- Excellent communications, written and presentation skills

- Excellent management and organizational skills

- Commitment to agriculture based sustainable rural development and transformation

- Fluency in English; Oriya and Hindi preferred

- Willingness to travel for field and other implementation related work

Interested applicants should submit their CV and a cover letter. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Start-date: Immediate

Location: Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

Work authorization: Requires authorization for India.