State Lead, Lead Exposure

Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI); Thiruvananthapuram; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

WJCF is seeking a highly motivated State Lead to drive lead exposure initiatives at the state level in Kerala. The role requires deep understanding of health systems, regulatory bodies, budgeting cycles, and political economy to turn a nascent program into an active state response.

The incumbent will partner with the State Health Department, manage the state team, and oversee governance, planning, and risk mitigation across departments. Location: Thiruvananthapuram, with travel to districts.

Responsibilities

• Lead engagement with state government stakeholders on lead exposure and align priorities, workplan, and proposed new initiatives.
• Build and maintain relationships with senior officials across the Department of Health Family Welfare, NHM, the State Pollution Control Board, and the Departments of Environment, Industries, Mines, Labour and Food Safety.
• Support the state in constituting a task force on lead exposure; convene inter-departmental meetings; drive agreement on priority actions; establish a routine review and follow-up cadence.
• Conduct a state governance and system gap assessment and use findings to shape the state workplan.
• Lead day-to-day programme implementation at state level—planning and on-ground roll-out of activities in coordination with the national TSU and State Health Department.
• Manage and mentor the state team, including the Senior Analyst, and build their capability to engage government counterparts independently.
• Maintain workplan trackers and milestone dashboards, and prepare high-quality progress reports, briefing notes, and strategy documents for government counterparts and donors.
• Identify programmatic, operational, and political risks to implementation, and design and execute mitigation plans.
• Coordinate with development partners active in the state, academic and research institutions as needed.
• Represent WJCF in state-level technical working groups, review meetings, and forums, and contribute state learnings to national workshops and peer-learning exchanges.

Job description

Position Summary

WJCF is seeking a highly motivated, entrepreneurial professional with strong credentials and exceptional stakeholder-management skills for the role of State Lead, Lead Exposure. The State Lead will own WJCFs engagement in in the State- building the relationships, governance mechanisms, and technical products for the program.

The role requires developing a deep understanding of the states health system architecture, pollution control and environmental regulatory machinery, budgeting cycles, and political economy, and use that to convert a nascent national programme into a functioning state response. The State Lead will work across departments that do not routinely work together and will need the policy acumen to navigate a complex multi-stakeholder environment

The incumbent will function under the programmatic guidance of the State Health Department. The ideal candidate should have exceptional interpersonal skills, be able to work independently and comfortably in ambiguity, and have a strong commitment to excellence.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram (at the Directorate of Health Services)

Travel: to program districts within Kerala, and occasionally to New Delhi

Responsibilities

Government Engagement and State Governance

• Lead WJCFs engagement with state government stakeholders on lead exposure, and secure alignment on the programmes priorities, workplan, and proposed new initiatives.
• Build and maintain relationships with senior officials across the Department of Health Family Welfare, NHM, the State Pollution Control Board, and the Departments of Environment, Industries, Mines, Labour and Food Safety.
• Support the state in constituting a task force on lead exposure. Convene inter-departmental meetings, drive agreement on priority actions, and establish a routine review and follow-up cadence.
• Conduct a state governance and system gap assessment and use the findings to shape the state workplan.

Programme Management, Learning and Partnerships

• Lead day-to-day programme implementation at state level - planning and on-ground roll-out of activities- in coordination with the national TSU and State Health Department
• Manage and mentor the state team, including the Senior Analyst, and build their capability to engage government counterparts independently.
• Maintain workplan trackers and milestone dashboards, and prepare high-quality progress reports, briefing notes, and strategy documents for government counterparts and donors
• Identify programmatic, operational, and political risks to implementation, and work with programme leadership to design and execute mitigation plans.
• Coordinate with development partners active in the state, academic and research institutions as needed.
• Represent WJCF in state-level technical working groups, review meetings, and forums, and contribute state learnings to national workshops and peer-learning exchanges.