Program Manager
Terms of Reference
Swasti is a global public health organisation committed to improving health outcomes for vulnerable communities by strengthening systems, building capacities, and enabling community-centered solutions. With a mission to add 100 million healthy days by 2030, Swasti works across multiple states in India and several countries globally, partnering with governments, communities, and institutions to address complex health and development challenges.
Swasti is part of Catalysts, a Social Enterprise Platform.
About the Project
Globally, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that heat stress contributes to nearly 23 million workplace injuries and 19,000 deaths each year, underscoring the urgent need to treat extreme heat as a serious occupational health and safety risk. For apparel and textile workers, prolonged exposure to heat can increase the risk of dehydration, fatigue, heat exhaustion, fainting, reduced concentration, and workplace accidents.
The Heat-Resilient Workforce Project has been designed in response to this growing risk, under the aegis of Swasti’s Health@Work model. It is a worker health and climate resilience initiative aimed at protecting apparel and textile workers from extreme heat-related harm across industrial clusters in India.
The project focuses on embedding heat safety into everyday factory operations through Heat Action Plans, worker and supervisor training, early-warning dashboards, and practical workplace protections such as hydration, rest, cooling, first-response measures, and referral systems.
Swasti will work with multiple stakeholders, including factories, district administrations, industry associations, brands, and technical partners, to build a cluster-level model for coordinated heat preparedness and implementation. The initiative seeks to strengthen worker health, safety, and agency while creating a tested, evidence-backed Heat-Resilient Workforce Model that can be replicated across other labour-intensive supply chains.
Role: Program Manager
Key Responsibilities
Lead day-to-day planning, coordination, implementation, and monitoring of all project workstreams.
Develop and maintain project plans, activity trackers, timelines, deliverable schedules, and risk registers.
Coordinate with cluster teams to support factory onboarding and effective implementation of heat-resilience interventions.
Oversee key components, including Heat Action Plans, early-warning dashboards, trainings, Climate Care Hubs, worker feedback mechanisms, and occupational health and safety strengthening.
Coordinate with internal teams, factories, government departments, industry associations, brands, and technical partners.
Track project progress, support quality assurance, consolidate field updates, and prepare donor reports, review decks, and management updates.
Supervise the Program Associate, support project documentation and administrative processes, and represent the project in relevant meetings and forums.
Qualification
3–4 years of relevant experience in programme management, project coordination, or implementation roles.
Experience in public health, worker wellbeing, occupational health and safety, climate resilience, community-based programmes, livelihoods, or development sector projects will be preferred.
Experience of working with multiple stakeholders, including field teams, government departments, private-sector partners, technical experts, and internal support teams, will be an advantage.
Skills and Competencies Required
Strong programme management, planning, coordination, and follow-up skills.
Ability to manage multiple workstreams, timelines, and stakeholders simultaneously.
Strong documentation and reporting skills, with the ability to prepare clear progress updates, trackers, meeting notes, presentations, and donor reports.
Good written and verbal communication skills in English.
Strong working knowledge of MS Office and Google Workspace, including spreadsheets, presentations, and basic project management tools.
Ability to analyse project progress, identify gaps, and develop practical solutions.
Comfort working closely with field teams and travelling to project locations when required.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, multi-stakeholder environment with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
Understanding of public health, worker vulnerabilities, factory systems, climate risks, or occupational health and safety will be an advantage.
Knowledge of Telugu and/or Tamil will be an advantage but is not mandatory.
Work Location
Bengaluru, with travel to project locations and dissemination events as required.
Reporting
Program Manager
No. of Position
1
Remuneration
Remuneration will be discussed and finalized based on the candidate's profile, experience, role fit, and expected level of effort.