State Project Head

Job Title: State Project Lead - FPO Strengthening 

Location: Odisha

Reports to: Project Manager

Type: Full-time

About the Organization:

Vrutti's vision is to enhance the well-being of individuals through the power of knowledge, innovation, and transformative actions. Our mission is to build the wealth and resilience of small producers through transformative livelihood solutions. We work through an ecosystem approach integrating and delivering services that empower small producers and marginalized populations to grow their way out of poverty.

Role Purpose   

Support the acceleration of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) by strengthening enterprise systems, supply chains, market linkages, and financial readiness, enabling sustainable business growth and improved incomes for smallholder farmers.

Eligibility Criteria

1. Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Agribusiness, Rural Development, Rural Management, or related disciplines.
2. Minimum of 3–5 years of field experience in Agri value chains, rural livelihoods, enterprise development, or FPO strengthening.
3. Demonstrated experience working with Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), farmer collectives, or rural enterprises.
4. Experience in supply chain management, Agri-marketing, enterprise development, or market linkage facilitation, Capacity building of Board members. 
5. Strong stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to coordinate with ecosystem institutions such as banks, buyers, input suppliers, and development partners.
6. Willingness to travel extensively and work closely with BSO and FPOs.
7. Proficiency in Digital tools for enterprise Management, Supply chain tracking and Day to day operations. 



Key Responsibilities

1. Support in the baseline diagnostics of FPOs across governance systems, enterprise readiness, supply chain capacity, and financial systems.
2. Identify and operationalize commodity value chains with strong market potential across supported FPO clusters.
3. Coordinate with Business Support Organizations (BSOs) and the Vrutti team including the cross functional teams to ensure effective planning, alignment, and smooth implementation of program activities across all key intervention areas.
4. Support preparation and implementation of FPO business plans and enterprise growth strategies.
5. Strengthen supply chain systems including procurement planning, aggregation, quality control, storage, and logistics.
6. Facilitate onboarding of buyers, input suppliers, and other market partners to ensure stable market access for FPOs.
7. Support operationalization of enterprise activities related to input distribution, output aggregation, processing, and marketing.
8. Assist FPOs in strengthening financial systems and documentation required for accessing institutional credit.
9. Facilitate linkages with financial institutions and support operationalization of project financing instruments such as revolving funds and credit guarantees.
10. Conduct capacity-building sessions for FPO board members, management teams, and farmer leaders on enterprise management and market readiness.
11. Strengthen governance practices including board functioning, compliance processes, and decision-making systems.
12. Track procurement, aggregation, dispatch, and enterprise performance data at the FPO level.
13. Coordinate with ecosystem partners including financial institutions, buyers, technical agencies, and development organizations.
14. Conduct regular field visits to monitor enterprise operations and supply chain systems across supported FPOs.
15. Facilitate adoption and effective use of digital tools and platforms by FPOs for procurement tracking, inventory management, order booking, financial documentation, and market transactions to improve operational efficiency and transparency.
16. Ensure timely submission of project data, documentation, and implementation reports.

Key Results

1. 3-5 commodity value chains strengthened with structured aggregation, procurement, and market linkage systems by FPOs 
2. Working capital and credit access enabled for participating FPOs, including operationalization of project-supported financial instruments.
3. Multiple enterprises operationalized at FPO or farmer group level across input supply or output marketing.
4. Aggregation systems established across supported FPO clusters with routine procurement and dispatch operations.
5. FPOs enabled access to working capital or credit support through improved financial readiness and ecosystem linkages.
6. At least 5 capacity-building sessions coordinated annually for FPO boards, staff, and farmer leadership.
7. Regular monitoring and documentation systems established for business planning, digital systems, institutional development, and credit readiness across FPCs.