Climate Fellow, Narratives

About the Organization:

Waste Warriors Society is a non-profit organisation catalysing systemic change to solve the waste management crisis of the Indian Himalayan Region. Our work lies at the intersection of Climate Change, Biodiversity Habitat Conservation, and Informal Livelihoods through bringing behavioural change in the community.

With a team of 190+ Warriors spread across various locations nestled in the beautiful landscapes of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, we strive to create effective waste management solutions across urban and rural landscapes, with a special focus on eco-sensitive and tourist areas.

Our focus lies in enabling better governance, addressing infrastructure and policy gaps, and activating communities to co-create solutions.
Also, we promote local entrepreneurship with the aim to ignite urgency in women and youth to earn their identity through dignified livelihoods.

Our integrated approach in partnership with government bodies includes Zero Waste Program, Research and Advocacy, Community Activation and Livelihood Development. Our project locations include Manali, Kasauli, Dharamshala (Rural and Urban), and Bir-Billing in Himachal Pradesh and Kempty (Mussoorie), Dehradun City (Model Ward Program), Sahastradhara, Muni ki Reti (Rishikesh), Govind Wildlife Sanctuary (Uttarkashi) and Corbett Tiger Reserve (Ramnagar)

https://www.wastewarriors.org/

Fellowship Description:

Waste has far-reaching consequences and negatively affects gender equity, ecosystem health, wildlife food chain, natural resource integrity and climate. Waste Warriors works at the intersection of these sectors to mitigate the harms of poor solid waste management practices in the Indian Himalayan Region. We are present in snow leopard conservation zone, tiger reserve and Important Bird Areas (IBA) which happen to be tourist hotspots too. Towards building a stronger case for community-owned SWM solutions it is vital for us to build and document narratives around the following nexuses:
A. Waste-Climate
B. Waste-Gender
C. Waste-Wildlife
D. Waste-Health
E. Waste-Mountains
F. Waste-Natural Resources
G. Other socio-economic and socio-cultural factors (people from lower villages not getting married due to rivulet flooding during monsoon that brings down waste)

The Climate Fellow (Narratives) would be responsible for building on our current repository of narratives, mind maps and research database to strengthen advocacy towards better SWM practices in this region. The position would additionally entail assisting our senior management in building thought leadership through articles, white papers, thought pieces etc.

Qualifications:

Our Climate Fellow (Narratives) would ideally possess the following qualifications:
1. Strong communications skills (both verbal and written; previous experience in writing technical/creative articles would be a plus
2. Strong interpersonal skills (the candidate would be required to speak to our on-ground teams and other stakeholders for their feedback)
3. Background in academic research (the role would require the candidate to conduct primary/secondary research, build a database and draw insights)

Time Commitment:   25 hours / week