Associate Manager, Gender Action Research, Sanmati

About The/Nudge:

The/Nudge  is an action institute building resilient livelihoods to alleviate poverty. We work with women, farmers, tribals, and youth on rural development, agriculture, skilling, and economic inclusion, along with 15+ central and state government partners.
Our economic inclusion journey for 25 million Indians has reached 10 states with $250M of government funding to cover 1.25M people. Our incubator, accelerator, and grand challenges have supported 200+ social entrepreneurs, including 17 Forbes 30 Under 30, 3 Earthshot Prize winners, 1 Time Magazine cover, and more.

Set up with  support from 90+ eminent philanthropists, 40+ corporates, and 15+ foundations, including Gates, Mackenzie Scott, Vinod Khosla, Nandan Nilekani, Tata Trusts, Skoll, Meta, Linked In, HDFC, Mphasis, KPMG, and L'Oreal, we are contributing towards a 'poverty-free India, within our lifetime'.

About the Program :

What are we solving for

Sanmati 2.0  is a gender action research program to enhance women's engagement in digital value chains. The learning objective is to identify effective models or strategies that address the barriers women face in digital connectivity to enhance women's engagement in digital value chains.

The program components include:
1. Landscaping of existing models in service of creating digital work and value chains for women
2. Experimentation & evidence-building
3. Scaling models with evidence & ecosystem enablement

Through this action research program,  15, women program participants  will be impacted across selected geographies in India.

Who are we solving for

As the world moves toward technology-centred development, women continue to be largely left behind due to ingrained challenges. Gender inequality in digital technologies arises from unequal access, usage, and knowledge between men and women. To optimise women's access to and productive use of digital tools, it is essential to enable their participation in equitable, relevant, and safe digital value chains.

In recent years, there has been a dramatic surge in 'future of work' platforms that provide new employment opportunities, particularly for those unable to participate in traditional, normative forms of employment. However, research highlights that many women, especially in patriarchal societies, face significant barriers to digital engagement. For instance, the study:  Feeling Proud, Feeling Embarrassed:
Experiences of Low-income Women with Crowd Work , found that women's smartphone usage was often monitored by male family members, limiting their ability to access digital work opportunities.

Overcoming these barriers requires designing inclusive digital ecosystems that address the specific challenges women face when engaging with technology.
As economies continue to digitise, digital value chains are expanding, creating new infrastructure and work opportunities. According to a UNICEF report, 90% of jobs today have a digital component, highlighting the vast potential for women's inclusion in the workforce. In India, where 85% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector, technology platforms can introduce a degree of formality and enhance labor market transparency.

If connectivity barriers can be addressed, digital value chains could become a powerful driver of economic and social inclusion for women.
However, women's adoption of digital products and services, across information access, finance, and health, remains low due to factors such as a lack of compelling use cases, trust deficits, and low confidence in digital ecosystems. Addressing these challenges and increasing women's participation in digital value chains can enhance data systems by reducing bias and fostering more inclusive infrastructure. In turn, this can improve adoption, usage, and agency for women, unlocking meaningful opportunities across the digital economy.

What will you do

The key responsibilities of Associate Manager, Sanmati (Gender Action Research) will include:

1. Support implementation and execution of the program:
Develop and deploy selection frameworks for onboarding partners.
Work closely with experiment partners (NGOs, social enterprises, platforms) to co-design, planning, implement, and iterate pilots aligned with Sanmati's learning and impact goals.
Develop and deploy a results-based framework to track progress and impact of different models across program time frames and ensure selected models maintain market integrity and promote well-being for the participant women

2. Liaison with the Government ministries and departments:
Work closely with relevant central, state, and local government departments to facilitate adoption of Sanmati interventions by front-line cadres and administrative bodies.
Support policy dialogue and technical engagement with government bodies to enable uptake of frameworks, guidelines, and pilots into official programs, advisories, or implementation pathways.
Build and sustain strong working relationships with government officials and institutions to…