Mumbai Clean Air Initiative

Full-time · 3.5-month engagement | Mid August to November 2026 | Apply by 23 August 2026

Bodhi Sangha, WISE and Blue Ribbon Movement are joining forces with the local ecosystem in Mumbai to address the issues related to air quality and how they are reflected locally, both as challenges and responses. Through this pilot, we focus on creating the conditions for a multi-stakeholder ecosystem to emerge, brought together by the vision of the Mumbai Clean Air Initiative.

To support our initial efforts, we are looking for an expert Project Manager who can offer the right mix of coordination, communication and organisational skills, and act as a connective tissue between people, ideas and execution. If we are a good match, there is a possibility to continue our collaboration beyond the first 3 months.

About the Initiative

Mumbai’s air quality is influenced by multiple, interconnected sources including transport, construction, industry, waste, and urban development, making it difficult to address through isolated interventions. At the same time, people and communities are already experiencing the health and livelihood impacts of poor air quality, creating a need for informed relief and protective responses in the near term.

This work therefore begins by strengthening understanding of where exposure and vulnerability are concentrated, what is already being done, and where immediate relief can be most useful. A systemic lens is important so that relief efforts are not developed separately from the wider conditions that produce and sustain air pollution. Over time, the learning, relationships, and evidence generated through this work can help identify leverage points for deeper transition across systems, institutions, and practices.

The intention is therefore to begin with practical, informed relief while gradually building the knowledge and collective capacity needed to contribute to longer-term transition in Mumbai.

We are bringing together researchers, public health experts, civil society, philanthropy and practitioners to accelerate action on Mumbai’s air quality.

In this first phase, we want to:

- Build a shared, honest understanding of Mumbai’s air challenges
- Convene the institutions and experts people already trust
- Produce a credible knowledge resource to anchor future work
- Bring philanthropic and ecosystem leaders into the conversation
- Engage a small cohort of organisations already working on solutions

The time window is short, which is why momentum matters more than polish. This is primarily an execution-heavy role, yet you’ll shape plenty of our strategic orientation along the way. The Role The Project Manager is a critical role for this initiative, especially given the levels of complexity we will be working with.



We expect professionalism and a driven outcome orientation; at the same time we prioritise individuals who understand the value of care, connection and attention to detail in order to weave long-lasting relationships with the ecosystem.

Tasks and responsibilities

- Holding the project together by translating big goals into weekly deliverables, tracking progress across workstreams and addressing any coordination gaps in due time.
- Engaging with the local ecosystem consistently: you’ll be in touch with academic experts, doctors, NGOs, designers, writers, consultants, philanthropic partners and vendors, often in the same week.
- Making meetings count: from scheduling meetings and coordinating with participants, to preparing agendas and following up on key points and decisions made, your role is to make sure that there is momentum, clarity and commitment.
- Ensuring thorough documentation across databases, meeting notes, timelines and deliverables. Keeping our internal documentation clear and up to date helps us build the stability the work needs.
- Organising multi-stakeholder events: expert consultations, validation workshops, donor roundtables, public convenings. This role holds the logistics of care that create a great experience for everyone in the room.
- Writing and communicating with warmth: invitations, follow-ups, briefs, presentations, internal updates. Clear, skilled, human.
- Bringing care to operational work: budgets, vendor coordination, contracts, travel, payments, procurement. The less glamorous work that is essential for outward-facing work to stand.

Experience and expertise

- Around 4-7 years of relevant professional experience, ideally in project/programme coordination, operations, research, consulting, social impact, philanthropy, events or a similar role where you have had to coordinate multiple people and moving parts.
- Exceptional organisation and coordination skills, with a track record of keeping people, timelines and details moving together.
- Capacity to reflect back important information, identify gaps and help strengthen decisions.
- Clear, confident written and verbal communication in English. Hindi and Marathi are a plus.
- Comfort working with different stakeholders, each bringing their own expertise, expectations and working culture.
- The ability to stay calm and grounded through ambiguity, changing priorities and pressure.
- A proactive, hands-on approach: someone who takes ownership, solves problems and gets things moving without waiting for instructions.
- Experience with Google Workspace / Notion / Airtable,



basic budgeting, research coordination or event management would be useful.
- Mumbai-based or able to work from Mumbai is important, given the nature of the work and stakeholder engagement.

You may be the one if

- You are the ‘Integrator’ in a team: someone who naturally keeps people, timelines and details organised and makes sure things don’t fall through the cracks.
- You enjoy execution and getting things done.
- You’re comfortable working with uncertainty and high levels of complexity.
- You solve problems before someone hands you instructions.
- You can move between the strategic and the mundane, from a conversation with an expert to following up on a document or organising a meeting.
- You care about meaningful work, and you’re just as willing to do the less glamorous parts of it.

This may not be a fit if you need fixed processes and constant supervision, you’re uneasy following up repeatedly with senior stakeholders, or you’re looking for a 9-to-5 administrative role. All of these are fine things to want, just not what this particular window of work needs.

How we work

We value deep work over constant busyness, honest conversations over diplomacy, systems over heroics, preparation over firefighting, and weekly reviews over daily panic.

- We aspire to optimise for momentum. Perfect plans rarely survive contact with reality. Small, consistent progress beats occasional brilliance.
- We communicate early. If something is delayed, blocked or uncertain, we say so immediately. Silence creates confusion; honesty creates openings.
- We assume good intentions. We will have to work with busy experts and institutions. Follow up respectfully, as relationships outlast any single task.
- We favour ownership over instructions. Don’t ask “what should I do?” Bring “here are three ways forward, which do you prefer?”
- Done is often better than perfect, especially in these first few months. A good 20-page report that lands on time beats a perfect 200-page report that arrives too late.
- Reliability builds trust. Following through with what we said we’ll do contributes to a culture of trust, and cares for everyone else in the team.

Time commitment and compensation

This is a full-time role, between mid August and November 2026, with the possibility of extension. For this 3.5-month engagement we are offering a financial contribution between ₹2 and ₹3.5 lakhs, depending on the experience you bring to the role.

Application process

If you would like to join us, we encourage you to apply early, and no later than August 23rd, as we will process applications on an ongoing basis. Simply reach out to [email protected] with a CV and 1-2 pages sharing more context about yourself and why you would like to be a part of the Mumbai Clean Air Initiative.

📌 Project Manager (Mumbai)
🏢 Bodhi Sangha
📍 Mumbai