The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries.

In India, CHAI works in partnership with its India registered affiliate William J Clinton Foundation (WJCF) under the guidance of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) at the Central and States’ levels on an array of high priority initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes. Currently, WJCF supports government partners across projects to expand access to quality care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, tuberculosis, COVID-19, common cancers, sexual and reproductive health, immunization, and essential medicines.

Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

Program Overview

CHAI, in partnership with WJCF in India, has launched an initiative for Clean Cooling, a flagship program on sustainable cooling – a climate impact opportunity greater than fully decarbonizing aviation and shipping combined. Cooling will be one of the largest drivers of greenhouse gas emissions over the coming years as people across the world buy an additional ~4.5B room air conditioning (RAC) units to adapt to a warming world. While access to space cooling is critical for health and productivity, without intervention, the resulting emissions from this massive growth in RACs are expected to contribute 0.5 degrees Celsius to global surface temperature by 2100. Manufacturers have begun developing much more efficient RACs that can reduce emissions by as much as 80%, but the current path to market launch and uptake is slow and uncertain.

India is one of the first countries globally to a comprehensive National Cooling Action Plan with a long term vision to address the cooling requirements across sectors. In addition to this, India as a G20 member has committed to doubling its energy efficiency by 2030. India is well positioned to become a global manufacturing hub for energy efficient ACs. CHAI’s Clean Cooling program is well aligned with India’s cooling commitments. Indian consumers are expected to purchase ~1B RACs by 2050, representing one of the fastest growing and largest markets. CHAI will introduce catalytic supply-side and demand-side interventions to drive rapid, large-scale uptake of next generation RACs that are optimized for India and to avoid locking in low efficiency RACs for another generation, with a potential to reduce up to 4 billion tons of CO₂e by 2050 in India alone. Our initial research suggests promising initiatives may include supply de-risking mechanisms such as market commitments and demand incentivizing tools such as innovating consumer financing programs.

In the past, strategic shaping of markets for key products played a central role for CHAI in transforming the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. Many of the tools that have been successfully deployed to shape markets for health products can be applied to critical climate technologies; however, today, there is a major gap in bringing this market-shaping toolkit and discipline to bear on urgent climate priorities.

Role Overview

We seek a highly motivated individual with outstanding credentials and demonstrated experience for the role of Consultant – AC Industry Engagement for WJCF. This professional will contribute to save prevent 1B+ tonnes of emissions, $100B+ in consumer spending, and provide affordable, clean cooling for 100m+ people.

Reporting to the Lead – Climate & Cooling, the Consultant will play a pivotal role in developing engagement strategy and supporting the team in building partnerships with leading RAC manufacturers and other relevant stakeholders in the Indian supply-side ecosystem. To ensure WJCF develops and executes strategies that are technically ambitious and based on a comprehensive understanding of air conditioning technology, energy consumption, manufacturing processes, and latest innovations, we are seeking expert guidance from the Consultant, a thought leader on opportunities for energy efficiency in RACs.

The consultant will closely collaborate with and align members of other India and global teams and build the programme into a key component of WJCF’s India portfolio. As a leader in the team, this consultant will also play an important role in building capacity of the team to effectively contribute to programme goals.

The Consultant must be driven, flexible, and resilient and have a strong technical understating of the RAC system and industry dynamics. The candidate should be able to function independently and be comfortable working in cross-functional teams. The consultant should be highly adept at managing and excelling in uncertainty, analytical, and have a strong commitment to excellence. WJCF places great value on relevant personal qualities: leadership and high emotional quotient, humility, resourcefulness, creative problem solving, energy, and work ethic.

Duration of Consulting Assignment:

Consulting assignment is expected to complete in 6 months, with an option to extend as per requirements of the program. The Consultant will provide strategic advice, including but not limited to:

• Provide input on technical and strategic questions through periodic meetings (minimum ~4x per month, for 2 – 3 hours)
• Review documents for technical feedback and strategic comments (minimum ~4x per month, ~1hour)
• Create internal collateral material to document industry information and product knowledge (subject to discussion & alignment)

• Support development and execution of a comprehensive engagement strategy for a range of technical and non-technical stakeholders across incumbent manufacturers, cooling innovators, and regulatory and government agencies
• Serve as a thought partner in the development and commercialization of super-efficient cooling technologies in alignment with program mandate
• Identify and develop opportunities for collaboration and partnership; understand challenges and risks in the RAC manufacturing and supply chain
• Lead planning and delivery of at least one industry engagement workshop, roundtable or focused group discussion, etc., with industry partners, as and when required
• Conduct comprehensive assessments of technology pipelines from leading manufacturers, including technology details, roadmaps, and barriers to commercialization
• Analyze cost structure of existing & next-gen products to identify opportunities for cost optimization
• Support feasibility assessment of institutional procurement channels, analyzing volume expectations and operational requirements to facilitate supplier-buyer partnerships
• Review, finalize and launch core supply-side knowledge products
• Support design of supply de-risking mechanisms, market commitments and agreements
• Willingness to travel around 20% of the time.

• 15 to 20 years of experience in strategy, product development, sales and business development in the Room Air Conditioner industry
• Proven track record of successfully engaging and collaborating with manufacturers, suppliers, and industry leaders
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with frequent exposure to C-suite for presentations feeding into decision making
• Demonstrated strategic thinking, attention to detail and project management experience
• Ability to work independently, prioritize tasks, and meet deadlines in a dynamic and multi-cultural environment across geographies
• Ability to thrive in uncertainty and develop bottom-up hypotheses which can be tested
• Passion for sustainability, climate action, and clean technology innovation
• Willingness to travel as needed for industry events and partner engagements