Job Opportunity for District Transformation Officer at Shantilal Muttha Foundation

SMF is a non-profit organization established with an aim to strengthen the public education system and support schools to enrich their capacities for fostering the holistic development of children with emphasis on values-based learning environments and life-skills education. 

SMF interventions, which have been carried out in partnership with the state governments of Chattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Meghalaya, have benefitted over 44,00,000 students, 200,000 teachers and over 70,000 schools across the country so far.  SMF has been creating and implementing meaningful, impact-centric interventions and state-wide platforms for school systems. Various state governments have deeply engaged with us in the domains of School Assessment and Accreditation, Values-based Education and Life Skills, Civic Engagement, Early Childhood Education using the MLE approach and Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment. 

Currently, SMF has been entrusted by the Government of Maharashtra to partner for  improving the quality of education in the Adarsh Shala programme  in all 67,000 govt. schools in Maharashtra, with focussed approach in 488 schools in the first phase, aiming at transforming them into ‘Model Schools’. The Programme stages are visualized as below: 

• Model School visioning,   planning, design and development  and  governance (2021-22)
• Practice and Demonstration for 488 schools (2021-24)
• Scale-up plan and action for 5000 schools (2023- 25)
• Scale-up to all 67,000 government schools with sustainability plan and action (2026-30).

SMF will support the GoM by shouldering the responsibility of co-creating and anchoring the functioning of the Model School Transformation Cell (MSTC). MSTC will be formed within the SCERT by the GoM along with SMF officials with expertise in varied domains. Further, Model School District Quality Forums will be set up in each district which will serve as important arms of the MSTC to sustain and replicate the learnings of the Model School Programme.

Job Overview

The District Transformation Officer is responsible for implementation of the Programme in the designated Model Schools in the district in accordance with the stated objectives, plans and strategies of the Programme. She/He is the converging point where the program gets operational and implemented. This involves implementation of all intended model school interventions, working closely with district level education officers, school headmasters and teacher, and other internal as well as external stakeholders. She/He is expected to work closely with the Snr. Program Associate (MSTC) and the Regional Transformation Officer to bring about desired changes among the designated schools. This position also involves providing timely and precise information from the field to the Snr. Program Associate, and to build rapport and goodwill with school and government stakeholders through approaches involving collaboration and teamwork.

Key Responsibilities

• Owns the school transformation process in the district and facilitates programme implementation in the allotted district.
• Ensures teachers‘ proper understanding of programme goals.
• Builds relations with CEO, ZP, EO and BEOs, KPs and other stakeholders and maintains good relationship with the field and state functionaries.
• Support Snr. Program Associate for creating visibility of the programme at District level.
• Set up the District Quality Forum with assistance of Regional Transformation Officer with active involvement of EO, DIET staff, education officers and heads of schools.
• Establish and strengthen monitoring mechanisms at the district level while working closely with the governance systems. 
• Co-create with the government department enabling governance systems. 
• Undertake regular field based monitoring as per the approved monitoring plan. 
• Flags challenges/issues/timely alerts to Snr. Program Associate to ensure smooth implementation.
• Taking and enabling decisions based on MIS and available reports.
• Identify and share input on best practices, case studies, photos and lessons learned and shares with state Team.
• Plan and organize trainings and meetings for government officials (block and district level) about the program and its updates, upcoming plans in consultation with Regional Transformation Officer.
• Facilitate ongoing dialogue on Program Quality with school teachers during meetings of the District Quality Forum.
• Supports and facilitates the administration of teachers’ training assessment tool for all the trainings at district/state levels.
• Conduct periodic visit to schools offering guidance, support and encouragement to stakeholders for fulfillment of the programme objectives.
• Liaises and coordinates for convergence of work with government departments (Women and Child Development, and others).
• Liaises with donor/government stakeholder, facilitates visits to program locations, and provides information to donors/stakeholders about the programme as needed
• Participates in regular trainings and meetings as required with HO staff.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Education/Social Work/Development or equivalent.
• 5 – 7 years of relevant work experience in areas such as teaching, teacher-training, programme coordination/management/implementation/administration, working with education department officials, etc.
• Prior experience of living and working in rural and semi urban areas.
• Experience of working with govt. departments and officials within the system.
• Should preferably be a resident of the district where he/she will serve, with sound related knowledge of the district.
• Should preferably be between 35 and 40 years of age.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Good interpersonal skills and abilities for effective teamwork.
• Good stakeholder management skills.
• Good understanding of MS Word, MS Excel and Android Apps for reporting purpose.
• Strong organizational and planning skills including the ability to monitor progress of program implementation.
• Multitasking skills, and ability to handle multiple priorities simultaneously and take appropriate initiative.
• Appetite and ability for extensive travel within the district for visiting schools.
• Having proficiency and good communication skills in Marathi, and working knowledge of English.