Job Opportunity for Manager – Organizational Effectiveness at Pratham in New Delhi

About Pratham

Pratham was founded in 1995, to provide pre-school education to children in Mumbai slums. Over the last 25 years, Pratham has grown in both scope and size to become one of the largest non-profit organizations working with children and youth across India.

Pratham is a widely recognized organization, having received notable awards such as the Lui Che Woo Prize, WISE Prize for Innovation, Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Henry R Kravis Prize in Leadership, and the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year for Public Service. For more details, refer to www.pratham.org.

About the Organizational Effectiveness Unit

The Organizational Effectiveness unit has been set up with the mandate of strengthening internal people-related structures and systems as well as testing and incubating new programmatic initiatives and approaches, with the mission of strengthening Pratham’s overall organizational capacities to deliver on its vision.

Since inception, the unit has been involved in a range of initiatives including streamlining organizational structures and systems, professional development of Pratham teams, COVID-response (helping Pratham teams and families cope with fallout from the pandemic), social protection (building and scaling a model to connect Pratham staff as well as the community-at-large to government schemes), and research (randomized controlled trials).

About the role

The position offers young working professionals the opportunity to be an integral part of Pratham’s work. The role is cross functional and will provide candidates exposure to a wide spectrum of teams, projects, and experiences. It will provide the opportunity to be involved with projects end-to-end, working with a range of stakeholders ranging from Pratham leadership to field team members.

Within the team itself, we are recruiting for two potential sub-roles, but we are also open to the possibility of a candidate with the relevant skills and interests assuming both roles.

Manager, People Development: Work with the organizational and unit leadership to set up and oversee capacity building programs and professional growth opportunities for Pratham leadership (~300 personnel) and field teams (~5000 personnel). Courses will focus on aspects such as educational governance, policy, and strategy; leadership and people management; content and pedagogy; using data for decision making; communications with government stakeholders and donors.

The manager will:

• Help shape Pratham’s overall people development and performance management strategy.
• Identify professional growth and capacity building needs of Pratham leadership and field teams.
• Coordinate with relevant stakeholders for design of in-house courses and projects as well and facilitate participants’ access to external professional development opportunities.
• Ensure smooth implementation of courses. This will include a) development of reading material, assignments, and assessments; b) running classroom sessions; c) evaluating assignments and project work and providing feedback. The manager will regularly engage with participants and relevant leadership to understand if course learnings are translating into improved performance, and accordingly implement corrective strategies.
• Develop proposals and liaison with donors to seek funding for people development and organization building initiatives at Pratham. Prepare regular reports and presentations to provide progress updates to donors, Pratham leadership and key stakeholders.
• Carry out other tasks and projects, as needed, to support Pratham teams and their performance development.

Manager, Programs: The manager will support conceptualization, incubation and implementation of new programmatic approaches and strategic initiatives. Current projects include strengthening access to government schemes, primarily ration and PMJAY, for teams, volunteers, and communities; policy-research engagements in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh analysing mechanisms to strengthen schools’ accountability towards learning; and, understanding information gaps that district authorities and grassroots organizations face in planning COVID prevention, mitigation, and relief efforts.

The manager will:

• Work across teams to identify emerging requirements and accordingly create program strategies.
• Coordinate with internal and external stakeholders, bring together teams (content, MME, field leadership) in pursuit of program outcomes, and communicate plans and seek inputs from Pratham leadership.
• Guide implementation and ensure on-ground execution aligns with program outcomes.
• Organize reviews to track progress and facilitate course corrections where required.
• Document and disseminate learnings from programs for both internal and external audiences.
• Create case studies, co-author and publish thought pieces and articles, draft presentations, and more.
• Support and manage relationships with other stakeholders such as funders, knowledge partners, and external researchers. Where required, help develop proposals and liaison with donors to seek funding for new programmatic initiatives.
• Take end-to-end ownership and complete additional tasks as needed to achieve program objectives.

Desired qualifications and experience

• At least 4 years of work experience, preferably in the development sector.
• Preferably Masters in economics, management, or development studies.
• Interest in education policy and implementation.
• Bias towards action, an entrepreneurial temperament, and resourceful nature.
• Care for the people we serve and for the team.
• Strong interpersonal skills with cross-cultural teams
• Ability to break down problems, conduct analyses, and structure solutions.
• Ability to communicate complex ideas to a range of stakeholders and mobilize others towards a cause.
• Should be able to communicate both in English and Hindi.
• Ability to analyse, visualize, and present data. Should be able to create compelling presentations as well.
• (Situation permitting) willingness to travel regularly to rural and remote areas of India, with limited amenities.

Location

While remote work is ongoing, we are location agnostic. However, once offices reopen the candidate will need to be based out of New Delhi.

Application Process

To apply, please submit your resume, along with a cover letter (~500 words) addressing why you will be a good fit. In case you are more interested in a particular sub-role, do indicate this in your letter.
Candidates may submit their applications to oe@pratham.org, with the following subject line: [Manager, Organizational Effectiveness_Your Name]. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.