Job Opportunity for Program Associate, GEP at Room to Read in Telangana

Position Overview:

The Girls’ Education Program (GEP) Associate spends the majority of his or her time providing direct support to the Social Mobilizers (SMs) and assists the Program Officer in carrying out all activities of the GEP.  The position will be field based and will involve frequent travel to the areas of work. The work will entail providing direct support to social mobilizers, supporting and sometimes facilitating SM trainings, working 1:1 and in groups with SMs regularly – ideally weekly  to ensure that they are effective in their roles in working with girls, and when needed plan effective life skills or mentoring sessions with girls. They will also be responsible for strengthening linkages with like- minded organizations, liasioning with block/district level officials, regular program and financial tracking, collecting program data and entering it into RtRs database and determining and delivering material support for girls participating in the program. The Program Associate reports to the Program Officer and manages a set of SMs and a program administrative assistant.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Program Implementation and Training (Manage Social Mobilizers):

• Set a schedule of monthly review and feedback sessions with direct reports.
• Facilitate monthly review meetings to discuss and identify solutions to challenges SMs are facing in program implementation and in working with the girls and communities.
• Support SMs in planning and facilitating Room to Read’s life skills activities and facilitate the process of engaging schoolteachers in lifeskills activities towards enhancing the ownership of school in continuation of lifeskills in their respective schools.
• Support SMs to mentor girls. This may include providing ideas for group discussion topics and coaching the SMs on how to handle difficult topics. Facilitate and establish a linkage between the girls and the referral systems to address the issues, concerns and challenges.
• Support the SM in identifying and supporting girls at risk of dropping or failing out of school using Room to Read’s risk and response protocol. Document a concrete impact of Lifeskills sessions with respect to behavioral change and risk mitigation to showcase the govt for the need to scale up of the Lifeskills intervention across the schools.
• Conduct quarterly and annual performance review of SMs.
• Develop & Support the PO in conducting the Social Mobilizers’ trainings. This may include planning, organizing and co-facilitating training sessions.
• Directly conduct life skills sessions with girls on critical issues like sexual and reproductive health, career plans and any other as deemed fit
• Develop a linkage with school authorities and communities are supportive of the program – liase for a GEP room dedicated for life skills classes and mentoring.
• Participate in regular trainings and meetings with Room to Read staff.
• Ensure feedback is given to specific Social Mobilizers or Program Assistant and recorded in written regularly.
• Writes case studies 4 in a year and it may increase depending on the programme need and demand.
• Facilitate and participate in donor/govt site visits and provide information to donors and the govt about Room to Read’s Girls’ Education Program as needed. 

Family, school and community engagement:

• Lead on parents workshop and parents meeting as planned with support from Social Mobilisers 
• Identify local needs of the community and explore topics for probable parents meeting topics
• Regular meeting and providing program update to school staff including head teachers and creating playing the role of a catalyst promoting the school to think of girls education and solutions to problems affecting girls in the catchment area of the school  with support from SM
• Plan and conduct activities in the community and school to enhance the ownership of the schools and communities in ensuring Girls’ Education.
• Plan and implement the strategies with the support of PO towards facilitating the process of sustainability of the programme in the schools. This include teacher engagement in the Lifeskills sessions, teachers training on Lifeskills, Merging Lifeskills in the academic subjects and etc. 

Liasioning, networking and building linkages at the field, block and district level:

• Plan and organize trainings and meetings for government officials at multi-levels. (School, mandal and district level)
• Support PO to liaison with govt. to explore platforms for RtR to provide technical support in its expertise and explore for maximum non-financial partnership with the govt and other agencies on Lifeskills and Gender components. 
• Building linkages with like-minded organisations for referral services for girls after discussing with Program Officer
• Create linkages with school management committees, child protection committees and any other as required to create safety nets for girls and conduct regular meetings with them
• Liaison with school authorities for providing  space for life skill centers
• Explore the platforms and liaison with the govt for RtR to be member in the district and state level committees on Girls Education & Gender related areas.
• Participate in the district and state level forums facilitated by the govt. to present and share the RtR Lifeskills impact
• Initiate networks for girls’ education at district level
• Support Program Officer for creating visibility of GEP in District and State level. 

Ensuring Quality program at the field level:

• Conduct discussions on Program Quality with SM during review meeting jointly with PO
• Identify and address the field challenges on timely basis to reduce the dropouts
• Ensure quality in getting the Girls’ Education materials received from INCO are contextualized
• Share learnings from INCO level review meetings
• Understand and work on factors that may impede quality and fidelity on the field
• Analyzes the availability of materials for LS session, mentoring and material support and provides corrective feedback to program Assistant as needed
• Understand and analyze the field level issues and challenges and engage the govt stakeholders in addressing the filed level issues and challenges.
• Engage govt representatives in contextualization and review of the content to make it more appropriate. 

Planning, Reporting and Documentation:

• Ensure the SM is monitoring and keeping records of girls including attendance, academic performance and other program activities as required per the program design.  Collect this data and provide to PO/PM as needed and agreed as per data flow mechanisms.
• Track drop outs of girls and understand reasons, flag issues of concern to PO.
• Review and analyse the PIMS data and plan to capacitate the SMs to overcome the identified gaps and challenges.
• Manage program expenses and complete financial reporting as per RTRs accounting and finance policies. Directs Program Assistant appropriately to ensure data as required by HR and Accounts is provided in time
• Document best practices, case studies, photos and lessons learned and share with the Govt to show case the prominence of Lifeskills and to establish a need for scale up of the Lifeskills intervention
• Laison with the govt to include gender & Lifeskills related activities in their AP&B.
• Develop and submit the programme reports to the concerned Govt departments on timey basis.
• Explore the digital platforms of state Govt to place RtR lifeskills materials to maximize the beneficiary reach. 

Annual planning and budgeting:

• Participate in the annual planning and budgeting process of RtR. Also participate in the AP&B of School education department to negotiate for including Lifeskills and gender focused activities.
• Liaison with the govt to best utilize the gender budget and funding meant for the girls’ development for the same. 
• Ensure budget forecasting for the month and submit bills timely with support of the program Assistant
• Raise PRs on quarterly basis and check for the timely planning and implementation Submit programme expenditures for getting approvals from the state manager. 

Any other:

• Assist Program Officer for in building networks with district and state level govt
• Oversee all the work related to the Program Assistant
• Provide adequate direction to ensure smooth functioning of the field teams 

Reporting relationship:

Reports to the GEP program officer

Other Significant Relationships to be maintained:

• Ensure effective liaison with the departments/Govt for smooth and sustainable functioning of the programme
• Ensure a client orientation in fulfilling requests of the Social Mobilizers.
• Ensure effective liaison with State finance /Admin and HR where required. 

Qualifications and experience:

Required:

• Master’s degree in Education/ Social Work/ development/Gender Studies.
• 3-5 years of relevant work experience in areas of girls education, gender and life skills
• Good interpersonal skills and a team player.
• Basic computer skills.
• Strong organizational and planning skills including the ability to monitor progress of program implementation.
• Ability to juggle multiple priorities simultaneously and take initiative.
• Prior success working closely and building relationships with diverse groups of people.
• Prior experience in facilitation and/or training.
• Experience working with and or counselling adolescent girls.
• Fluency in language spoken by girls in respective states.
• Familiarity or experience with gender issues, girls’ education and/or community development preferred. 

Preferred:

• Prior experience of living and/ working in rural  and semi urban areas
• Prior experience of working closely with the community, school teachers and government officials
• English fluency preferred. 

Compensation:

Room to Read offers a competitive salary with excellent benefits. Benefits include thirteenth month bonus, health insurance and a retirement plan. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, and rapidly growing organization that is changing transforming the lives of millions of children in developing countries on literacy and gender equality in education.

Location(s)

India – Telangana