Job Opportunity for Project Associate at Leadership for Equity in Gurugram

Background

About Leadership For Equity (LFE)

Leadership For Skilled Education Foundation (branded as Leadership For Equity, LFE), is a non-profit (NGO). In our two-fold approach to change, we build the capacity of government system leaders and we influence system processes. In partnership with the local and state education bodies, we co-create programs that shift teaching-learning practices and improve student learning and well-being. This work coupled with our research and advisory support to influence policies, we aspire to be a catalyst in forming effective government education systems.

BELIEF: We believe Public Education Systems are the gatekeepers of social EQUITY, especially when India’s 120 million poorest of the poor children go to government-run schools. A multi-layered, complex, and systemic problem of educational inequity, will require a solution rooted in the SYSTEMS CHANGE approach. We believe that a COLLECTIVE effort by forging partnerships with governments, like-minded philanthropists, corporates, donors, nonprofits and grassroots organisations will help bring scalable and sustainable social change.

VISION: We envision Public Education Systems that refuse to let children down.

APPROACH: We focus on building system leaders by strengthening capacity of field officers (i.e. middle management cadres). This includes enabling Academic & Administrative Officers (Extension Officers, BEOs, DIETs, SCERTs) to effectively lead quality improvement programs and run their departments. As well as, equipping Teachers Mentors (URCs, CRG, BRG, CRCs) to improve teacher training, support, coaching & mentoring, ultimately effecting classroom practices in improving the foundational learning and well-being of children. In the last 5 years, we built the capacity and impacted 2100+ system leaders, and through the programs we influenced 40,200+ teachers reached out to 8.2 million students. We have co-created and implemented 8 different programs and have multi-year MoUs with 9 govt. bodies including Zilla Parishads (self-governing district & city bodies), DIETs, SCERTs, Department of School Education across 4 states in India.

About the project : DIKSHA coordination and capacity building for SCERT, Haryana
LFE is working with MSCERT, Pune since 2017 as a Project Management Unit (PMU) for the DIKSHA portal launched by the Ministry of Education. DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge SHAring) is a mobile application and web portal designed with an aim to provide free, contextual and high quality learning resources to teachers and students. More information about the portal can be found at https://diksha.gov.in/ 

Along with MSCERT, LFE has worked with several government officers, teachers across Maharashtra for setting up processes to get content on the portal and also drive its usage through a number of outreach initiatives. In the last one year, Maharashtra became the leading state in the nation for usage of DIKSHA portal accounting for 46% of the total content plays recorded on the portal.

This year, LFE has partnered with SCERT, Haryana with an aim to set up processes, structures and build capacity of their officers, teachers for managing Haryana’s instance of DIKSHA portal. The project involves working closely with SCERT leadership, department heads and subject matter experts to train and support them to manage DIKSHA portal. It will also require coordination with various content partners to get their content onboarded on the DIKSHA portal. The project will give a team member the experience of end to end planning, implementation with Government stakeholders and strengthening a learning platform that will potentially be used by 22 lakh students of Haryana.  

Job Description and Responsibilities

We see the Project Associate role at LFE to be highly aspirational where the scope to learn and create impact at a systemic level is immense. The Project Associate will work with the Project Manager/Senior Manager to play a critical leadership role in ensuring planning for and execution of the responsibilities listed below. They include but are not limited to: 

Training and capacity building (50%) 

• Work on planning/designing the overall project strategy in conjunction with the Project Manager and SCERT officials. 
• Execute the project strategy with government stakeholders that align with their needs.
• Facilitating effective and engaging training sessions with government stakeholders, content partners. 
• Build capacity of and provide proximate to the appointed government teams on a regular basis. 

Stakeholder Management (40%)

• Work with government stakeholders right from Director of SCERT, Haryana to on-ground officers’ team of DIET principals, subject matter experts, teachers to build long-lasting relationships that aid project operations and expansion plans.
• Plan and execute monthly update/review meetings with stakeholders and provide progress towards goals of the project. 
• Create project documents and reports in coordination with SCERT, Haryana that can be shared with the Ministry of Education in a timely manner. 
• Establish and finalise partnerships with content providers and orient them on the process of onboarding their content on DIKSHA. Norming SCERT officials about the same.
• Work with district officials of Haryana on a need basis. 

Personal and Professional Development (10%) 

• Research and lead sessions contribute towards the team’s personal and professional growth by introducing varied perspectives on education, equity, culture, monitoring and evaluation, policy reform, etc. based on one’s interest and expertise. 
• Participate effectively and drive learning in the team professional development days (once a 
  month) and team outstation stepbacks (twice a year).

Requirements: Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in humanities/engineering/development. Masters degree in education/social development is preferrable.
• Minimum 2 years of experience in planning and executing education projects. 
• Experience of designing and facilitating training, workshops, seminars is desirable.
• Experience of working on EdTech solutions, platforms at scale is highly desirable.
• Experience of working with government stakeholders would be preferable.

Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities

• Excellent written and oral communication skills – and functional knowledge (oral and written) of Hindi and English.
• Strong facilitation skills to conduct engaging meetings and training sessions with government stakeholders.
• Fluency and ability to create outstanding presentations, work with Microsoft Excel, Google Suite, and varied data sets.
• Belief in the potential of the public sector and that government systems can and will change. towards overcoming systemic inequities and ensuring improved outcomes for all citizens.
• A basic understanding of social equity, development discourse and education policy in India.
• Being able to take initiative and work in an autonomous, semi-structured environment.
• Adaptability to changing responsibilities and resourcefulness to respond to them.
• High openness to learning.
• Ability to build and sustain relationships with multiple stakeholders & partners across public and private spaces.
• Patience and resilience to stick it out in the face of setbacks and uncertainties.

Location and Compensation

Location: Gurugram, Haryana

Number of positions: 2

Compensation: The Project Associate will draw a salary in the range of 5 to 6 lakh INR per annum depending on the previous work experience, suitability for the role. Apart from monthly salary, the local travel, mobile and internet expenses will be reimbursed as per LFE’s HR policy.  

Leadership For Equity is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibits Discrimination and Harassment of Any Kind. We do not discriminate on the basis of caste, race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other non-merit factor.