Job Opportunity for Project Associate at Leadership for Equity in Pune

About The Akanksha Foundation

Akanksha Foundation‘s mission is to build a network of high-performing and innovative schools to empower children from low-income communities and to influence the ecosystem.

Akanksha Foundation is currently running 27 schools in partnership with 5 municipal corporations in Maharashtra and has established credibility through its impact on children and communities. We’ve recently adopted a strategic framework of Prove, Multiply, and Amplify – to develop “city as a unit of change”. The coming academic year is appropriate for Akanksha to influence the city’s public schools system especially post the launch of NEP 2020 and because of our continued strong partnership with a few municipal corporations. 

We believe Akanksha’s processes and practices can be codified and scaled to impact the government schools using our schools as models + by partnering with like-minded, such as LFE, organisations that strengthen administrative support. Akanksha Foundation has been looking to expand its “full school adoption” model – beyond Pune & Mumbai over the last two years, on a cost-sharing basis to replicate the success in Navi Mumbai MC. The rationale is to invest in city governments to see “model schools” as a viable PPP model (with cost sharing) in the journey of reform for the entire city’s school system.

Akanksha Foundation is currently running 27 schools in partnership with various municipal corporations in Maharashtra,

• 6 with Pune MC
• 5 with Pimpri Chinchwad MC
• 9 with Greater Mumbai MC
• 1 with Navi Mumbai MC
• 6 with Nagpur MC

About Urban Transformation Project:

LFE & The Akanksha Foundation are coming together to support the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, with an ambitious plan to revamp the education system into a high-performing school system for serving children from underserved communities. Supporting This project is a multi-organizational project focused on improving the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms. The project aims to enhance the learning and well-being of all children in PCMC schools.

Job description and responsibilities

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

Project Operations/Implementation (40%)

• Work on the overall project design in conjunction with the Manager
• Implement long-term and monthly plans defined in alignment with the project plan
• Conduct training in-person and virtually with the support of team members and approval by the Manager
• Ensure regular school visits and in-person support to be given to teachers based on the plan or ensure working with the teachers to provide individual support

Stakeholder Management (30%)

• Work with both the Supervisors as well as the DIET on-ground team to build long-lasting relationships that aid project operations and expansion plans
• Promote collaboration amongst non-profits in PCMC to achieve the larger goal of providing better learning in schools
• Plan and execute quarterly update meetings with stakeholders and provide progress towards goals of the PCMC Project in a consumable format to all stakeholders

Monitoring and Evaluation (30%)

• Circulate tools to measure the effectiveness of ongoing projects
• Support team to analyze the data to provide ongoing insights to internal and external teams
• Support in compiling project impact reports from impact data
• Support in creating monthly, quarterly, and annual project reports

Requirement:

Education & Experience

• 2-3 Years of experience executing projects (at least 2 years of which should include directly working with government stakeholders)
• Experience working in Maharashtra would be preferable. 

Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities

• Excellent written and oral communication skills – and functional knowledge (oral and written) of Marathi are non-negotiable. 
• Strong 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 toward 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: Pune | PCMC

Compensation: Range of Salary – Expected to be around 4,00,000 – 5,00,000 lakh per annum based on experience and skillset.