Job Opportunity for Project Lead at Care India in Delhi

POSITION/DESIGNATION

Project Lead

GRADE/LEVEL

Grade E

PROJECT/UNIT

Engaging with the Process of Annual Work Plan and Budgeting (AWP&B) at the State level for More Resources for Girls’ Education

PROJECT DURATION

One year

POSITION DURATION

10 months

REPORTS TO

Director Programs

Dotted Line reporting 

Head – GEP 

LOCATION

Lucknow 

TRAVEL

40% of total time 

ABOUT US

CARE is a not-for-profit organisation working in India for over 68 years, focusing on alleviating poverty and social injustice. We do this through well-planned and comprehensive projects in health, education, livelihoods and disaster preparedness and response. Our overall goal is the empowerment of women and girls from poor and marginalised communities leading to improvement in their lives and livelihoods.

During FY 2021-22, CARE India directly reached out to 84.3 million people through 93 projects across 21 states, covering more than 290 districts. We are part of the CARE International Confederation, working in more than 100 countries for a world where people live with dignity and security.

CARE India seeks a world of hope, tolerance, and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. Our goal is to ensure that women and girls from the most marginalized communities are empowered, live in dignity and their households have secure and resilient lives. CARE India aims to accomplish this goal by working with 50 million people to help them have quality health, education, livelihoods and overcome the effects of disasters.

PROJECT DETAILS

This project is funded by Malala Fund which aims to engage with the process of Annual Work Plan and Budgeting (AWP&B) at the State level for More Resources for Girls’ Education.  As per the latest estimate by the Ministry of Education, India has 15 crore children and youth who are out of formal education system[1]. Moreover, the children who are part of the system, grade appropriate learning remains a big question which is evident from the results of National Achievement survey, 2021. The latest DISE data[2] also highlights a sharp decline in gross enrolment ration of girls especially from elementary to secondary and higher secondary level.  Therefore, it requires urgent attention to school education along with gender responsive planning and budgeting by the government at various levels to promote gender equity which is one of the key objectives of the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan as well. 

Malala Fund, has formed a network of Education champion who are the local organisations continuously working to promote girls’ education in the state of     Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Through the strategic partnership grant, CARE India has been providing its technical assistance for evidence-based engagement with concerned stakeholders in education system.

The project is designed to work very closely with the education department of Assam, Bihar and UP to allocate more resources for girls’ education by engaging in Annual work plan process through gender responsive strategies and gender budgeting, and at the same time building capacities of the ECN to strategically engage with the AWP process at various level. Therefore, CARE India will set up a Project Management Unit in girls education cell of Secondary education department for continuous engagement. 

JOB SUMMARY

Project Lead Cum Gender Specialist is a key position that will be located in one of the intervention states and within the education department. S/he will be accountable for entire project implementation with technical support from the GEP unit at Central Support Office, New Delhi. The person will be accountable along with project team for building perspective and capacity of government functionaries and ECN on gender, inclusion and AWP. The person will be responsible for conducting all the activities as per the project work plan as approved by donor. 

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Technical direction and oversight to design and integrate Gender and Inclusion approach in state annual work plan & budgets for education in intervention states 

• Conduct critical review of the state/district plans and PAB minutes of previous years to identify the gaps and best practices around context specific strategies for girls’ education. 
• Build perspective and capacities of the state and district officials on gender inclusive practices with special focus on gender budgeting and monitoring 
• Continuous engagement with state/district officials on gender responsive annual work plan & budget through periodic meetings and trainings
• Periodic review with state leadership on project progress and challenges
• Develop Gender strategy and guidelines for ensuring transition, retention and participation of girls at secondary level

Support ECN for strategic engagement in education planning and budget process

• Develop understanding on the initiatives taken by ECN in Assam, UP & Bihar 
• Conduct periodic orientation of ECN to engage with stakeholders at school/block/district/state level on AWP&B from gender and equity lens
• Support ECN on systematically progressing on SMC engagement strategy through experiential workshops
• Offer need-based technical support to ECN with specific focus on evidence-based influencing for girls’ education 
• Support ECN in collating evidence for strategic engagement in AWP&B process and in organising block/district level consultations with concerned stakeholders
• Conduct consultations with ECN/experts/academia/Govt officials etc to review existing norms and policies from gender and social inclusion lens  

Networking, Knowledge, Management and Learning 

• Ensure project outcomes are met as per the project log frame 
• Ensure development of knowledge products on gender responsive planning & budgeting 
• Identify and develop relationship with other networks, organizations and collectives working on gender and inclusion specific to girls’ education 
• Actively participate in discussion forums, workshops, seminars, and other appropriate events on girls’ education
• Support CARE India on designing research and studies on understanding gender and inclusion barriers to girls at school age
• Ensure documentation of all meetings, workshop and training program with government and ECN 

Perform any other task assigned by the line manager as per project/ organizational requirement

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Head GEP and technical team, Project team, Key officials at state level in intervention states

QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Post graduate degree in education/gender studies/ Social Work
• Minimum of 7-8 years’ experience of independently developing gender plans, designing gender training, program design & approach especially for school education 
• Prior experience of working with national and/or state governments (education department) 
• Full understanding of Samagra Shiksha Abiyaan and other schemes on girls’ education

Desirable

• Demonstrate understanding of National Education Policy of India and Current challenges and opportunities around gender and inclusion in India

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

Communication skills:

able to articulate and communicate well to all stakeholders (both verbally and in writing) to meets the different needs (training, presentation, policy pitch)

Language skills:

able to read, write and speak in Hindi and English at an expert level 

Research skills:

able to conduct primary and secondary research for identifying the newest trends and incorporate them in program / process and training

Team Management & Collaboration / People skills: 

• high social intelligence: able to engage and influence teams, create relationships of trust with stakeholders
• conflict resolution: comfortable with negotiating and resolving conflict; seeking clarity and testing assumptions
• able to reflect, empathetic, and a good listener 

Strategic Thinking and Analysis:

• big picture / critical thinker (able to think clearly and rationally and select the best method as appropriate) / connector (able to spot gaps, establish needs and opportunities)

Change Management:

• resilient: able to deal well with ambiguity, uncertainty, and change     
• flexible: able to adapt well to shifting priorities 
• versatile: able to juggle different and conflicting priorities 

IT skills

Proficiency in the use of Windows packages- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Internet