Job Opportunity for Senior Associate-Administration & Governance at Shantilal Muttha Foundation in Delhi

SMF is a non-profit organization established with an aim to strengthen the public education system and support schools to enrich their capacities for fostering the holistic development of children with emphasis on values-based learning environments and life-skills education. 

SMF interventions, which have been carried out in partnership with the state governments of Chattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Meghalaya, have benefitted over 44,00,000 students, 200,000 teachers and over 70,000 schools across the country so far.  SMF has been creating and implementing meaningful, impact-centric interventions and state-wide platforms for school systems. Various state governments have deeply engaged with us in the domains of School Assessment and Accreditation, Values-based Education and Life Skills, Civic Engagement, Early Childhood Education using the MLE approach and Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment. 

Currently, SMF has been entrusted by the Government of Maharashtra to partner for  improving the quality of education in the Adarsh Shala programme  in all 67,000 govt. schools in Maharashtra, with focussed approach in 488 schools in the first phase, aiming at transforming them into ‘Model Schools’. The Programme stages are visualized as below: 

• Model School visioning,   planning, design and development  and  governance (2021-22)
• Practice and Demonstration for 488 schools (2021-24)
• Scale-up plan and action for 5000 schools (2023- 25)
• Scale-up to all 67,000 government schools with sustainability plan and action (2026-30).

SMF will support the GoM by shouldering the responsibility of co-creating and anchoring the functioning of the Model School Transformation Cell (MSTC). MSTC will be formed within the SCERT by the GoM along with SMF officials with expertise in varied domains. Further, Model School District Quality Forums will be set up in each district which will serve as important arms of the MSTC to sustain and replicate the learnings of the Model School Programme.

Job Overview

The Senior Associate for Administration and Governance will work closely with the School Transformation Head, state government and district officials, Regional and District level functionaries, and school stakeholders for providing necessary administrative support for smooth and proper implementation of the programme. 

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the custodian of the programme’s overall governance framework, policies and processes to ensure high level performance and compliance.
• Facilitate the creation of a governance and accountability mechanism for strengthening the quality and rigor of support to the schools for achieving student learning. This will be inclusive of a policy on school quality assurance and accreditation system.
• Co- create the strategy for effecting convergence within the government departments.
• Design the M&E strategy, framework, indicators and develop a grading/ranking mechanism for the model schools based on M&E indicators. Lead the M&E processes for:  government functionaries, continuous monitoring and review, evaluation of the deliverables of the partner organizations, third party assessment of the impact of the Programme, third party assessment of the student holistic learning outcomes.
• Lead and coordinate governance and risk management functions through the development of appropriate policies, procedures, systems and reporting.
• Maintain up to date records.
• Coordinate with various internal and external stakeholder/partners as necessary.

Qualifications and Experience 

• Master’s Degree in Education/Education Administration/Social Sciences/Public Policy/Development or equivalent.
• Minimum, 15 years of experience of working in the education sector, especially working with govt. school system in Maharashtra.
• Expert in M&E processes, reporting and documentation systems.
• Demonstrated experience of implementing governance systems and processes.
• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, negotiation skills.
• Experience and expert in people capacity building, learning and development. 
• Experience of working with govt. education departments, government schools teachers, and officials at district and block level.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Deep understanding of the functioning of the govt. school education system in Maharashtra.
• Good understanding of application and use of technology in knowledge and reporting systems.
• Ability to offer innovative and creative solutions in ensuring cohesive implementation of the programme.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and oral communications skills.
• Must be well-versed in Marathi and English.