Job Opportunity for State Program Officer – Water at Evidence Action in Bhopal

Job Title: State Program Officer

Employment Status: Consultant

Term: 1 Year

Position Location: Madhya Pradesh

Number of Position: One

About Evidence Action

Evidence Action aims to be a world leader in scaling evidence-based and cost-effective programs to reduce the burden of poverty for hundreds of millions of people in the poorest places. Last year Deworm the World reached 280 million people with deworming medications, partnering with governments to launch, scale, and sustain mass school-based deworming programs, including in India. Meanwhile, Dispensers for Safe Water provided 4M people across rural Africa with clean water, saving thousands of young lives. The approach relies on an innovative and human-centric design to deliver clean water at the source. These serve as just two examples of the work Evidence Action is undertaking.

In addition to running these scaled programs, Evidence Action leverages its unique Accelerator to develop the next generation of programs. These programs are rigorously tested to ensure exceptional scale, cost-effectiveness, and clear evidence of impact. In 2019 we launched an ambitious new strategy, intending to double our impact over the next five years, with much of that impact coming from new programs identified and scaled through the Accelerator.

Evidence Action has a presence across 7 countries, with major offices in Nairobi, Kenya; Delhi, India; and Washington, D.C. Evidence Action’s programs have been recognized by GiveWell, the Skoll Foundation, the Life You Can Save, Giving What We Can, and covered in the Economist, NPR, and the New York Times.

In India, Evidence Action’s technical partner EAII Advisors provides technical assistance to select state government’s ministries of health, education, and women and child development to implement the school and Anganwadi based National Deworming Day program and Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation program to improve children’s health, education, and long-term development. In the long term EAII Advisors aims to expand to provide technical support to more state governments and on other public health & nutrition issues too.

The India program invites applications for the position of State Program Officer to be based at the Madhya Pradesh.

About the Position:

The State Program Officer (SPO) will report to the State Program Manager, s/he will be the focal for the programs in the state and anchor the execution of overall pilot related details and operations.

The SPO will support the SPM for all aspects of the water treatment pilot in their state to include installation, data collection, analysis, pilot implementation, coordination with government, contractor management, supplier management, device operation, community engagement, pilot transition, and pilot scale down. As for all staff, s/he must possess a sense of collaboration and mutual understanding and a willingness to assist colleagues. S/he will be required to work in close coordination with other EAII Advisors Private Limited Departments and team members at the Delhi Office or state offices for appropriate functions.

Roles & Responsibilities Of The Position

Pilot Implementation

• Support SPM to lead and operate across all phases of the pilot from pilot establishment to implementation to scale down and transition
• Together with SPM, represent Evidence Action and EAII Advisors Private Limited in engagements with Jal Jeevan Mission state representatives, state departments of water, NGO partners, suppliers, manufacturers, communities and others
• Lead water treatment training and sensitizations for state governments, area governments, facility managers, water service committees, and communities
• Oversee installation, operation, and maintenance of water treatment devices in the states
• Hold suppliers and contractors accountable for work, agreements, and warranties under contract
• Work with SPM to manage and facilitate the data collection and information management firm(s) in your state to capture baseline, pilot conduct, and post-pilot information
• Oversee assessment of each device’s installation process, operational feasibility, and device efficacy of water treatment technologies in your state
• Participate in pilot team meetings as required
• Keep pilot leadership team informed of progress, challenges, and forecasting for locations within your state
• Maintain a learning perspective and throughout the process capture and document in written form lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations on devices, pilot design, and pilot implementation
• Help inform a final recommendation and report to your state level government and Jal Jeevan Mission on the performance and efficacy of the water treatment technologies in their designated intervention points

Program Management & Leadership

• Lead regional coordinators distributed across six locations throughout the state. Effectively employ your regional coordinators on location and action
• Continually assess where challenges may arise in pilot development, implementation, and scale down. Place self and regional coordinators at greatest points of friction to mitigate those challenges
• Manage human resources requirements throughout the pilot team

Requirements

Essential Qualifications, Experience, and Competencies

• A Graduate with degree in business, water, social sciences, public health, health management or related disciplines;
• Work experience of minimum 6 years in managing program-related activities;
• Strong technical skills and capacity, with at least 4 years of practical experience managing water and/or health initiatives;
• Demonstrated experience supporting development or public health pilots;
• Demonstrated experience working with contractors and suppliers;
• Strong leadership skills to lead the state team and manage day-to-day administrative and human resource issues.
• Experienced in data review and analysis as a rigorous practice;
• Ability to communicate effectively with people at all levels of the organization;
• Ability to effectively report performance, challenges, and progress to the pilot leadership team
• Ability and willingness to operate in time constrained and uncertain environments;
• Ability to work under pressure and adhere to deadlines and timely responds to requests;
• An experienced tech savvy professional with exposure of working on varied tech platforms including Microsoft Office/Google, cloud-based applications, virtual platforms etc.
• Willing to travel within their state or to Delhi up to 30% of the time.

Desirable:

• Prior experience in managing and implementing projects in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, or Odisha
• Strong interest in the development sector and desire to be a part of a young and diverse team.

Disclaimer: The duties and responsibilities described are not a comprehensive list and that additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time.

Benefits

Compensation: Competitive and commensurate with the individual’s credentials, experience, and previous pay scale.

All contracting arrangements will be made through EAII Advisors Private Limited. EAII is an equal opportunity employer. Employment at EAII is based solely on an individual’s merit and qualifications directly related to professional competence. EAII does not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, caste, creed, colour, religion, gender, origin, disability, marital status, or any other basis protected by law.

All candidates applying for the position should upload a resume along with cover letter mentioning current and expected salary.

We may end this search process earlier than the specified close date in case of exceptional candidates. Due to resource constraints, we will only be able to contact shortlisted candidates.