Job Opportunity for Technical Specialist- Gender and Inclusion at Care India in Delhi

POSITION/DESIGNATION

Technical Specialist- Gender and Inclusion

GRADE/LEVEL

Grade E

PROJECT/UNIT

Indian Partnership for Early Learning 

PROJECT DURATION

5 years

POSITION DURATION

3 years

REPORTS TO

Technical Director- Foundational Learning

LOCATION

Delhi

TRAVEL

30% of total time (state and district level)

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 2018-19, CARE India directly reached out to 37.2 million people through 43 projects across 14 states, covering more than 80+ districts. We are part of the CARE International Confederation, working in 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

India Partnership for Early Learning (IPEL) is a USAID funded project that aims to ensure all children (girls and boys) from Early childhood education to early grades (grades 1&2) are positively impacted in four Indian states (Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, South Delhi Municipal Schools). The ultimately goal of the project is  all children (age 3-6) attending AWCs/Balvatika/preschools attain school readiness by age 6;   and  children (age 6-8) attending early grades (1-2) acquire reading fluency and comprehension, number recognition, two-digit addition and subtraction, express emotions safely, and express understanding of emotions of others verbally or through pictures by end of grade 2 in four intervention states.     The project approach will influence practices of both government run and private schools in intervention states to ensure every child of the state is positively impacted. 

The project is designed to work very closely at national and state education/WCD department and its institutions to work, influence and advocate on the agenda of Early Childhood and Education and Foundational Learning and Numeracy (FLN).   IPEL project adopts a system strengthening approach using technical support model to work with state and national government. For this, IPEL project will set up a central and state level Project Management Unit, having experts on foundational learning, to engage, influence, and technically guide department of education and its key institutions for effective delivery of foundational learning and numeracy program in the state. The key technical area includes- Effective FLN content and materials for teachers and children, Robust and quality capacity building approach and review system, FLN vision, budget and financing, Quality educational monitoring and learners’ assessment tracking system and Empowered community engagement in each of the state. It will work towards addressing issues and challenges faced by marginalised children and girls in the states to ensure every child in the state attend the school and acquire learning. Since The IPEL project objectives and goals are aligned with national mission- NIPUN BHARAT, it will also contribute to larger goal of National Education Policy and state priorities. The project has formed a consortium of 4 organizations led by CARE to work with state government. This consortium will work closely with department of education/its institutions to ensure quality and effective delivery of Foundational Learning (FL) for both public and private schools.

JOB SUMMARY

Technical Specialist– Gender and Inclusion is a key position that will be located at Central Management Unit (Delhi). S/he will be accountable for conceptualizing the design of gender and inclusion approach for IPEL project. The person will be accountable for building perspective and capacity of IPEL central and state team on gender and Inclusion. The person will lead drafting framework, tools, modules and concept notes on gender and inclusion to support planning, capacity building, reporting system. The person will also support state PMUs in designing specific training program for teachers, AWWs, state and district level resource groups. The person will support SCERT and state PMUs in executing training program at ground. The person will work with PMUs located in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and be accountable for working closely with South Delhi Municipal Cooperation (SDMC).

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Technical direction and oversight to design and integrate Gender and Inclusion approach

• Design gender and inclusion framework and plan to integrate it in IPEL programmatic approach
• Support state PMUs in understanding and designing state specific gender and inclusive approach for teacher development, curriculum, materials etc.
• Develop Gender strategy and guidelines to build common understanding of IPEL Project Team. 
• Develop, integrate and monitor specific activities and indicators on gender with each state PMU
• Facilitate evolution and adoption of relevant norms, systems, policies and procedures for training, material, reporting to strengthen foundational learning  

State level Capacity Building and Material Development 

• Lead adaption and contextualization of CARE- Women Empowerment Framework for foundational learning program in each state
• Develop perspective of state level institutions (SCERT and SS) on CARE- Women Empowerment
• Framework to understand gender and inclusion 
• Draft a concept notes/framework to support state government in understanding gender and inclusion at concept and practice level
• Guide state government/State PMUs in undertaking gender specific capacity needs assessment of AWWs/Teachers/Education functionaries in each state
• Anchor development of appropriate tools and methods to assess the capacity building needs of education and preschool teachers and functionaries.
• Anchor development of state specific capacity building plans for State Resource Groups (SRGs) and facilitate training of state resource groups in each state. 
• Support Samagra Shiksha/SCERT in designing training programs to build understanding of district level PMUs and teachers on gender &Inclusion
• Lead development and review of relevant IEC materials for various stakeholders
• Develop capacity building tools, methodologies and training modules for various stakeholders with the support of state resource groups and PMUs. 

Networking, Partnerships and Research

• Develop strong institutional and issue-based relationship with Department of Education, Women and Child Development, and SCERT in each state
• Identify and develop relationship with other networks, organizations and collectives working on gender and inclusion specific to foundational learning
• Actively participate in discussion forums, workshops, seminars, and other appropriate events on foundational learning and gender.
• Support State government in designing research and studies on understanding gender and inclusion barriers to children at school age
• Undertake documentation to understand integration of gender and inclusion approach in foundational learning. 
• Ensure documentation of all training program on gender 

Other responsibilities

• Support  IPEL monitoring team in designing indicators around gender and inclusive practices and behaviors at foundational learning stage
• Support state PMU in integrating gender and inclusion practices related indicators in state reporting system
• Participate and contribute to the development of annual work plans of IPEL project and Samagra Shiksha &WCD
• Contribute to the preparation of project quarterly/annual progress report of the project 
• Perform any other task assigned by the line manager as per project/ organizational requirement

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Chief of Party, Technical Specialist at CMU level and State Project Leads

QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Post graduate degree in education/gender studies/ Social Work
• Minimum of 5-6 years’ experience of independently developing gender plans, designing gender training, program design & approach especially for school education 
• Have experience of anchoring training program for middle level government functionaries and teachers on gender or related issues in states
• Prior experience of working with national and/or state governments on material development, curriculum, teacher Development, research on school education

Desirable

• Demonstrate understanding of National Education Policy of India and Current challenges and opportunities around foundational learning in India.
• Familiarity with PRA tools and techniques

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