Job Opportunity for Associate, Program Management at Pratham

About Pratham

Pratham was founded in 1995, to provide pre-school education to children in Mumbai slums. Over the last 25 years Pratham has grown to be one o the largest non-profit organizations working to provide quality education to children and youth in over 20 states and union territories across the country, through a range of interventions.
Pratham is a widely recognized organization, having received notable awards such as the Lui Che Woo Prize, WISE Prize for Innovation, Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the Henry R Kravis Prize in Leadership and the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year for Public Service. For more details, refer to www.pratham.org

Associate, Program Management – Job Description

The Associate position in the Program Management group offers young, motivated, energetic people the opportunity to be an integral part of Pratham’s work across the country. This person is the crucial link between the state and program implementation teams, central teams and donors. His/her responsibilities stretch two ways – supporting the state or program in planning and implementation as well as managing partnerships with donors and other external collaborators. Associates typically play this role for one or more states or programs and are based in Delhi or Mumbai. Currently, the team comprises 10 people from a range of educational and professional backgrounds and together, is involved in all the educational programs and states at Pratham.
In this team, one can expect a culture of “getting things done”. The role is cross-functional and often dynamic and hence provides the Associate with exposure to a wide spectrum of teams, projects and experiences. Successful team members will get the opportunity to build a holistic understanding of the educational ecosystem from people with rich experience and knowledge in the field, both internally and externally, as well as contribute to the effective implementation of key education programs across a variety of contexts.

The minimum expected responsibilities under the role are as follows:

Program Review / Program Support

• Planning and budgeting support: Supporting the states/program heads in planning, budgeting at the beginning of each year. This step will include ensuring that the implementation plan and budgets are in line with what has been agreed on with the donor.
• Ongoing operations support: This will involve regular liaison and communication with state/program and central teams with respect to the emerging needs and demands at any point of time and facilitating processes through proposals, reports, internal co-ordination, communication, documentation and planning. The Associate will also continuously collaborate with relevant teams across the organization (content, M&E, finance etc.) as required to ensure smooth operations and timely implementation.
• Program tracking and financial management: Planning will need to be followed up with regular tracking of progress against plan. Financial management will comprise of ensuring that expenditure on the ground is as per plans and any deviations are being recorded and managed in an efficient manner.
• Internal reports and documentation: The Associate will be responsible for creating any internal reports and documentation of various activities to build internal knowledge on program implementation.
• Others: The Associate may be needed to handle relations with the government as a member of the central office of Pratham. Other advocacy related functions such as liaison with other NGOs, partners etc. may be required on the part of the Associate.

Donor Management

• Proposal creation: The Associate will be responsible for the creation of proposals for new potential donors. This will include defining objectives, conceptualizing model of implementation, designing implementation timelines, budgeting, designing reporting cycles, etc. in discussion with senior management and program/state heads.
• Regular reporting and communication: The Associate will be the primary organizational touchpoint for the donor and will be responsible for creating regular reports on progress of the project and engage in periodic conversations with the donor on program updates and future planning.
• Other functions: This includes facilitating visits for donors and any other form of communication with them.

Desired Qualifications and Experience

Required:

• 1-3 years prior work experience in a similar role in private sector firms, NGOs or foundations
• Willingness to travel regularly and extensively in rural areas of India, with limited amenities
• Ability to build rapport with people from various different academic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds
• Ability to communicate in Hindi or at least 1-2 other regional languages
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills
• Ability to work well in teams and on tasks ranging from simple to complex
• Ability to adapt to dynamic contexts and scenarios
• Self-motivation and pro-activeness
• Ability to organize and manage multiple tasks efficiently
• Strong work ethic and attention to detail
• Ability to take initiative to support processes in an unstructured or ambiguous environment
• Keeping oneself constantly updated on the broader educational context in assigned states and in India
• Willingness to commit to at least 2-3 years of work with Pratham

Preferred:

• Exposure to the non-profit sector through previous experience or otherwise
• Coursework in international development or management
• Experience living and working in a developing country

Application Process

Please send the following to prmrecruitment@pratham.org. We will reach out to you to set up the application process. We may not be able to respond to all applicants.
1. Current Resume: Resume should contain
• Contact Information for Applicant
• Academic Background
o Universities Attended, Degrees Acquired
o Academic Record (Marks or GPA, if applicable)
o Past work experience, highlighting relevant skills
o Relevant Coursework: List Courses in Development, Management, and Education
o Experiences in development, teaching and/or education (if applicable)
o Languages Spoken
2. Statement of Purpose – Why are you fit for this opportunity? (500 Words)