State Project Head (Foundational Literacy and Numeracy) at The Education Alliance

Location : Bhopal

The Education Alliance (TEA) is a non-profit organisation registered in India to catalyse quality transformations in the public-school system through strategic partnership support. TEA aims to build an ecosystem in which governments can strategically partner with mission oriented non-profit educational organisations to deliver high quality education. Our goal is to empower government schools to create the next generation of leaders by transforming the quality of education offered in these schools. A high-quality education for every child in India would call for a system that is accountable, collaborative and equitable.

TEA sets up a Project Management Unit (PMU) to support the state education departments to partner more strategically with non-state actors and to design and deliver programmes with the objective of building governments’ own capacity to sustain these initiatives post the exit of external partners. TEA currently has two ongoing programs in Delhi and Tamil Nadu. 

In Delhi, TEA’s partnership with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation commenced in 2015 and has been formally recognized by the government as ‘School Quality Enhancement Program (SQEP)’ where non-profits engage with government schools in a whole school turnaround model. The program currently impacts 5,300+ students in 18 schools supported by 8 NGO partners. In Tamil Nadu, TEA has been partnering with the Samagra Shiksha since 2018 for supporting the State in management and governance of its partnership with non-profit organisations. In this engagement, TEA has been working with the State to put together processes through the lifecycle of State-NGO interactions resulting in a more efficient and effective engagement. 

In order to deliver on our goal, TEA engages in five broad areas of work: dialogue with governments to design the frameworks for intervention, identify high-quality and mission-aligned non-profit partners for program content and delivery, set-up a project management unit to implement the program, conduct research to test the efficacy of the model and build system’s capacity to sustain the intervention. 

TEA’s Proposed Program in State of Madhya Pradesh on Foundational Literacy & Numeracy

TEA is currently in preparation to start working with the State of Madhya Pradesh on strengthening its Foundational Literacy & Numeracy in grades 1 to 3. The program has been currently conceptualised as a 3-year engagement with the State, with likelihood of further extension. TEA will set up a PMU within the Education department to support the State in designing and implementation a program for early grades – this will include selection of partners for content development, teacher training, etc., setting performance benchmarks and instituting a system for assessments to ensure embedding of this program within the education delivery system.  

The FLN project in Madhya Pradesh has been conceptualised and is being funded by Central Square Foundation. The FLN program will be delivered along with a consortium of partners including Room to Read for literacy, and partners for mathematics pedagogy and assessments yet to be selected. 

State Project Head: Madhya Pradesh (FLN) Roles & Responsibilities

The State Project Head will be leading the FLN engagement with the State of Madhya Pradesh and will report directly to the CEO based in New Delhi. He / She will be responsible for design of the program, execution, coordination with various stakeholders (government and non-profit partner) and delivering on a roadmap for building government capacity to sustain the impact and interventions from the program. 

The key roles and responsibilities of the State Project Head will be:

• Design program strategy and approach

• Identify key gaps in the state foundational literacy and numeracy programs and devise evidence-based solutions to address them. Supplement external partner preliminary strategy with own research and analysis

• Design actionable implementation plan with clear timeline, budget targets and division of responsibilities between TEA team members

• Design M&E framework with clearly defined performance indicators, targets and milestones

• Stakeholder management

• Act as an interface between key stakeholders, including Government officials, TEA, State Steering Committee, program partners, donors and other implementation partners 

• Develop strong working relationships with state government officials and assume lead on these relationships to build a work-plan for creating and building system capacity for change 

• Conduct periodic update meetings/check-ins with stakeholders to communicate program progress

• On-ground implementation and monitoring 

• Oversee and guide Consultants / partner organisations in executing the program strategy

• Coordinate with on-ground implementation partners (government officials, external partner team, NGOs etc.) to deliver on program objectives

• Enable implementation partners, including government officials, to meet outcome, budget and timeline targets. Ensure availability, timely deployment and efficient utilization of resources

• Identify operational bottlenecks and weaknesses, and devise work-around strategies

• Track program progress on key indicators according to the M&E framework

• Ensure quality of documents prepared by TEA team members, including reports, presentations, proposals etc.

• TEA team management and capacity building 

• Supervision and overseeing day-to-day performance of all consortium team members in the State (team of 15-20 people across Education departments and in select districts with deeper intervention)

• Ensure effective transfer of knowledge from external partner to TEA team, to build the latter’s institutional knowledge and capacity 

• Understand key aspects of strategy, such as which programs which work, as well as ways to scale interventions, monitor program outcomes, improve governance structures and sustain govt. relations

• Synthesize best practices and program learnings to strengthen TEA’s institutional knowledge and support thought leadership activities 

• Support grant management activities through proposals, donor reports, concept notes etc.

• Represent TEA at key forums such as meeting and conferences at the state/regional/national level 

• Provide effective mentoring to Consortium team members to develop their skills and capabilities

Skills and Qualifications

Preferred work experience of 8-10 years including 3-5 years of post-graduation work experience (MBA or MPP/MPA)  

Experience with project management and people management is necessary and crucial for the role

Experiences working with government and in education sector is desirable, though not necessary 

Fluency in both English and Hindi required 

Salary: Commensurate with experience

Expected date of Joining: January / February 2020 

Please send your resumes along with letter of intent to info@theeducationalliance.org; please mention “State Project Head FLN – MP” in the subject of your email.