Senior Project Lead

Job Description

Context:

Sri (name changed for confidentiality reasons), who lives with her family in a village in Maharashtra, was unable to lift her left hand and had limited communication at 11 months of age. At thelocal hospital,she was given calcium tablets. Her mother was concerned about her developmental progress, but the rest of the family felt that massaging would be sufficient to help her recover.

There are over 50 million children with or at risk of disabilities in India, and support/ services for them are largely non-existent. Conditions such as autism, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, and language delays are understood by a small minority of our population this includes professionals such as doctors, therapists, and teachers. Thus, children like Sri fall through the cracks all the time because the healthcare system does not diagnose them in time.

In Sris case, where doctors failed, a Community Health Worker (CHW) trained by Ummeed identified that Sri had developmental delays in motor and communication domains. The CHWeducated the family on how to support Sris development and also referred them to the local District Early Intervention Center (DEIC) for specialized guidance. Sris family became her strength as they prioritized her needs to support her development. Sri now walks independently and enjoys playing ball with her family, who are now looking forward to her going to school with other children her age.

About Ummeed:

Ummeed Child Development Center (www.ummeed.org) was founded in 2001 by Dr. Vibha Krishnamurthy, a developmental pediatrician, an Ashoka Fellow, and resource person to government and international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO). Ummeeds vision is to help children with and at risk of developmental disabilities reach their full potential and be included in society.

Over the last 23 years, Ummeed has provided direct services to 15,000+ children and families, trained over 8500 unique professionals (community workers, as well as doctors, therapists, and teachers) across India, and indirectly influenced the lives of over 0.45 million children and families with or at risk of developmental disabilities. Besides direct clinical services, and training and capacity building, Ummeeds two other verticals of work have included research (to generate evidence of our work) and awareness building (to sensitize people to the cause and shift attitudes).

Ummeed sees child development, delays and disabilities as a continuum and since 2009, has been advocating for Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs to be inclusive of children with developmental delays and disabilities (which they are currently not). Ummeed has itself run inclusive ECD programs in partnership with several NGOs and community-based organizations, besides actively publishing and presenting its work for wider advocacy (e.g., Providing Services for Children With Developmental Difficulties, Delay or Disability - Early Diagnosis and Interventions at the Community Level - PubMed; Addressing early childhood development in healthcare: putting theory into practice). More recently, Ummeed has begun working with government systems (district level in Maharashtra and state level in Meghalaya), as a way to reach a larger number of marginalized children and families and bring about systems change.

About the position:

Through its work in three ecosystems- the Early Childhood Development (ECD), School and Healthcare, Ummeed strives to provide early identification, and timely intervention for children with or at risk of developmental disabilities in India.Specifically, The ECD ecosystem engages various stakeholders like the Government departments and ministries, Community Based organizations, senior officials and frontline functionaries to sensitize them to the needs of children with developmental disabilities and build capacity to improve early identification and intervention.This is achieved through program delivery, awareness and advocacy initiatives.The key programs that are currently being delivered:

- Training of community workers (including Anganwadi workers) to use an evidence based, international tool called the Guide for Monitoring Child Development (GMCD). This tool is standardized for the Indian context and helps community workers monitor the developmental status of 03-year-old children in their community; identify children with delays and support their development.
- Training of community workers (such as Anganwadi, ASHA workers or ANMs) on disability intervention through the Child Development Aide (CDA) program. This program builds intervention skills beyond what the GMCD offers. CDA trainees are able to work with caregivers and build their skills to support their childs development.

Ummeed is looking for an ECD content expert to play a pivotal role in advancing the above strategic objectives. We are looking for someone who is excited by this mission and with the willingness for significant travel to rural and underserved areas to enable the same.

Primary responsibilities include:

Program Implementation & Strategy

- Collaborate with the Early Childhood Development (ECD) leadership team to implement existing programs across select geographies.
- Independently manage select projects and partner relationships, including developing and suggesting context-specific implementation strategies.
- Support the design, implementation, and monitoring of new or evolving programs focused on improving early childhood development outcomes across additional states and regions.

Stakeholder Engagement

- Establish and sustain effective working relationships with senior leaders in relevant government bodies and partner organizations.
- Engage stakeholders to build long-term support and buy-in for interventions aimed at strengthening and sustaining disability and ECD services.

Training Delivery, Content & Facilitation

- Learn and deliver Ummeeds ECD training content, ensuring proficiency in using the organizations in-house training modules (support will be provided as part of onboarding).
- Facilitate training sessions for various stakeholders, ensuring high-quality delivery aligned with Ummeeds approach and values.
- Contribute to the creation and refinement of training materials, including preparing new content, reviewing existing modules, and coordinating with team members to gather relevant resources.

Representation & Fundraising Support

- Participate in donor and funder meetings, contributing to relationship-building and program reporting.
- Represent Ummeed in external forums, such as conferences or seminars, through presentations and knowledge sharing.

Essential Qualifications & Experience

- A Master&aposs degree in a relevant field such as Public Health, Education, Disability Studies, Social Work, Psychology, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, or any other health-related discipline.
- 8 to 12 years of professional experience in sectors such as government agencies, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, or other institutions with a focus on early childhood development (ECD), health, or disability.
- Background in working with children, health systems, or ECD programs, with a strong interest in training design and delivery.

Other skills:

- Strong relationship management, mentoring, and communication skills.
- Demonstrated leadership and presentation abilities, with effective written and verbal communication.
- Prior experience in community-based projects and/or delivering training using Adult Learning Principles is highly desirable.
- Proficiency in Excel and basic budgeting is preferred.
- - Experience in technical writing, including developing reports or research papers, is an added advantage.

Why Ummeed

Ummeed is unique in the social sector, not just because of the influence it has been able to create, but also because of its work culture and ethos, that includes:

- A challenging but flexible work environment that offers opportunities for growth and creating impact at scale
- A leadership that invests in its people, giving them the freedom to explore, innovate, learn, while responsibly delivering on committed outcomes
- A strong culture of respecting diversity, being inclusive and committed to serving children with disabilities and their families
- An opportunity to work in collaboration with a diverse group of highly passionate, motivated and talented individuals

Others:

Ummeed is committed to enhance diversity in its workforce based on religion, caste, ethnicity, socio-economic background, gender and language. We especially encourage parents and caregivers of children with disabilities to apply.

Ummeed gives preference to a candidate who is interested in putting in at least 40 hours per week. Salary will be commensurate with the role, qualifications, and experience.

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