Social Mobilizer, Gep

Position Overview:
The Girl’s Education Program is currently operating in 7 States across India - Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, New Delhi, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Specifically, the program seeks to achieve increased years of schooling for girls and increase girls’ self-awareness, decision-making and problem-solving skills.

The Social Mobilizers are responsible for implementing the Girls’ Education program at the field level. They are the first point of contact for the girls whom we work with; they are also the point of contact for the schools and parents and hence are critical to the success of the program.

The social mobilizer will report to the Program Associate. The position will be field based; she will be responsible for a group of 80 girls as their mentor, support system and motivator.

Role and Responsibilities:
Program Planning and Implementation:
- Develop a thorough understanding of Room to Read’s Girls’ Education program design, objectives and outcomes- Implement program activities as per design maintaining fidelity- Undertake corrective action and incorporate feedback when provided by the supervisor for life skills sessions etc- Participate in program planning in consultation with Program Associate and other state level staff.- Regularly attend weekly and monthly workshops where weekly and monthly plans are made and reviewed- Attend mandatory training of Social Mobilizers

Family and Community Engagement:
- Have a thorough understanding of social issues, safety concerns and child protection issues affecting girl participants and an awareness of available social safety net mechanisms, schemes and referrals. (With child protection and safety issues of girls that emerged through a study done in India last year and the new mentoring module that requires the program to address such issues, we need a social mobilizer who is well networked and well acquainted with existing social safety net mechanisms, schemes and also referrals; this skill was not required for our current social mobilizers)- Organize and lead family and community meetings and consultations with school staff, parents and community members/organizations as per design; discuss life skill content and issues with them in a tactful manner (especially sensitive/taboo issues like early marriage and attending school during menstrual cycle).- Seek opportunities for networking at local level and create a resource pool to be used as a referrals if there is a need- Facilitate visits of donors, INCO and SO team members- Facilitate and support SO/INCO team members in conducting research/ survey/ study/ data collection/ baseline etc.

Working with girls:
- Conduct life skills sessions for 80 girls in batches of 20-25 as per the prescribed session content and as per agreed plan. Each girl will need to be provided with a minimum of 16 life skills sessions in one year. This would require a thorough understanding of the content and skills of delivering it tactfully (especially the content related to reproductive health). The reproductive health sessions that has been introduced in the worldwide GEP modules require more experienced professionals who are well equipped to deliver the content as well as handle queries of parents and convince them on the need for these sessions.- Form Life skills clubs/Children groups and facilitate regular meetings and discussions of these groups; at least 8 meetings are to be held every year. Ensure that through these groups the girl participants develop skills of articulation and self-expression and initiate action on issues they face in their lives. This would require the social mobilizer to have excellent facilitation skills and understanding of the principles of child participation.- Distribute the newsletter GUPSHUP, initiate discussion around it and hold follow-up activities. (This requires an ability to engage with text in a magazine format written for girls - to eventually lead them into an analysis of the magazines/mass media and inspire them to express and deconstruct gender stereotypes)- Help girls to develop wall magazines and write for state-level Gupshup so that their voices can be captured- Mentoring: Conduct group mentoring sessions for 80 girls in batches of 10-12 girls as per prescribed content guidelines and record each session. Plan out the group mentoring sessions in association with the Program Associate, taking into account the needs expressed by the girls. Conduct individual mentoring sessions as needed. This may need creation of new content wherever needed (The new mentoring module being introduced requires social mobilizers to be barefoot counselors - not just mentoring girls in groups but also identifying challenges being faced by girls, developing sessions to address the challenges, identifying the content for these sessions and developing the content if needed)

Setting Up Life Skills Centres /Gender Resource Centres:
- Setting up a Gender resource Centr