Project Associate, Shikshak Mitra Project, Pcmc

Project Associate, Shikshak Mitra Project, PCMC

**About Leadership For Equity (LFE)**

Leadership For Skilled Education Foundation (branded as **Leadership For Equity,** LFE), is a non-profit (NGO) based out of Pune, Maharashtra.

We envision Public Education Systems That Refuse To Let Children Down

**APPROACH**: In our two-fold approach to change, we build the capacity of government system leaders and we influence system processes. In partnership with the local and state education bodies, we co-create programs that shift teaching-learning practices and improve student learning and well-being. This work coupled with our research and advisory support to influence policies, we hope to create an effective government education system.

Over the last 5 years, LFE has built the capacity of **2100+** system leaders, and **40,200+** teachers to impact **8 million** students across Maharashtra. Additionally, LFE has recently expanded its operations and started working in another 3 states of India including Haryana, Tripura & Andhra Pradesh. In **Maharashtra**, LFE works with **5 districts** (Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Satara & Akola), **3 municipal bodies** (Pune MC, Pimpri Chinchwad MC & Nagpur MC) & 5 state level education bodies (School Education Dept, SCERT, Samagra Shiksha, Tribal Development Dept, & TRTI). In **Andhra Pradesh**, LFE works closely with the **Samagra Shiksha Office, SCERT & The World Bank **on a multi-year strategic project to improve the quality of learning across 26 districts of the State. And lastly in **Haryana & Tripura**, LFE works with **SCERTs** of both states in setting up targeted program management units (PMUs) to strengthen delivery of large-scale academic programs.

**BELIEF**: We believe Public Education Systems are the gatekeepers of social EQUITY, especially when India's 120 million poorest-of-the-poor children continue to go to government-run schools. A multi-layered, complex, and systemic problem of educational inequity, will require a solution rooted in the SYSTEMS CHANGE approach. We believe that a COLLECTIVE effort by forging partnerships with governments, like-minded philanthropists, corporates, donors, nonprofits and grassroot organisations will help bring scalable and sustainable social change.

**About Shikshak Mitra Project**:
Shikshak Mitra Project was launched in AY 2019 in partnership with the PCMC Education Department & Mantra For Change. Broad idea was to set up a group of mentors from teachers who will provide academic support to teachers and lead any professional development sessions for teachers.

To know more about the project you can read yearly reports:

- AY 2020-21 End-of-Year Report
- Watch this impact video of the project

**Job description and responsibilities**

We see the Project Associate role at LFE to be a highly aspirational role where the scope to learn about and create impact at a systemic level is immense. The Project Associate will work with the Project Manager/Senior Associate to play a critical leadership role in ensuring the planning for and execution of the responsibilities listed below. They include but are not limited to:
**Project Operations/Implementation (40%)**
- Work on the overall project design in conjunction with the Manager
- Implement long term and monthly plans defined in alignment with the project plan
- Conduct training in-person and virtual with the support of team members and approval by the Manager/Sr. Associate
- Ensure regular school visits and in-person support to be given to teachers based on the plan or ensure working with the teachers to provide individual support.

**Stakeholder Management (30%)**
- Work with both the Supervisors as well as the DIET on-ground team to build long-lasting relationships that aid project operations and expansion plans
- Promote collaboration amongst non-profits in PCMC to achieve the larger goal of providing better learning in schools
- Plan and execute quarterly update meetings with stakeholders and provide progress towards goals of the PCMC Project in a consumable format to all stakeholders

**Monitoring and Evaluation (30%)**
- Circulate tools to measure the effectiveness of ongoing projects
- Support team to analyze the data to provide ongoing insights to internal and external teams
- Support in compiling project impact reports from impact data
- Support in creating monthly, quarterly and annual project reports

**Requirement**:
**Education & Experience**
- 2-3 Years of experience executing projects (at least 2 years of which should include directly working with government stakeholders)
- Experience working in Maharashtra would be preferable.

**Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities**
- Excellent written and oral communication skills - and functional knowledge (oral and written) of **Marathi** are non-negotiable.
- Strong ability to create outstanding presentations, work with Microsoft Excel, Google Suite, and varied data sets
- Belief in the potential of the public sector and that governmen