Officer, Quality Reading Material

Position Overview:
Officer, Quality Reading Material position will be based at New Delhi, Country Office and report directly to the Sr. Program Manager - Quality Reading Material. The position will require some travel and involves frequent interaction with authors, illustrators, publishers, printers, and officials.

About QRM:
QRM create and publishes local language books for children between the ages group of 5 to 12 years. These books cover topics that capture children’s imaginations and make reading fun. Our goal is to inspire children to read, expand their minds, and develops a lifelong love for reading and learning. Apart from publishing books for our libraries, the department is also responsible for procuring relevant reading material for the libraries.

Duties & Responsibilities:
- Develop a thorough understanding of RtR’s Literacy program design and role of QRM within the program.- As part of the QRM team plan, organize and enable various events held by the department through the year, like ideal book list event, authors and illustrators’ workshops etc.- Organize and enable various events held by the department through the year, both at state and national levels, like Authors and illustrators to produce new reading material every year. Workshops for book selection to update ideal book list, both at state and national levels. Other events or workshops with other stakeholders in children literature like publishers, other like-minded organisations.- Planning, organizing, and facilitating QRM Annual Events and/or support other events being organised by the organisations.- Contribute to Gap Analysis (in all the languages of RtR operation) for determining the kind of reading materials available in the market (for purchase) or in schools and therefore identify the gap with respect to the ideal book list.- Coordinate with State Teams on custom projects for reading material need.- Coordinate and plan with State Teams for Technical Assistance with the State Government and/or Education Department for quality reading material. The TA might vary from knowledge building, to reading material creation, to supporting in book selection process for state governments.- Plan and maintain RtR’s online platform “Literacy Cloud” for books and other material.- Edit, and finalize manuscripts. Translate the manuscripts in English.- Understand the technical aspects of book printing and publishing. Provide technical advice to Admin on the bidding and printing process of books/other material: issue requisition, undertake technical assessment, provide soft copies, proofread, and approve ferros, follow up with printer, check quality of printing etc.- Coordinate with Operations team to ensure distribution of all reading materials to project areas where these materials will be used (in both Literacy Program schools as well as new and existing schools)- Define project scope goals and deliverables.- Create schedules and project timelines, plan and track the projects till completion.- Manage projects and lead quality assurance.- Evaluate and assess results of the projects.- Manage resources and vendor engagement.- Coordinate with Admin on book Inventory and other material management.- Complete regular CO, RO and GO reporting documents (MIUs, Quarterly Reports, Forecasts, etc.) related to materials development & procurement- Regularly communicate with Operations/ Administration/ Finance/ HR teams at the CO and State levels to ensure smooth implementation of program activities- Communicate with GO and other external stakeholders as needed.- Contribute to preparation of various reports, budget reviews, forecasts, and documentation of good practices- Any other work assigned from time to time to meet the technical needs of the organization.

Instruction Material and Resources development:
- Facilitate and contribute to the development of for Grade 1 and 2 instructional material/books with instructional material team.- Once the content is finalized, take lead in organising/contracting people for illustrating, designing, layout and printing the materials.

Qualifications:
Required:
- Masters / Graduate Degree in education / social sciences or equivalent.- Good command over spoken and written Hindi and English and/or any other Indian language.- Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in developing good quality children educational/learning material like storybooks, textbooks etc.- In-depth understanding of the role of supplementary materials on reading skills and habits of children.- Experience in book development and publishing and /or other educational materials will be a plus.- Good project planning and execution skills.- Strong time and budget planning skills.- In-depth understanding of report generation and documentation.- Strong oral and written communication skills in English.

Compensation:
Room to Read offers a competitive pay with excellent benefits. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of