Senior Program Manager

Overview:

Within CEGIS, the Outcome Measurement (OM) teams role is to support the institutionalisation of data-driven decision-making by setting up the required infrastructure and technical capacity with the Planning department and relevant line departments in the state. The Program Managers (OM) will play a crucial role in executing this vision in the state, working closely with both the OM technical team and the State team.

Position Summary:

As a Senior Program Manager (SPM) in OM, you will lead and manage complex digital data collection operations, collaborating closely with senior academics and government stakeholders to customize research design and protocols to local contexts. Your role will encompass ensuring adherence to stringent data quality protocols and overseeing the development of high-quality outputs summarizing project progress, data analyses, and research findings for dissemination at various forums.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Data Analysis Oversight:

• Evaluate and review pre-analysis plans to ensure comprehensive and precise data analysis procedures.
• Regularly check progress on data analysis and provide necessary inputs for improvement.

Research and Data Management:

• Oversee accuracy and validity of data collected to inform decision making
• Enhance accuracy, validity, and completeness of collected research and data.
• Develop protocols and guidelines for managing data quality, access, verification, and validation.

Solution Design and Technical Expertise:

• Contribute technical and operational insights to solution design.
• Ensure adherence to best practices and established protocols.
• Provide expertise for new or pilot projects during the diagnosis and solution design process.
• Guides interpretation and meaning making

Project Management:

• Align project activities with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
• Oversees comprehensive project management, spanning from conceptualization and resource allocation to briefing and execution.
• Manage project outputs and ensure successful completion.
• Support budgeting process for interventions.
• Ensure quality and technical integrity of project outputs.
• Oversee technical evaluations and quality control processes to align to ToC
• Prepare and pitch proposals to donors and stakeholders.

Communication and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Identify and cultivate strategic partnerships with external stakeholders.
• Synthesize stakeholders' feedback to develop strategic communication strategies.
• Shapes stakeholder perceptions through engagement and relationship building
• Fosters internal alignment to meet project priorities and Organisational goals

Knowledge Product Development:

• Collaborates with team members to develop impactful knowledge products, such as policy notes, analysis reports, and frameworks and contributes to knowledge sharing.
• Transform insights and findings into actionable knowledge products.
• Facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration

Qualifications and Attributes:

• 8 to 12 years of progressive work experience, including field research, managing evaluations, and quantitative analysis and team.
• Masters or advanced degree in economics, statistics, public policy, engineering, or related fields from a prestigious institution.
• Proficiency in quantitative data management and analysis using STATA, R, or Python programming.
• Strong research aptitude to analyze complex data and formulate innovative solutions.
• Strong planning and organizational skills, adept at setting priorities and meeting deadlines.
• Deep passion for enhancing the effectiveness of Indian States, with an operating style conducive to autonomy and adaptability.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities and deliver high-quality outputs consistently.
• A creative mindset and willingness to experiment with new ideas.
• Exceptional collaboration and active listening skills, fostering an inclusive environment.
• Adaptability to transition between projects and sectors, demonstrating versatility and agility.
• Superior problem-solving, strategic thinking, and research acumen for analyzing complex data.
• Excellent proficiency in English, with exceptional writing and communication skills tailored to diverse audiences.
• Advanced planning and organizational skills, including effective team management and collaboration with stakeholders.
• Unwavering dedication to improving Indian states, in line with organizational goals.
• Operating style characterized by autonomy, adaptability, and resourcefulness under pressure.
• Proven ability to consistently deliver high-quality results and innovate new initiatives.
• Adaptability to embrace diverse projects and rapidly integrate into new sectors.

Compensation:

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social sector pay scales and will depend on the candidates experience levels.

Location: Odisha

Note: CEGIS has zero tolerance to sexual harassment. We therefore expect each applicant to self-declare related to the same. CEGIS could, if required, initiate a prevention of sexual harassment-based background verification. If an applicant is reported of misconduct, appropriate action that may include employment termination would be taken. Please Click the link for self declaration.

Pre-reads for the application process:

Please go through the following materials before sending in your application:

• Concept note on CEGIS
• A glimpse into life at CEGIS - CEGIS Retreat 2024
• CEGIS Snapshot
• Podcast episodes with Prof. Karthik Muralidharan one each on education and healthcare in India.
• You are also encouraged to read more of Prof. Karthik Muralidharans work here and through his book Accelerating Indias Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Indias Development.

About CEGIS

Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS pronounced See-Jis) aims to

improve lives by helping Indian state governments deliver better development outcomes.

The four key characteristics of any high-performing organisation are (a) measuring outcomes through reliable, high quality data that enables goal setting and monitoring progress towards these goals; (b) strategic use of personnel competency based hiring and training, skilling, and performance appraisals to determine job assignments, pay, and promotions to achieve the goals above; (c) strategic budgeting where resource allocation is based on evidence and cost-effectiveness; (d) and creating efficient systems to leverage external actors (including for-profit and nonprofit organisations). The Indian State needs to perform better on all four fronts above, by enhancing its capacity. CEGIS partners with states to improve this capacity by focusing on these four pillars of the State.

Informed by cutting-edge research and evidence as well as a practical orientation toward implementable ideas, CEGIS works with State Governments in India to enable a transformative improvement in their functioning. This vision and Theory of Change (ToC) is an outcome of extensive research done by Prof. Karthik Muralidharan (CEGIS Co-Founder and Scientific Director) and strategic philanthropic support provided by Mr. Ashish Dhawan (CEGIS Co-Founder).

Prof. Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellors Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. Over the past two decades, he has led extensive research projects in India across education, health, and social welfare. His book, Accelerating Indias Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance, systematically analyses Indias governance challenges and provides actionable, evidence-based strategies, emphasising state-level reforms as critical for Indias advancement.

Ashish Dhawan is a leading Indian philanthropist and the Founder-CEO of The Convergence Foundation (TCF). He is also the Founding Chairperson of Ashoka University and the Central Square Foundation, and is a governing board member of the Gates Foundation. Before his second career as a philanthropist, Ashish was among Indias most successful private equity investors.

CEGIS Approach and Model of Functioning

Our solutions to enhance governance are co-created with state governments in a state-led way, where we focus on deep partnerships with states with an iterative cycle of think-demonstrate-document-transfer. We work closely with the top bureaucratic leadership, front-line workers and public officials in Finance, Planning, Human Resources and a few other priority line departments.

In alignment with our four principles or pillars of change - outcome measurement, personnel management, strategic public finance, states and markets, CEGIS is currently working with the governments of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, NCT of Delhi, Assam, and a few Government of India entities like the NITI Aayog and Capacity Building Commission (CBC) across a range of projects and sectors. Through CEGIS flagship offering, the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) Survey, we are helping enable state governments we are working with to collect better quality citizen level data, make informed, evidence-based decisions, and institutionalise this process of securing periodic citizen-level feedback. We are setting up a Financial Analytics Unit (FAU) to enhance analytical capacity and increase the effectiveness of budgetary allocations of the Finance Department in another state. In alignment with our personnel management workstream, we are also working with the HR/Administrative Reforms & Training Department to set up and institutionalise an in-house Capacity Building Unit (CBU) that aids the adoption of competency-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Performance Management Systems (PMS) with a few of these entities. Similarly, to improve the value of public money, we are working at the interface of states and markets which encompasses procurement, regulation, and policy formulation. Our solutions are constantly being refined based on real-time feedback and are designed to be customised and replicated across contexts.

: A Journey of Learning & Building Capacity

Since its incorporation in 2019, despite the enormous challenges posed by COVID, CEGIS has gained significant momentum in building strong collaborations with the government(s) as a trusted partner who can provide both thought leadership and implementation support on key governance reforms. CEGIS position as a non-profit that does not take any funding from the government (other than in-kind contributions of office space/staff) has been a key enabler in earning this trust.

Beginning with 2 state government engagements in the first 2 years of its inception, today CEGIS is working across several Indian states with 15+ projects across several sectors, including education, nutrition and local governance. From a small group of founding members, we have grown by leaps and bounds to become a team of 150+ members located across the country. Helmed by a former bureaucrat with invaluable governance experience, state and solution team leads with decades of domain expertise, and enabling functions led by professionals with considerable corporate careers, the team at CEGIS brings together knowledge and experience that spans various sectors - from developmental economics, research, and governance to management consulting and social entrepreneurship.

Over the last 5 years, we have also been able to garner support for our vision and theory of change from a diverse range of foundations and philanthropists whose partnership has enabled us to build our own organisational capacity as well as continue to experiment and improve our solution design to augment state capacity and governance. We believe that this approach will gradually enable all government officials to achieve their goals more effectively, thereby improving the ability of the State to deliver services to all Indian citizens in the decades to come.

To explore what the mission of CEGIS is and the impact we hope to have, please take a look at this video of our CEO, Dr Vijay Pingale.

Funding Partners:

• The Convergence Foundation
• Veddis Foundation
• NATCO
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Michael & Susan Dell Foundation