Senior Associate - Program Management

The Senior Associate position in the Program Management group offers experiences professionals, with a history in the education sector, to be an integral part of Pratham s work across the country.

This person is the crucial link between the state and program implementation teams, central teams and donors.

His/her responsibilities stretch two ways
supporting the state or program in planning and implementation as well as managing partnerships with donors and other external collaborators.

Senior Associates typically play this role for multiple programs and states and are based in Delhi.


In this team, one can expect a culture of getting things done .

The role is cross-functional and often dynamic and hence provides the Senior Associate with exposure to a wide spectrum of teams, projects and experiences.

Successful team members will get the opportunity to build a holistic understanding of the educational ecosystem from people with rich experience and knowledge in the field, both internally and externally, as well as contribute to the effective implementation of key education programs across a variety of contexts.


The minimum expected responsibilities under the role are as follows

Program Review / Program Support
Planning and budgeting support Supporting the states/program heads in planning, budgeting at the beginning of each year.

This step will include ensuring that the implementation plan and budgets are in line with what has been agreed on with the donor.


Facilitating Operations This will involve regular liaison and communication with state/program and central teams with respect to the emerging needs and demands at any point of time and facilitating processes through proposals, reports, internal co-ordination, communication, documentation and planning.

The Senior Associate will also continuously collaborate with relevant teams across the organization (content, M&E, finance etc) as required to ensure smooth operations and timely implementation.


Program tracking and financial management Planning will need to be followed up with regular tracking of progress against plan.

Financial management will comprise of ensuring that expenditure on the ground is as per plans and any deviations are being recorded and managed in an efficient manner.


Internal reports and documentation The Senior Associate will be responsible for developing and maintaining repository of key documents of Pratham s ongoing programs and interventions.


Others The Senior Associate may be needed to handle relations with the government as a member of the central office of Pratham.

Other advocacy related functions such as liaison with other NGOs, partners etc may be required on the part of the Senior Associate.

Donor Management
Proposal creation The Senior Associate will be responsible for the creation of proposals for new potential donors.

This will include defining objectives, conceptualizing model of implementation, designing implementation timelines, budgeting, designing reporting cycles, etc in discussion with senior management and program/state heads.


Regular reporting and communication The Senior Associate will be the primary organizational touchpoint for the donor and will be responsible for creating regular reports on progress of the project and engage in periodic conversations with the donor on program updates and future planning.


Other functions This includes facilitating visits for donors and any other form of communication with them.

Desired Qualifications and Experience
Required
2-4 years prior work experience in a similar role in private sector firms, NGOs or foundations with an interest in education policy and implementation.


Willingness to travel regularly and extensively in rural areas of India, with limited amenities
Ability to build rapport with people from various different academic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds
Ability to communicate in Hindi or at least 1-2 other regional languages
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
Strong quantitative and analytical skills
Ability to work well in teams and on tasks ranging from simple to complex
Ability to adapt to dynamic contexts and scenarios
Self-motivation and pro-activeness
Ability to organize and manage multiple tasks efficiently
Strong work ethic and attention to detail
Ability to take initiative to support processes in an unstructured or ambiguous environment
Keeping oneself constantly updated on the broader educational context in assigned states and in India
Willingness to commit to at least 4-5 years of work with Pratham

Preferred
Exposure to the non-profit sector through previous experience or otherwise
Coursework in international development or management
Experience living and working in a developing country