Manager – Monitoring & Evaluation – Leadership For Equity (LFE)

Leadership For Equity (LFE) is one of India’s high-growth education non-profits based out of Pune, India. Founded by the Alumni of BITS Pilani, Ashoka, Acumen, TFI & Tata Institute, LFE is a systems change and policy advisory organization aimed at improving the quality of marginalized school-going children of India. In its two-fold approach to change, LFE builds the capacity of government system leaders and also influences system processes. In partnership with the local and state education bodies, LFE co-creates programs that shift teaching-learning practices and improve student learning and well-being, at scale.

Over the last 6 years, by engaging with district & state government bodies, LFE has built the capacity of 5,500+ system leaders, and 170,200+ teachers to impact more than 05 million students across 4 states in India. LFE has partnered with State governments (Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh & Tripura) and multilateral organizations like The World Bank, Brookings Research Centre, etc. along with top-tier CSRs & Foundations in India including Amazon, CISCO, DSP, Central Square Foundation, etc., to support education reforms of public school systems – ensuring they deliver quality education at scale.

Background

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 the delivery of large-scale academic programs.

BELIEF: We believe Public Education Systems are the gatekeepers of social EQUITY, especially when India’s 120 million 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 grassroots organizations will help bring scalable and sustainable social change.

About Mantra4Change 

Founded in the year 2013, Mantra4Change is a Bangalore-based non-profit that works in the field of school improvement and education leadership development. Mantra4Change currently works in the field of education system strengthening by driving capacity-building initiatives for education leaders such as school head teachers and other system actors, by creating tools for observation and monitoring, by reimagining systems & processes such as enrollment drive and parent-teacher meetings, by enabling partnerships and by promoting spaces for appreciation.

Mantra4Change currently is working with the states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh on various aspects of systemic transformation. We believe in the idea of co-creation and co-planning and hence while the underlying approach remains the same, programs are developed keeping contextual realities and needs in mind.

About SALT Project

Supporting Andhra’s Learning Transformation (SALT) project is a multi-organizational project focused on improving the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms. The project aims to enhance human capital and achieve a sustained reduction in learning poverty across all districts of the state.

The SALT operation will support the GoAP in three key results areas:

(i) Strengthened Foundational Learning;

(ii) Improved Quality of Student-Teacher Interactions and;

(iii) Strengthened Institutional Capacity for Service Delivery

The project will be implemented in close collaboration with the Department of School Education (DoSE), GoAP, and state-level administrative units including the SCERT, SIEMAT, and the local network of DIETs. The focus will be to achieve the outcomes with an inherent focus on strengthening the people and processes within the public education system.

The scope of work for the entire project will be as follows:

• Strengthen the technical and operational capacity of teacher mentors to provide evidence- and needs-based training and support to teachers, and conduct structured classroom observations
• Build the capacity at SCERT and DIETs to improve planning, implementation, and monitoring of the reform by introducing a teacher needs assessment system to formally encourage professional learning and growth.
• Strengthen the technical and operational capacity of SCERT and DIETs to provide evidence- and needs-based support to teachers through developing training courses for teachers on the state Learning Management System (LMS)
• Strengthen the technical and operational capacity of SCERT and DIETs through the development of online learning materials for teachers and students on the state Learning Management System (LMS)
• Coordinate with various stakeholders to ensure timeline development of the technology tools as noted above including the REACH tool
• The duration of the project will be 60 months from 2021 to 2026.

Job Description and Responsibilities

The Manager, of M&E mainly functions as a data analysis and monitoring expert who also helps mentor a team of M&E Associates. They will report to the head of M&E while collaborating with other program and project managers to provide M&E and data management-related inputs, to ensure project goals are achieved. Additionally, they will collaborate with government stakeholders and provide insights from program data to shape the future direction of government programs.

M&E Planning for Projects (30%)

• Create detailed operational plans for the M&E function of respective projects breaking down yearly targets into monthly milestones for each vertical or program incorporating all M&E goals and activities
• Providing specific inputs regarding M&E planning and methodology to ensure projects are designed to deliver measurable outcomes and impact by designing and contextualizing M&E tools
• Helping determine the performance/progression of a project by tracking impact indicators and targets by designing and maintaining project trackers
• Building relationships with key government stakeholders for effective data management and sourcing
• Create process monitoring checks, rubrics, and frameworks to ensure smooth program implementation
• Coordinate with other teams and operations counterparts to ensure smooth implementation

Ongoing M&E support to program teams (30%)

• Conduct school and training venue visits to check for smooth implementation of M&E structures based on operational plans
• Modify M&E structures plans and delivery as per insights from the field
• Troubleshoot data-related issues from the field as they arise during implementation
• Implementing monitoring systems as developed s
• Supporting program teams to develop and configure data collection tools (ODK/Google/MS Office)
• Monitoring project activities, outputs, and progress toward anticipated results
• Working with data platforms, databases, and select technologies to capture and organize data
• Training field staff in monitoring and evaluation processes and providing ongoing coaching

Team Management (25%). 

Manage a team of 3-5 M&E Associates focusing on their deliverables and professional support and development
Conduct timely individual and team meetings to sustain a culture of collaboration, belief in public systems and strong accountability, and timely project delivery
Support team members to improve their work through co-working and regular constructive feedback

Analysis, Reporting, and Knowledge Management (15%)

• Cleaning, sorting, categorizing, and organizing data to enable teams to generate actionable insights
• Analyzing quantitative and/or qualitative program data to assist with policy and program recommendations
• Managing external evaluation consultants/technical partners and overseeing delivery of the scope of work as defined
• Creating engaging reports, data visualizations, and presentations as required

Requirements

Education & Experience

• Degree in education or related statistics/policy evaluation / social science/management discipline. Master’s degree mandatory.
• 3-5 Years of experience working with data collection, data management & data analysis systems, with at least 2 years specifically in the development sector

Important: Given the nature of the project please apply only if you qualify based on the above requirements

Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English – and a functional knowledge of Telugu would be preferred
• Advanced data analysis and data management skills especially in Excel/google sheet; Knowledge of R, SQL, and SPSS would be preferred
• Belief in the potential of the public sector and that government systems can and will change toward overcoming systemic inequities and ensuring improved outcomes for all citizens
• Working experience or knowledge of program evaluations and data management would be highly preferred
• Being able to take initiative and work in an autonomous, semi-structured environment
• High openness to learning and collaboration; Patience and resilience to stick it out in the face of setbacks and uncertainties

Location and Compensation

Location: Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh & Pune, Maharashtra. Frequent travel to rural areas across the state.

Compensation: Apart from being a part of a young and dynamic learning team, the individual will receive a healthy compensation at par with the non-profit sector benchmark for this position, commensurate with the individual’s prior experience and qualifications. The current compensation band offered, based on fit and experience is 9-11 lakh INR per annum CTC.

Leadership For Equity is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibits Discrimination and Harassment of Any Kind. We do not discriminate on the basis of caste, race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other non-merit factor.