Technical subject Matter Expert- Regional Planning – Vikramshila Education Resource Society

Apply 0n or before 10th Oct 23

Vikramshila Education Resource Society is one of the leading organizations that works in multiple, diverse and far-ranging issues in school education across the K-12 spectrum- like early childhood education, responsive parenting, foundational literacy and numeracy, employability and life skills for high schoolers. Vikramshila works in difficult geographies and often marginalized cultural contexts to reach the last mile child. Over the years, we have worked across 15 states in India ranging from Kashmir to Andamans and Rajasthan to Nagaland.

About the Program:

This program aims to focus on the physical and psychosocial development in the first 1000 days of a child’s life by enabling the entire caregiving ecosystem in alignment with India’s National ECCE Policy, National Education Policy and NITI Aayog’s Aspirational Districts Programme. This will be done through ICDS structure and functionaries at Anganwadi centres across health, nutrition and early childhood education in convergence with health department structures, district hospitals and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) by developing child responsive spaces.

Position Overview:

Technical subject matter experts- Urban/rural planner will be responsible for developing appropriate standards, guidelines, effective indicators and protocols, designing the child responsive spaces in Anganwadi centres and Primary Health Centres to strengthen parenting and parenting support services and enhancing the physical and psychosocial well-being of children during the first 1000 days. They will be working directly with PSC and TSU in establishing standards, regulations, undertaking monitoring, mentoring visits etc.

The position is based in the selected district with significant travel within the districts (Fatehpur, UP). The profile entails approximately 10 days travel each month to field sites for mentoring and monitoring process. It will require the candidates to relocate to selected district (Fatehpur, UP). The programs involve robust quality understanding, academic excellence, research and strong documentation skills.

Technical subject matter expert

The technical subject matter expert- Urban/ Rural planning will work in collaboration with the technical support unit, project team and program steering committee regularly to devise and develop context specific innovative strategies to improve equitable access to essential quality health, nutrition, WASH, protection and early learning services for the children in the first 1000 days at par with national standards in support of the program manager.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical support in drafting rapid behavioural assessment tools and conducting assessment of existing early childhood services in the city including pre-primary schools, day care centres, city hospitals,
• Anganwadi centres and primary health centres.
• Responsible for providing regional planning inputs to the team on how caregivers and young children will interact with public places like parks, playground, streets, Anganwadi centres and pre-primary hospitals
• Responsible for reviewing key behavioural indicators on a regular basis to understand the engagement with public places and early childhood service centres.
• Closely working with the team in providing the lens of urban/rural planning in creating early childhood development protocols and guidelines with appropriate stakeholder engagement for finalisation.
• Review the child safety guidelines that the programme will develop from the built environment perspective and also suggest possible linkages of parenting components in the draft child safety guidelines.
• Support in reviewing the ECD centres’ guidelines with a focus on built environment, place making, safety and security of the centres.
• Closely collaborate with Urban95 to ensure that key behavioural insights generated from rapid behavioural assessment study are integrated in the programme.
• Map key behavioural indicators with regard to responsive parenting to support the team in planning capacity building exercises for various stakeholders.
• Support the team in curating Early stimulation corners while considering key behavioural and design elements in public education and healthcare facilities.
• Support M&E lead in creating monitoring mechanism for reviewing behavioural indicators.
• Support the planning and execution of events, public campaigns and in developing communication collaterals.
• Support in continuous documentation of learning from the program, and disseminate lessons on a regular basis among stakeholders at the district level.
• Support interdisciplinary research in consultation with PSC and TSU and other functional teams.
• Provide mentoring and supportive supervision to the implementation team on a regular basis.
• Any other responsibilities assigned by the State Lead, as per organizational requirements.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

Master degree in urban/ regional planning with graduation in design, architecture or civil engineering. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and Marathi/ Hindi are required. 3-6 years of experience in public space design, placemaking, urban renewal projects, capacity building and advocacy as well as competence in urban sector issues. Wide knowledge and experience in implementing urban infrastructure projects.

• Knowledge and experience of government systems and procedures.
• Fluency in English and Local Languages is essential.
• Solution-oriented, creative and needs to be comfortable dealing with ambiguity.
• Capable of meeting short deadlines and producing high quality materials with a fast turnaround.
• Good planning, monitoring and coordination skills
• Good documentation and presentation skills. Proficiency in MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint is required.
• Excellent interpersonal and team skills – needs to work in horizontal, cross-functional teams across departments and institutions.
• Experience in creating spaces and environments that are conducive to team participation and effective coordination.
• Strong research, documentation and evidence generation skills.

Apply

Only candidates who fulfil the above criteria need apply with a cover letter, portfolio, recently published article/blog/post and updated resume. Please email your candidature with the following subject line- “Application for the Position of Technical Subject Matter Expert (Regional Planning)- (Fatehpur)”.

Compensation and Tenure
Remuneration for this role will be in the range of 4-5 LPA and will depend upon the candidate’s qualifications and experience levels.

Application Process
To apply for the position of District Coordinator, please follow the application process outlined below:

Prepare your application: Update your CV and write a Cover Letter highlighting your relevant experience, qualifications, and motivation for applying. Be sure to demonstrate your understanding of the role and how your skills align with the responsibilities.

Email your application: Send an email with accurate subject line and all necessary requirements at vikramshila.vers@gmail.com on or before 10th October, 2023.

Attach your CV, Portfolio and Cover  Letter to the email as separate documents.

Application deadline: Please ensure that your application is submitted by the specified deadline. Late applications will not be considered.

Safeguarding and Code of Conduct: Vikramshila is committed to a Safeguarding Policy, Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, and Code of Conduct. As an applicant, you are expected to adhere to these principles, and the organization has a zero-tolerance policy in this regard.

Equal Opportunity Employer: Vikramshila is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The organization is committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of individuals from diverse backgrounds.

We appreciate your interest in joining our team. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further evaluation. If you do not receive a response within two weeks from submission of application, please consider your application unsuccessful on this occasion. Thank you for your understanding.

Note: All personal data collected during the application process will be treated confidentially and used solely for recruitment purposes.