Consultant-Administration & Operations : Room to Read

Apply by 11 th April 2024

Room to Read is a global organization transforming the lives of millions of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, our innovative model focuses on deep, systemic transformation within schools that are most critical in a child’s schooling: early primary school for literacy acquisition and secondary school for girls’ education. We work in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations, and governments to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children and ensure girls can complete secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions.

By focusing on the quality of education provided within the communities and ensuring these outcomes are measured, we have created a model that can be replicated, localized, and sustained by governments. With its global headquarters in San Francisco, Room to Read to date has benefited 32 million children across 21 low-income countries.

Room to Read India was established in 2003 and presently has programs in eleven states – Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi NCR, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

By working closely with the government and other partner organizations we strive to create equal and robust education systems that reach the most vulnerable children and improve teaching and learning environments. As of 2021, Room to Read India’s interventions resulted in: Establishment of 15,553 libraries, 367,844 girls benefitting, Training of 31, 395 teachers in various programs,Tertiary education/job opportunities for 63.8% of scholars within a year after graduation and Publication of 220 Room to Read India titles, and distribution over 9.35 million books.

About SERI Project
Since 2015, Room to Read India is implementing the Scaling-up Early Reading Intervention (SERI), supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). SERI is a large-scale, innovative, early grade reading program aimed at benefiting children in government primary schools in India. The project aims to demonstrate an effective model towards improving reading outcomes among primary-grade children and an innovative approach for scaling NGO-led interventions through the government systems.

The intervention started with a few hundred schools (I-Do/Demonstration mode) across two states of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh in 2015, which later scaled up (We-Do/Scale-up mode) to 1000 schools in these two states in 2016, and to 1000 more schools of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 2017. In 2019, SERI moved to You-Do/Expansion phase in which the focus was on a state-wide systemic strengthening initiative. As part of this approach, SERI has engaged with state governments towards supporting the states in the planning and implementation of NEP and NIPUN mandates. In 2022, the intervention was further expanded to two new states – Rajasthan & Telangana and also key activities at the national level to augment Foundation Literacy (FL) reform initiatives.

Contract Duration: 6 months.

Qualifications Required:

• Graduate in any Discipline.
• Experience in program administration and procurement.
• An operational knowledge of project management skills
• Experience of Microsoft Office packages (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Teams)
• Experience in successful implementation of a wide range of tasks related to general administration.
• Ability to travel frequently.
• Ability to perform multi-task.

This role requires meticulous attention to detail, strong communication skills, and the ability to effectively manage multiple tasks and deadlines.

Roles and responsibilities

• Procure goods and services in accordance with RtR’s procurement policies to ensure full compliance.
• Interface with suppliers, compare rates, release purchase orders, handle material verification, and develop, maintain, and manage the Vendor Database for the India Country office and state hubs, ensuring periodic updates to facilitate the end-to-end procurement process.
• Assist in maintaining hard copies of contracts/agreements, purchase orders, third-party contracts, and policies, and support documentation for audit purposes as per payment process sheets, submitting for payment when necessary.
• Coordinate with program teams and stakeholders to facilitate procurements, trackers, payments, and related tasks.
• Prepare progress reports and cost analysis sheets as required in collaboration with teams.
• Develop content for PowerPoint presentations, including research, collaboration, and curation of information for accuracy and relevance.
• Support teams in organizing events, meetings, conferences, and travel arrangements.
• Support Inventory Management – assets and Books.
• Undertake any other tasks as assigned by the supervisor.
• Coordinate closely with the finance team for payment of bills and invoices
• Understand program priorities to streamline the procurement activities with the PO operations and SERI project lead

Evaluation Criteria

How to Apply

• Consultant Need to Submit CV/Resume with their Detailed CV and share relevant work experience and samples, where required.
• CV/Resume to be submitted over procurement.india@roomtoread.org (without copying anyone from RtR)
• Last Date for submission is 11 th April 2024
  o Subject for submission of CV/Resume– CV/Resume for Consultant– Administration & Operations
  o Read the SOW thoroughly before applying.
  o Only Shortlisted candidates will be contacted and might be called for a faceto-face interaction with the panel.
  o Any incomplete application or process deviation, the proposals will automatically be rejected.
  Proposals received after the prescribed deadline will not be considered.
• Selected Candidate will be required to sign and abide by the Child Protection policy of  Room to Read.

Contact Person for Any Clarification:

Name: Sumit Raghav

Email Id: Sumit.Raghav@roomtoread.org