Associate, Project Management – TN Model Schools – Madhi Foundation

Madhi Foundation is a non-profit organisation working in the education sector and aims to reimagine school systems and eliminate the Foundational Learning Crisis in India by 2030. Established in 2016, Madhi Foundation is committed to the cause of bridging the equity gap in education for children across India and draw our inspiration from the Tamil adage, “vidhiyay madhiyaal vellalaam”, which translates to “destiny can be conquered with intellect (madhi)”.

We believe that equitable and purposeful education can be a great leveler for children, mitigating the adverse impact of most social, cultural or economic disadvantages on their future. Madhi designs and implements tech-based, scalable, and context-specific programmes, aimed at eliminating the Foundational Learning gap among children from marginalized and most underserved communities across India.

What we do

Madhi works closely with the Tamil Nadu School Education Department to conceptualise and implement large scale quality improvement programmes in Tamil Nadu’s government schools. Over the course of the next 5 years Madhi will strengthen its existing programmes in the state (as well as undertake new programmes) with the singular aim of ensuring transformative improvement in the quality of school education in Tamil Nadu. Madhi’s programmes in Tamil Nadu are consolidated under a single umbrella called Project: TN Soars, comprising 3 critical projects:

1. Ennum Ezhuthum (The Tamil Nadu state Foundational Learning Mission)

2. TechForEdSystems

3. Tamil Nadu STEAM Model Schools.

Ennum Ezhuthum: We are currently also working as the ‘Chief Management Partner’ for Tamil Nadu’s official Foundational Learning Mission, The ‘Ennum Ezhuthum Mission’ – a Rs. 500 Cr Mission of national and regional importance aimed at universalising foundational learning for all children in Tamil Nadu’s 37,000 government schools.

TechforEdSystems: Madhi is working towards revolutionizing the state’s education governance systems through TechforEdSystems – an end-to-end monitoring solution including sophisticated applications and processes developed by Madhi, which enables the system to effectively integrate technology and data into its governance and decision making systems.

Tamil Nadu STEAM Model Schools: To ensure holistic growth of children from underserved communities and to empower them with the skills to work toward their dreams, the Department of School Education has embarked on an ambitious project of setting up ‘Tamil Nadu Model Schools’ that will serve children from the most marginalized backgrounds and equip them with skills and knowledge such that their disadvantages get mitigated and no longer impede their success in academics, work and life. Madhi has joined the Department to assist in the setting up of these 38 Model Schools, each exemplifying the principles of equity and inclusion in letter and spirit, enabling every student, irrespective of their background, to receive equal opportunities to aspire and achieve their goals.

The job vacancy detailed here pertains to this Model Schools project. To know more about the work we do, check out our information brochure at bit.ly/MadhiFdn_LearnMore

Your team (STEAM Model Schools)

The TN Model Schools Project Team comprises 4 sub-verticals: 1. Content, 2. Training, 3. Mentoring & Counselling and 4. Data for governance. All the sub-verticals work together seamlessly and implement TN STEAM Model Schools across the districts in the state.

About the role

The Associate, Project Management – Model Schools, will support the Senior Manager to bring the Model Schools team’s sub-verticals to function seamlessly as one team. The Associate will also be responsible for bringing the programmatic vision for Model Schools alive by constantly aligning the team’s activities in-line with the short, medium and long term project goals.

The challenges you will help solve in this role:

• A brand new project offers a whole new set of challenges which may be one too many. Some may be anticipated, most will be unanticipated. You will be responsible for taking it in your stride and looking at solving micro and macro problems on an everyday basis.
• Information asymmetry – it’s a universal problem. Add to this a complex mix of stakeholders that we work on a continuous basis, we have the (im)perfect recipe for asymmetry to be all-pervading! Your role will be to meticulously document every meeting – be it on the corridor or an officer’s cabin and follow through to ensure that everyone is on the same page, all the time!
• We are an outcome-driven organisation and we do not obsess over clocking in and clocking out. You will be responsible to identify ways in which we can hold ourselves accountable to a high bar of excellence with a singular focus on outcomes by setting up systems that let us keep our eye on the ball at all times.
• Solving problems at scale – The Department is mammoth machinery and working on a project can be daunting and exciting. You will be expected to continuously improve the processes and structures put in place to make the project implementation a seamless exercise.

The job description:

Below is an indicative set of responsibilities you will be required to lead as part of your role. We believe that a job description is best created collaboratively where the individual joining the team and the senior leadership team together define the role in greater detail so it reflects your aspirations and ambitions as much as it does the organisation’s needs. A detailed description will be jointly created once the selection process has been completed and you have accepted our offer of employment.

In this role some of your responsibilities will include:

• Support in setting up project management systems for the programme
• Ensure adherence to the project management protocols and support the Senior Manager to ensure that these systems are used effectively
• Support in organisational learning by sharing data periodically and setting up step-backs for the team to reflect and improve on their practices
• Prepare draft of letters and documents for the state coordinator for the project to progress smoothly
• Draft reports and presentations for various stakeholders (internal and external) for Model schools
• Support with the documentation of Madhi’s internal project management data
• Represent Madhi in state-level meetings with Samagra Shiksha, SCERT and other departments
• Support in articulating Madhi’s strategic approach for the FLN Mission by drafting presentations reports
• Collaborate with multiple external partners for the project and evaluate the scope for synergy

You will thrive in this role if you:

• Possess exceptional planning skills & take pride in being organised
• Obsess over time management & planning for all tasks regardless of the enormity or urgency
• Have outstanding interpersonal & communication skills

Prerequisites include:

• At least 1 year of full-time work experience; experience in project management would be an added advantage
• Strong conversational skills in Tamil, also being able to read and write Tamil would be an advantage
• Excellent knowledge of MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint and all Google Suite applications

This role will report to: Senior Manager, STEAM Model Schools

Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Remuneration: Rs 3.5 – 4.5 Lakhs p.a

Please note: You will be expected to bring your own laptop, with updated software (MS Office 2016)

Link to Application Form: https://forms.gle/N1MPyRNr69ri5TMR6

For more information, please write to: apply@madhifoundation.org