Communications Associate – ASER Centre

Deadline is 13 November, 2021

ASER Centre was set up in 2008 as an autonomous research unit within Pratham Education Foundation. Established in 1995, Pratham is an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India. As one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the country, Pratham focuses on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system.

The objective of ASER Centre is to carry out survey, assessment, evaluation and research activities in education and other social sectors, as well as to build the capacity of individuals and institutions to design, conduct, understand, and disseminate these activities. One of ASER Centre’s main activities is the design and facilitation of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), the largest citizen led household surveys of children conducted in India.

Job Purpose

ASER Centre seeks to use simple yet rigorous methods to generate evidence on scale on the outcomes of social sector programs. It also aims to strengthen the link between evidence and action by building the capacity of individuals and institutions to design, conduct and understand assessments that focus on key outcome indicators. ASER Centre’s flagship program is the Annual Status of Education Report, which is one of the largest household surveys of children in India, conducted annually at scale. We are currently hiring for the following position at ASER Centre:

Reports to: Unit Head

Job base location: New Delhi (with frequent travel to states)

ASER Centre undertakes several projects under the theme of strengthening the link between evidence and action, the largest being the ASER Survey. These projects are managed by various units within ASER Centre. The role of the Communications Associate would be to develop exceptional content and design promotional material for these projects for external audiences. Additionally, the Associate is expected to support project design and implementation on a need basis.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities for this role are as follows:

Communications tasks:

• Ideating, writing content and designing promotional material such as brochures, posters, reports etc.

• Coverage of field projects by writing and editing reports/blogs; taking pictures and making photo blogs; conceptualising, shooting and editing short videos

• Ideating and creating content for the website and socialmedia

• Managing the website and social media accounts for ASERCentre

• Administrative tasks related to communications

• Act as a liaison between Pratham and ASER teams (central and state) to source content related to different projects

Additional tasks:

• Designing training and workshop material asrequired

• Building internal capacity through trainings on communications skills, or any other policy-related issue as required

• Conducting literature reviews on education-related policy areas, assisting in primary and secondary research activities for projects on a need basis

• Supporting programme implementation for short term projects

Required qualifications and skills

Who are we looking for?

This role is for candidates who are interested in communications in the development sector. We are looking for candidates who are deeply interested in the core principles of ASER Centre, are open and Application process willing to learn, can work under minimum supervision, are able to think of new and innovative ideas, can write excellent content, and are enthusiastic to deliver well beyond tasks assigned to them. A minimum 2-year commitment from the candidate is required.

Qualifications: Minimum Graduate, preferred degree in Communications/Mass Media, Journalism or social science disciplines

Work experience: Work experience is desirable. If the candidate does not have prior work experience, examples of taking initiative in relevant assignments/projects at university or at internships are desirable.

Skills:

1. Exceptional written and oral communication skills in English. This ismandatory.

2. Good written and oral communication skills in Hindi. The candidate should be comfortable working with documents in Hindi, translating material from Hindi to English and vice versa. Knowledge of a third language will be an asset.

3. Creatively conceptualise promotional material – print or digital

4. Summarise complex ideas into simple messages

5. Social media savvy (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn); Should be able to analyse social media data and recommend changes to enhance reach of posts

6. Proficiency in MS Office (Excel, Power Point andWord)

7. Photography, videography and photo/video editing skills. Experience with photo and video editing software is highly desirable.

8. Attention to detail for editing tasks

9. Multi-task, handle work pressures and deliver under tightschedules

10. Work well in teams and in diverse, multicultural contexts

11. Ability to work in a fast-changing work environment, comfortable with remote work and open to extensive field travel, often at short notice

Consultancy Fees: The following factors will be taken into account while deciding the consultancy fees for the candidate:

a) academics

b) internship experience/other job-related experience

c) English writing and photography skills, and

d) performance in recruitment assignment and interview.

Application process

• Kindly email your CV, Cover Letter and writing sample to asercommunications2018@gmail.com Kindly mention the job title in the subjectline. Please send your CV, cover letter and writing sample as only 1 document.

• The cover letter should mention prior experience relevant to the job posting and suitability for this role. It should not exceed 500 words.

• Candidates should also submit a written sample (500 words maximum) on any topic along with the cover letter.

• Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an initial telephonic interview. Successful candidates from the screening stage will be further required to complete an assignment and attend a final interview. Expected timeline to hear back on the application for first round of screening will be 10-14 days. The entire process is expected to last a month.

At every stage, only successful applicants will be contacted.