Program Officer – Karta Initiative

Karta Initiative We work with youth (in the age group of 14-22 years) from underprivileged and marginalized communities in the remote rural parts of India to enable them to become active citizens. We work in an ecosystem approach with the youth right from social-emotional well being, life-choices, career- choices, critical thinking, university preparation, to scholarship and mentorship, with a focus on values – both personal and societal.

Karta’s vision is to build a more equitable future by overcoming “accident of birth” and “inequalities which exist and are an outcome” of “social structures and processes,” affecting entire communities. We are bridging the gap between the youth from rural and marginalized communities and the world- leading global opportunities by bringing them together. We empower youth to be informed, inspired, skilled and ready to thrive in the world of 21st century opportunity. We enable education institutions to nurture rural talent and corporates to recruit.

Our initial work focused on breaking down barriers between talented youth from the world’s most disadvantaged backgrounds and world-class higher education. These barriers are significant and wide- ranging, from low levels of 21st century skills and social capital to lack of information, awareness and exposure – on top of the obvious barriers of finance and lack of access to institutions. Our goal now is to develop interventions that can be scaled up so that we can close the opportunity gap for thousands of youth from rural and marginalized communities.

Activities:

• Karta Scholars: deep, life-long impact interventions

Developing inspirational young role models and nurturing movement leaders through:

• Unlocking and financing access to world-class undergraduate education for a small group of selected Karta Scholars
• Personal and professional development throughout university via 1-to-1 mentoring, work experience placements, network building and skill building workshops
• Building ‘give-back’ channels enabling Scholars to share learnings in their communities
• Access Programme: significant impact interventions

Enhancing post-secondary readiness for 15-17 year olds through:

• Enhancing 21st century skills and career awareness through workshops and group mentoring
• Developing workplace exposure through industry visits
• Improving academic pathway awareness
• Opening access to summer schools at partner institutions
• Karta Connect: broad-based technology-enabled impact interventions

Unlocking access to opportunities at scale through:

• Disseminating information on various career opportunities and pathways
• Building 21st century skills, e.g. critical thinking, digital literacy, communication
• Developing the networks to deliver mentoring for aspiring students
• Building an opportunity marketplace to bridge the gap between youth and opportunity

Our priorities

Develop as a movement

We have built a movement bringing together some of the most talented individuals and the most prestigious organizations in the world. We are growing our impact by strengthening and expanding this network of individuals, school systems, universities, donors, and world-leading corporates.

Scale up impact
We have demonstrated the effectiveness of interventions which can enable young people to access opportunity. We are scaling this work up through the use of digital technology and distributed mechanisms in order to transform the lives of thousands of youth. We plan to steadily grow the number of Scholars, widen access to the early stages of the Access Programme and continue to invest in Karta Connect to impact thousands of students.

Role description
The program team at Karta focusses on empowering youth from rural and marginalized communities to be informed, inspired and skilled, ready to thrive in the world of 21st century opportunity. To achieve this, the team works in partnership with teachers, educational institutions, non-profits and corporate partners to advance:

1. 21st century skills – enhancing core skills including communication, critical thinking, English language and digital literacy,

2. Networks and information: developing active and meaningful connections with individuals to open doors to new opportunities,

3. World leading educational opportunities: unlocking access to a world leading higher education, in turn establishing inspirational role models,

4. Workplace exposure: developing workplace opportunities through diverse industry partnerships.

Alongside this, the team collaborates with employers and educational institutions to develop holistic mentoring, programmes to nurture disadvantaged talent, non-traditional routes into employment and inclusive recruitment practices.

The Program Officer role is a dynamic opportunity that involves being go-getter, self-starter, team player, agile, responsive, communicative, curious, passionate to work with youth from marginalized communities, and a learner through continuous learning and unlearning. The role requires supporting the organization with programs right from inception and planning to execution. It requires an ability to build, nurture and sustain positive and collaborative relationships both within and outside organization including colleagues, students, scholars, education institutions, non-profits and corporates. It involves continuous engagement with this
diverse set of various stakeholders.

Key responsibilities include, but not limited to

• Build, nurture and sustain relationship with Navodaya schools, students, non-profits and corporates
• Work with team to build and foster relationships
• Support Karta Access programme and Karta Connect
• Program planning & execution
• Document lessons learned with pilot projects
• Support monitoring and evaluation
• Maintain contact database of schools, Principals, teachers and students

What we are looking for: Ideal candidate

• 2-5 years of professional experience across social/corporate sector or management consulting
• Having an entrepreneurial bent of mind
• Ability to work independently and proactively, without support staff and with little supervision
• Self-starter and go-getter
• Ability to deal with ambiguity
• Curious and fast learner
• Flexibility of thought and action
• Having tremendous agility and ability to take swift action
• Problem solver
• Open to travel for about 100 days in a year to remote rural areas
• Aware and sensitive towards the vulnerabilities and multiple marginalization of various communities in rural India
• Aware of inequalities & vulnerabilities which arise as an outcome of social processes and social structures in India
• Eager to work towards building a more equitable future
• Passionate for engaging and working with youth, especially from under-privileged and marginalized communities
• Passionate for Karta’s mission and have a strong desire to impact a dynamic, growing organisation
• Experience of engagement with school students at senior secondary levels, school teachers, education institutions, non-profits & corporates
• Experience in managing projects across distributed locations and teams

Relevant education

• Desire to travel to field locations and carry out fieldwork
• Research skills and the ability to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, craft possible solutions, and recommend actions
• Ability to lead meetings, deliver presentations, and represent Karta to external audiences when required
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, strong presentation skills
• Strong planning and organizational skills, and an ability to be able to set priorities, plan timelines and meet deadlines

In case you are interested to apply for this role, please send your resume with a cover letter to: aparna.choudhary@karta-initiative.org