Project Manager, CM Rise Teacher Professional Development – Peepul

Peepul is an education-focused non-profit. We dream and work towards creating an education system in India that enables and supports every child to realise their potential.

We work closely with national, state, and local governments to transform governmentschools and government systems. Currently, we work with governments in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, to meaningfully have impact across 300,000 teachers and 9 million children, across 100,000+ schools.

We have received many accolades for our work, including the Commonwealth Education Awards for Innovation (from ~2500 applications across 32 countries). One of the schools we deeply support in Delhi was shortlisted as the Top 10 Schools in the world for Innovation. Our work has also been featured in reports and publications by the Education Development Trust, the UN and the national Ministry of Education, India. The impact of
our work has also been verified by third-party assessments.

Within a period of three years, we have grown tremendously to now reach a team size of 150 employees, across the geographies in which we operate. We are fortunate to have many supporters fuel our growth journey such as the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Mulago Foundation, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, SBI Foundation, The/Nudge Foundation, Dovetail Impact Foundation, Maitri Trust, Amazon India, Bank of America
India (full list on website). Impact at scale is the core of our work and this approach has been profiled in the media by Business World, The Economic Times, Nexus of Good Foundation, FICCI, Niti Aayog, among others.

We are a restless, resilient, and reflective organisation. We aim high, innovate, work smart, work as a team, and use rigorous research to inform our work.

Reports to: Programme Manager

With regard to our talent, we work towards keeping our people first and offer a compelling compensation and benefits package, to ensure our high-quality talent is appreciated and remunerated competitively.

Website: http://peepulindia.org/

Programme Context
The Department of School Education, Government of Madhya Pradesh (GoMP), is on an ambitious reform agenda to improve the quality of the public school system and learning outcomes. This reform agenda focuses on accountability and governance, structural and administrative reforms, capacity building and learning from innovations and international best practices in pedagogy and delivery.

Peepul has partnered with the Govt. of MP to strengthen learning outcomes for almost a decade. Through this partnership, we have also developed a deep understanding of the Madhya Pradesh context, education landscape, and administrative support structures at the ground level.

Currently, Peepul is partnering with Govt. of MP through a multi-year state-wide program to evolve the professional development ecosystem in the state for teachers, educators, and education officials, under the aegis of ‘CM Rise Teacher Professional Development’. The program aims to envision and create a holistic blueprint for all professional development interventions in the state, encompassing digital and blended trainings for teachers, academic officials, and various other education functionaries. Also building strong monitoring mechanisms for teacher support, and creating exceptional cadre of mentors for teachers in the state of Madhya Pradesh

This flagship program will also serve as an exemplar of innovative teacher professional development ecosystem for other states in the country.

Role Description
The role of the Project Manager is critical to the success of the continued partnership with the Government of Madhya Pradesh towards achieving quality education for all, and to Peepul’s strategic objective of supporting quality improvement in the public-school system in India.

This is therefore an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated individual to play a keyrole in a flagship reform initiative with enormous potential impact.

The Project Manager will be an excellent team player, who will independently lead and drive design and delivery of interventions towards support and accountability of teachers and academic officials of the state. The ideal candidate should be able to bring together education expertise, creative problem-solving and stakeholder management, towards the creation, implementation, and impact tracking of high-quality initiatives towards improvement of the quality of education in the state.

Responsibilities would include:

• To lead project design, piloting, and implementation of interventions towards academic reforms
• Taking the lead on one or more interventions/workstreams within the CM Rise TPD programme, towards teacher support and accountability and student learning improvement.
• Designing, piloting and developing the interventions (e.g. Professional Learning Communities, supporting a cadre of mentor teachers, Recognition mechanisms, remedial learning and tech-based learning solutions, creating digital or face-to-face training courses, etc.) in collaboration with government
  counterparts
• Applying content knowledge and classroom experience in developing these interventions that will lead to shifts in teacher mindset, knowledge and practice
• Leading the pilot of interventions, documenting learnings and evolving the design to have greater impact at scale
• Working closely with government stakeholders to build knowledge as well as build capacity towards improved implementation
• Defining success metrics and growth aspiration for the project and communicating effectively with all stakeholders to translate this into a successful multi-year engagement

To manage best-in-class project implementation to ensure impact

• Plan and sequence the implementation of programme interventions (such as Professional Learning Communities, digital courses), in close coordination with the Project Coordination team and organizational subject experts
• Create effective work planning systems to ensure work remains on track and effectively prioritized, including regular work reviews to keep the project on track
• Potentially manage 1-2 Associates and provide guidance/review on their deliverables
• Work with in-house Monitoring & Evaluation team and external experts to develop appropriate project evaluation tools
• Facilitate sessions (e.g. training, focus group discussions, learning circles) with teachers, school leaders, cluster and block officials as required on high-impact teaching practices
• Work closely with Teacher Education Institutes, district, block and cluster officers to ensure high-quality academic mentoring

To be a strong team collaborator, manage cross-functional relationships and engage effectively with key government stakeholders

• Foster a positive and collaborative culture of trust and high expectations in the team
• Develop and maintain strong operational relationships with government partners, putting in place mechanisms to support collaboration and crossorganisational working
• Design and build effective, fully aligned partnerships with other education nonprofits and agencies, to leverage external expertise and resources where appropriate
• Build capacity within government teams to ensure ongoing, sustainable organisational self-improvement after the formal end of the project

Qualifications

• Deep passion and strong interest in the education sector
• 4-8 years of work experience in the development sector or otherwise
• Demonstrated knowledge and skills in project management
• Knowledge of public education systems and/or working with the government is desirable
• Strong track record of success as part of projects with multi-functional teams in complex, fluid situations. Demonstration through previous experience of this in either the corporate sector or development sector.
• Direct classroom and teaching experience, preferably within the government school system, and specific areas of expertise in education (e.g. primary school curriculum, digital content delivery, school leadership, etc.) would be preferable
• Extensive experience of collaborating and partnering with senior internal and external stakeholders, and communicating to a variety of audiences
• Strong analytical skills and good judgement, able to lead and manage project design and implementation; ability to create technical documentation and liaise with both tech and non-tech stakeholders effectively
• Strong research instinct: ability to gather information, examine perspectives and create synthesized solutions/recommendations
• Effective leadership skills and interpersonal skills, to be able to foster a strong Peepul delivery team and to work with public sector colleagues and associates with a consultative and collegiate decision-making style
• A passion for education and a genuine commitment to Peepul’s mission and
  values
• Fluency in English and Hindi

Compensation and Benefits Compensation will be commensurate with the qualifications and experiences. Peepul is a people-first organization, and offers a range of employee benefits, including a generous health insurance (for self and parents), a generous leave policy, relocation benefits, PF, Gratuity, communication and travel reimbursements, etc.

Application Process All open JDs are available on www.peepulindia.org/careers.

To apply for this position, please submit your application with a CV and cover letter as an email to recruitment@peepulindia.org, with the subject “Application for ”. Please ensure that your CV includes relevant professional and personal experience and details on academic qualifications. Additionally, we encourage you to use your cover letter to highlight why you want to work for Peepul and are interested in this particular role.

Please contact us at recruitment@peepulindia.org for further queries (if any).