Associate – State Operations : Samarthya

Samarthya Often parents of children studying in government schools are blamed for being unsupportive but are mostly treated as passive recipients of information, as someone who needs to be ‘educated’ rather than an equal contributor in school’s development. We believe that parents deserve a seat at that table where decisions related to their child’s education are made. Their voices need to be heard and deliberated upon.

Samarthya (AEES) was started in February 2017 by Teach For India Alumni to enable participation of parents and community in improving the quality of education in public schools. We are working with public schools to strengthen the structures which encourage community participation in public schools i.e. Parent-Teacher Meetings (PTMs) & School Management Committees (SMCs).

We are currently working across Haryana, Punjab & Nagaland. At Samarthya, we are actively working towards achieving our mission at a large scale with the key lens of sustainability. Our work has been recognized at a global stage by HundrEd, in the top 100 innovations globally in 2023 and also by Schwab Foundation as one of top 5 collective innovations globally.

About the opportunity
Samarthya’s work in partnership with the communities, state & civil society organizations across different geographies gives us unprecedented opportunities to improve the public education system. This role focuses on enabling the state education department to improve community participation across government schools. If you are passionate about bringing large-scale sustainable change in public education and making citizen voices heard, you should consider applying for the role.

This role will be based out of Chandigarh. An opportunity to work with and learn from the team members at Samarthya & other partner organisations will also be offered as a part of this role.

Responsibilities
We are looking for a self-motivated individual with a zeal to learn who will be responsible for performing the following roles:

• Research & Design the contextual resources for relevant stakeholders across different levels ie. project plans, presentations, content for respective circulars, guidelines and campaign resources.
• Engage with and enable government functionaries at state level wrt their beliefs & roles in programme design, capacity building and monitoring.

An Association For Equitable Educational Spaces Initiative

• Develop strategic plans by engaging in brainstorming and ideation sessions with the internal teams and external stakeholders (department officers, academia and partner organisations)
• Design and facilitate relevant training /meetings with the resource persons of the education department. Facilitating learning spaces for adults is an important skill that will be required for performing this role.
• Collect & analyze program data , ensure high quality of the data collected through periodic checks and write reports & case studies.
• Conduct regular field visits to schools & communities to understand the needs/challenges of stakeholders & gather insights/stories regarding project implementation.

Skills & Competencies Required

1. Strong ownership & problem solving with an on-ground implementation lens
2. Facilitation: experience of facilitating training sessions and group discussions.
3. Ability to establish strong working relationships with team , government officers and partner organisations
4. Perseverance to engage continuously with stakeholders and get work done
5. Adaptability: The ability to handle change and work in a dynamic environment is important for this role as the educational landscape is constantly evolving.

Qualifications and Experiential Requirements

1. At Least a graduate degree in any discipline
2. Minimum 2 years of work experience, preferably in working with Govt. stakeholders and/or in the education sector
3. Prior experience in program design/govt stakeholder engagement is preferred
4. Fluency in speaking and writing Punjabi is preferred
5. Willingness to travel across different districts of Punjab

Location : Chandigarh

Compensation and Benefits

• 5,00,000 – 7,00,000 INR/annum (based on past work experience and qualifications)
• Paid Time off
• Health Insurance