Position: Senior Manager: Research & Innovation

Organization: Madhi

Location: Chennai

Apply: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdk8jVmtao5s7247xjtuYE7pP7HtHwQGxT6Og4BEnO37cJMzA/viewform

About the role

You will be leading an exciting role, with pan-project visibility and oversight; working to communicate insights and outcomes from pilot projects/ mission delivery conducted by Madhi or one of Madhi’s partners. The reports/ publications that CERI puts out will contribute to the growing body of knowledge on how to improve educational outcomes for the last-mile child! We need someone with a thirst for learning, a belief in evidence based research and strong communication skills for this role!.

The challenges you will help solve in this role:

• Contribute purposefully to the growing body of knowledge on what works and what doesn’t work to improve last mile educational outcomes for children, through the public sector delivery; in particular- by contextualising findings to the Indian context.
• Utilise qualitative and quantitative field data to analyse the primary causes which led to the outcomes/ impact achieved and communicate these in a manner that allows replicability in similar contexts.
• Support project verticals and sub-verticals to find relevant pieces of global research which meet their project objectives. Your role will have as much of an element of L&D support to be delivered to the team, as in creating meaningful project/ research reports and collaterals.
• Work towards gaining a deep understanding of teacher and district level officials’ mindsets to suggest programme delivery strategies which are in-line with their existing choice architecture; as there can be backlash when existing systems are altered. Your success in this role will, in part, be determined by your ability to preempt these challenges and offer proactive, customised solutions as part of the product/ service offering.
• We are an outcome-driven organisation and we do not obsess over clocking in and clocking out. As the sub-vertical head, you will be responsible to identify ways in which we can hold your team 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.

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:

• Centre for Education Research in India (CERI)
• Lead the creation of engaging, meaningful reports and information decks based on the information and data insights provided by the project delivery teams
• Guide team members towards creation of collaterals to be shared with state officials or other relevant external project stakeholders
• Drive the creation of a purposeful repository of the latest relevant, global research as pertaining to Madhi’s project plans
• Supporting all project verticals (where applicable) to to identify relevant research literature and contextualise it to an Indian setting, creating appropriate mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation during the programme design stages of each project
• Support respective team members to organise qualitative data collection activities both internally and externally (ie- FGDs, discussion forums etc)
• Develop relationships with Madhi’s partners and collaborate, as required, to produce joint research outputs
• Lead efforts in the creation and improvisation of dashboards as well the data that feeds into these dashboards
• Regularly provide project based status updates to relevant stakeholders
• Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL)
• Anchor the development of the MEL standard operating procedures at Madhi, updating the processes as necessary, based on industry best practices
• Guide team members to analyse field data and iterate programmatic design based on field insights for supporting project verticals
• Ensure maintenance of internal project-wise data dashboards to support programmatic learning and iteration
• Provide regular updates on project progress against key metrics to the Organisational Strategy Team
• Lead the development of MEL frameworks (including: TOC flows, log frames etc), process and impact evaluation plans for all Madhi Projects
• Support project verticals and sub-verticals to create appropriate mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation during the programme design stages of each project (including: tool creation and field processes)
• Manage digital data collection and visualisation tools, to provide real-time updates/ insights to the project vertical heads based on field data
• Regularly review data collection processes, including regular field visits and data quality assessments, and adjust processes as needed (ie: conceptualising and conducting internal process evaluations, as required)
• Support respective team members to organise qualitative data collection activities both internally and externally (ie- FGDs, discussion forums etc)
• Veedum Vizhippum (VV)
• Lead Madhi’s community mobilisation efforts at the last mile to communicate the importance and urgency of foundational literacy and numeracy
• Create and lead the execution of a community mobilisation action plan to improve the awareness of the community on foundational literacy and numeracy mission
• Oversee the implementation of the community awareness missions on FLN and identify ways to document the same
• Co-plan and execute activities by delivery partner or external stakeholder (eg: community mobilisation specialists)
• Supervise and facilitate any community-based trainings

You will thrive in this role if you:

• Demonstrate the highest degree of integrity throughout all activities and are obsessed with data integrity
• Can conceptualise and report insights from pilot research studies, designed at strengthening existing systems and practices
• Have prior experience of creating strategic, data-driven policy advocacy based on data analysis from field inputs; are comfortable dealing with both quantitative and qualitative data
• Have prior experience in interpreting tabulated/ visualised data sets and in creating comprehensive reports explaining field input data>
• Can diplomatically communicate insights from and action required on data which can, at times, be dispiriting
• Are able to problem-solve from first principles, since much of what we do hasn’t been done before
• Are highly planned, organised, methodical, meticulous and detail oriented
• Thrive in a deadline oriented environment in creating collaterals for external stakeholders
• Have excellent stakeholder management skills, especially within a public sector setting>
• Can storytell well, both verbally, in writing and visually; have proficiency in oral communication in Tamil>

Prerequisites include:

• At least 6 years of work experience with a minimum of 2 years of people management experience
• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject; qualifications in Public Policy Communication, Journalism, Media and Communications would be an added advantage
• Experience in the education/development sector would be an added advantage
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office, G Suite, Canva, Digital Survey Tools and Data Visualisation Tools
• Excellent written communication and report writing skills in English
• Portfolio showcasing written pieces of your own work, with at least 1 piece showcasing your strengths in academic long form writing
• Ability and willingness to work in a startup non-profit environment

This role will report to:

• Associate Director, Projects

Remuneration:

• Rs 11 - 13 Lakhs p.a

Please note:

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