Senior Program Officer (District Engagement)
Location:
Srikakulam/Visakhapatnam - Andhra Pradesh
At Quest Alliance, we transform learning ecosystems through education technology, capacity building, and collaboration to build 21st-century skills for learners and facilitators.
We are a not-for-profit trust that focuses on research-led innovation and advocacy in the field of teaching and learning. We engage with educators, civil society, government institutions and corporate organizations to demonstrate and enable scalable and replicable solutions in school education and vocational training.
At Quest you will get the opportunity to apply your skills and contribute to addressing issues around quality education and skills training. The organization gives you the space to learn and grow in a fun and engaging environment. We have an eclectic group of people working at Quest drawn from diverse disciplines including Education, Technology, Design, Youth.
About the Role:
The Senior Program Officer (District Engagement) as a part of the Amazon Future Engineer program plays a crucial role in building buy-in at the District level with the District Collectors (Education in-charges), District Education Offices and its officials and other District-level Influencers to build champions for our program. The SPO (District Engagement) is in-charge of making sure monthly progress is updated to the departments, ensure joint visits are planned with the officials to our schools to witness the Future Skills curriculum in action, work with the District on embedding our program in their monitoring systems, monthly meetings and making sure budgets eventually are requested and allocated for the program’s implementation and sustainability in the long-term. They are also responsible for ensuring the creation and maintenance of the District Resource Groups and its monthly meetings.
Roles &
Responsibilities:
Government Engagement, Advocacy
Take responsibility for the monthly government reports and ensure that each and every District official is periodically updated on the progress and the work.
Build relationships with the District government officials including District Collectors, DEOs, APCs, AMOs, GCDOs, DSOs, Head Masters/Complex and Mandal/Cluster Resource people to make sure all needed permissions for our activities are in place for the year, joint visits are planned and to make them champions and witnesses to our Future Skills curriculum work in various forums and in the media.
Work closely with the SPO (Program) to plan, calendarize and ensure joint monitoring visits with the District officials happen frequently to schools every month.
Identify and attend District forums like HM-DEO monthly meetings, Cluster/Complex meetings, etc to make sure Quest’s work is discussed as part of their regular agenda.
Make sure to input into the program design the officials’ insights, feedback and recommendations.
Ensure that all related District officials are present and take part in all our program events at the District and State level.
Coordinate with the State Government Coordinator to formulate visibility pipelines from District to State, ensuring all our District work is visible at the State level.
Work on building a District Advocacy plan along with the Associate Program Manager to present our work strongly through local media and allied forums, which will become a part of the State’s Annual Plan and Goals.
Be well informed about Quest’s work, State’s strategy and vision, the Future Skills curriculum and themes so it can be used to influence government and education influencers to champion our work.
Make sure to influence District budgets and resource allocation, including venues, TA/DA, textbook printing, etc wherever possible.
District Resource Group (DRG)
Put in place a DRG that works on institutionalising teacher recognition and upgrading tech infrastructure in the district of Srikakulam
Make sure the DRG members identified are diverse, and in line with the criteria developed.
Make sure the DRG members meet every month and discuss the agreed upon agenda, with clear documentation in place.
Make sure the DRG’s Annual outcomes are met and plan for their exposure visits accordingly.
Make sure the DRG is able to influence District budgets and resource allocation, including venues, TA/DA, infrastructure assignment and maintenance, etc, based on the DRG’s vision.
Monitoring, Reporting & Documentation
Make sure periodic field visits are made to schools to understand the program implementation and interact with various stakeholders to plan for inputs into the advocacy agenda and government engagement.
Ensure the documentation, including case studies, photographs, and videos of the implementation schools, is collected and reaches relevant team members with the stakeholders’ signed consent in place.
Work closely with the SPO (Program), Associate Program Manager and the MnE Coordinator to ensure the right reporting and impact is being communicated clearly and accurately to the District government stakeholders.
Required Skills and Experience:
Minimum 3-4 years of work experience working with government officials, preferably in the education sector.
Interest in working with government functionaries and building networks and relationships with government and education sector influencers.
Willingness to learn and influence prevalent practices in the education ecosystem.
Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills in Telugu (Mandatory) and English.
Willingness to travel within and outside of the District.
Ability to train, build the capacity of, and manage relationships with new people.
Has an understanding/experience of building people movements and is able to influence dominant narratives.
Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively with other teams.
Ability to use technology and various virtual platforms like Google Hangout Meet, Zoom, WhatsApp, Google Classroom, Chatbot and other google suite applications.
Excited about Artificial Intelligence, 21st-century skills & Computational thinking and is eager to talk about it and influence government systems and thought processes.
Knowledge of artificial intelligence, hackathons, coding and the Ed-Tech tools would be an advantage and will be preferred.
Salary:
The pay band for the position starts at Rs. 45,000/- per month (cost to company) (
The salary offered will be commensurate with the experience and expertise of the candidate)
To Apply
Interested candidates are requested to apply for the role by filling up the application form.
At Quest Alliance, we pride ourselves on being an Equal Opportunities employer, embracing applications from all segments of the community. We are committed to ensuring that every applicant and employee is treated with fairness and respect, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, marital status, social status, caste, religious belief, age, or any other factor that is irrelevant to performance. Your individuality is valued and respected within our organization.
Know About Quest
Website :
http://www.questalliance.net/
Blog :
https://thelearnerbyquest.wordpress.com
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