JOB TITLE: Project Lead, Education and Wellness Initiatives

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

Barefoot College International is a globally recognized not for profit social enterprise, working with rural communities in 93 countries in the world. Headquartered in India, Barefoot delivers innovative programmes for women in Access to Renewable Energy, Education, Economic and Digital Participation, Enterprise, and Women’s Wellness. We celebrate and defend indigenous wisdom and skills, and believe that access to energy enables all forms of economic and social development for and by, poor rural communities. Please see our latest video:

JOB PROFILE

In education the organisation has evolved the Solar Digital Community programmen – non-formal schools to give futuristic primary level education to the children of age between 6 to 14 years (majorly girls). These schools are primarily situated in locations which are off-grid or with intermittent electricity supply and use digital tools and technologies to deliver education effectively. The vision is to encourage critical thinking, voice and social action led by children. Given the pandemic, the model has had to be significantly evolved to become pandemic resilient, including parents and addressing key health issues of the community.

As a Project manager, you will be required to manage the end-to-end implementation and expansion of the Digital Community Schools (DCS) model, design and pilot unique initiatives such as the Parents in Education (PiE) model and community health champions model.

The Parents in Education model was identified as a severe need considering the situation created by the pandemic to engage parents of the Digital Community Schools community to enhance the learning outcomes. Additionally to address the need of health and wellness in the communities , the initiative also envisions involvement of grassroots education teachers in raising awareness and working towards mobilizing the communities to improve health seeking behavior.

The immediate focus will be 11 selected rural communities identified by BCI but the scope shall increase over time.

JOB RESPONSIBILITY

Planning, Strategizing:

• Develop all aspects of the Solar Digital Community School model end-to-end by ensuring design and delivery of content and training, and related field activities.

• Work towards improving the learning outcomes of the children by improving the online and offline digital school curriculum

• Coordinate with the Curriculum team, Training team to overlook the (re)designing of the Barefoot Education curriculum and Teacher/Parent training plan based on the inputs from the ground team

• Support strategizing for wellness initiatives training and implementation

• Drafting the annual budget for the DCS and PIE projects with quarterly breakdown.

• Create M&E framework with collaboration with the BCI’S M&E team

• Provide inputs for grant writing and fundraising

• Identify risks and conflicts in achieving deliverables in alignment with organizational vision, and plan accordingly to mitigate such risks and resolve conflicts.

Project Implementation:

• Supervision of project managers, to supervise the DCS, PIE and wellness initiatives

• Regularly monitor the quality of implementation of the Barefoot Education Curriculum, Parents in Education curriculum and wellness modules in communities in coordination with the Curriculum team and the Core field implementation team.

• Regularly monitor the quality of implementation of the Barefoot Training programme in coordination with the Training team.

• Monitor project budget and track expenditures/transactions and handle the project related financial administration, including adherence to all organizational policies and practices.

• Closely track and follow up committed deliverables under projects related to the community interventions.

• Ensure implementation of M&E methodologies , and collation of relevant case studies and impact assessment reports.

• Help build positive relations within the team and external parties and all stakeholders.

• Ensure all members of the team and relevant stakeholders are up-to-date with relevant project information and regular communication to groups to create an organization-wide understanding of the programme.

• Ensure upward capacity building of team members and conduct review exercises

Partnership Liasioning and Communication:

• Maintain strong relationships with the community partners. Conduct regular meetings to collect update on implementation of the program

• Reach out to networks and form partnerships relevant to the enhancement of the quality of implementation of DCS PIE and wellness initiatives.

• Represent the organization in relevant platforms related to the program as deemed necessary by the reporting manager.

• Ensure that all communications through media relations, social media etc are managed.

• Ensure all members of the team and relevant stakeholders are up-to-date with relevant project information and regular communication to create an organization-wide understanding of the programme.

Documentation and Reporting:

• Ensure all documentation, records, proposals, reports, presentations, summaries are prepared, meets quality standards, in a detailed and timely manner and follow up to gain necessary approvals.

• Encourage ideation, pilot and documentation of results (Success, failure, learnings) for new innovative impact-oriented intervention design in the communities, in consultation with and approval of the relevant department heads

• Report the progress of implementation of the projects regularly to the Education lead and Education coordinator.

• Support the reporting manager in necessary administrative activities required for the organizational and departmental functioning

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Overall work experience of 5-6 years with at least 2-3 years of background in the education sector, preferably managing projects with respect to pedagogy.

SKILLS

• Excellent written and oral communication skills and knows how to work independently.

• Enjoys working closely with and learning from people of diverse backgrounds.

• Bilingual – Comfortable and fluent in English and Hindi. Capable of translating communication in either language.

• Highly comfortable with digital interfaces with an acumen for self-directed learning.

• Demonstrates ability to manage staff and a team; holding employees/colleagues accountable for achieving results.

• Demonstrates good judgement; approachable and professional; solid problem-solving skills; self-motivation; well organized.

• Ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure. Work effectively in a team-based, information sharing environment, collaborating with others in remote work.

• Demonstrated proactive approaches to problem-solving with strong decision-making capability;

• Forward looking thinker, who actively seeks opportunities and proposes solutions.

• Strong organizational skills that reflect ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly with excellent attention to detail.

COMPENSATION

Barefoot College recognizes that the right candidate will have a significant impact on the success of the organization and is prepared to offer an attractive compensation package for the non-profit sector, commensurate with experience.

LOCATION

This position is based in Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Considerable amount of travel will be required, however, WFH option can be considered based on COVID situation.

TO APPLY

Qualified candidates should send their Resumes, along with a cover letter highlighting your suitability for the position. Given the high volume of applications we receive, we are unable to respond to all applicants and our responses are limited to those who are shortlisted.

Last date to receive applications: 15th August 2021

Job Types: Full-time, Contract

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Work from home

Schedule:

• Flexible shift

COVID-19 considerations:
Yes

Work Remotely:

• Temporarily due to COVID-19