Central Square Foundation Hiring for Project Director at New Delhi Full Time

About EdTech Tulna

State of the EdTech Ecosystem:

The rapidly growing Indian EdTech landscape has resulted in an overwhelming choice of EdTech solutions for decision-makers such as governments, investors, schools, parents, and teachers. In the absence of information about the quality of products in the market, adopters are compelled to make ad-hoc decisions based on little or no evidence on the effectiveness of the product. Hence, there is an acute need today for credible and accepted standards on the quality of EdTech products to simplify the decision-making process in a systematic manner.

What is Tulna:

Tulna is an EdTech evaluation index for product design quality developed by the Central Square Foundation (CSF) andthe Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Bombay. Tulna is built to reduce information asymmetry in the ecosystem on ‘what good EdTech looks like,’ catalyze evidence-led decision-making and encourage quality-aligned EdTech firms in the ecosystem. Tulna does this in three ways:

• Builds standards and frameworks that are informed by academic research but rooted in application to align the ecosystem on a common understanding of the quality of product design
• Develops the capacity of governments to drive informed decision-making about EdTech adoption by leveraging training and toolkits
• Publishes product design evaluations to provide readily available and independent reviews of products in the ecosystem, thus driving demand and shaping supply

Success of Tulna:

It is a one-of-a-kind initiative with wide applicability in the Indian and global context. Over the last two years, Tulna has been received positively by both the product ecosystem and institutional adopters like the state and central government bodies. Tulna has been used by 4 governments to inform their software procurement decisions influencing over 5.5 million learners and has the potential to influence more than USD 470 million of EdTech investment decisions. Tulna benefits from its first mover advantage, as there exist no global standards for EdTech product design. Thus, it is set on a high growth trajectory to set an evidence-led agenda in the EdTech ecosystem in India and globally.

Vision for Tulna:

The aspiration now is to build and scale Tulna further – both on the product and on scaling adoption. Our aim is to make Tulna’s frameworks the tool of choice for large-scale EdTech decisions and ensure coverage of key government and investor use cases. With Tulna independent and sustainable with its own organization and brand, the goal is also to evaluate a high percentage of the funded EdTech market in the Indian ecosystem and explore international models for scaling Tulna.

For more details, please read the following documents:

• EdTech Tulna concept note for more information on the solution.
• Case study on how the government uses EdTech Tulna
• Tulna in The Print March 2023

Structure and Way of Work

As EdTech Tulna gains more traction, the focus is on ensuring that Tulna is independent and sustainable. Thus, it is envisaged that the construct of Tulna will be institutionalized at a reputed academic institute, which in addition to CSF and IIT-Bombay, will continue to support Tulna. The Project Director will ensure sustainability in capital and business model while building a strong service layer to drive and scale adoption in the long term.

Position Summary

We are looking for a highly driven and entrepreneurial Project Director who will strategically drive the growth and adoption of EdTech Tulna to bring system-level change in the EdTech ecosystem. The ideal candidate will have the ability to build and nurture long-term relationships, the vision, leadership, and intellectual vitality to shape the EdTech product landscape, and the business acumen and rigor to design, implement, maintain, and bring efficiency to organization-wide processes.

The Project Director for EdTech Tulna will be supported by a group of stakeholders, including senior government officials, leading academicians, product developers, and international and domestic philanthropies/NGOs.

In the first two years, the Project Director would:

1. Build salience for Tulna adoption with state and central government bodies and build a strong network of stakeholders for collaboration and cross-learning.
2. Build Tulna offering and create high-quality knowledge products, including frameworks, toolkits, and product evaluations, across key use cases that support government, institution, and ecosystem adoption.
3. Build the Tulna organization, by driving long-term strategy, including institutionalizing capacity through a dedicated team, managing and running the research arm, creating and implementing processes for fundraising, government adoption, etc., and managing communication with the Governance Board.

Roles and Responsibilities

The key responsibilities of the Project Director have been mapped to the two-year goals of the Project Director and include the following:

A. Build salience for Tulna adoption

• Raise the level of awareness amongst government, industry, and academia about the essential role of Tulna in addressing the information asymmetry in the EdTech ecosystem while driving demand and shaping supply
• Drive institutional and government adoption of Tulna, nationally and internationally, by leveraging IIT and CSF networks and engaging with relevant stakeholders

B. Build Tulna offering and create high-quality knowledge products

• Oversee the build of the Tulna product – standards and tools for evaluations
• Advise and support EdTech product supply organizations to build quality solutions by expanding the scope of the Tulna standards and growing the portfolio of public evaluations
• Manage internal and external stakeholder relationships with academic partners, government stakeholders, international partners, product supply organizations, and other key actors
• Expand and refine the organization’s processes for knowledge production and dissemination, strategic communication, networking, outreach, etc.

C. Build the Tulna organization

• Drive long-term strategy and lead operations, including refining and implementing the strategic plan for Tulna, creating a network of partnerships with state and central government bodies, product companies, international counterparts, etc.
• Secure long-term funds to grow and scale Tulna by building a fundraising strategy, establishing partnerships with donor organizations, and managing grant applications
• Build and lead the Tulna team, and establish a professional and transparent culture and mindset for the organization while ensuring academic rigor, credibility, and neutrality in the work

Qualifications & Skills:

The ideal candidate has the right mix of business acumen and exposure to government context and academia. The qualifications and skills of the candidate include:

• Graduate degree from a top institution
• Minimum 18 years of professional experience with at least 8 years in a leadership role, with experience building strategic partnerships, managing large partnership portfolios, advising/leading on high-stake decisions, and managing complex enterprise operations
• Experience in EdTech/ Research or related fields is preferred
• Experience with the government and public sector ecosystem and academia is preferred
• Demonstrated success in leading complex institutional partnerships: proven ability to network, establish credibility, and build and nurture deep relationships with various senior stakeholders across state and central government, academia, industry, private EdTechs, funders, and investors
• Highly motivated and collaborative; values teamwork and is able to inspire team members to work towards goals and take ownership of the organization and mission
• High intellectual vitality, the desire to continuously learn, read, and engage on various topics. Tulna will evolve based on the needs of the EdTech landscape, and a willingness to learn and take on new areas of expertise is essential. Adaptability and flexibility to changing circumstances are also crucial

Compensation

Remuneration will be competitive and will depend upon the candidate’s experience levels.