Job Openings Senior Program Associate - Project Delivery

About the job Senior Program Associate - Project Delivery

About CEGIS

Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS – pronounced See-Jis) aims to improve lives by helping Indian state governments deliver better development outcomes. We believe that the most impactful lever for accelerating national development is to improve governance and state capacity to better deliver core public services at scale.

Informed by cutting-edge research and evidence as well as a practical orientation toward implementable ideas, CEGIS works with state governments in India to enable a transformative improvement in their functioning. CEGISs vision and Theory of Change (ToC) are an outcome of extensive research done by Prof. Karthik Muralidharan (CEGIS Co-Founder and Scientific Director) and outlined in his multiple award-winning, national bestselling book Accelerating India's Development, and enabled by strategic philanthropic support provided by Ashish Dhawan (CEGIS Co-Founder).

CEGIS Approach and Model of Functioning:

CEGISs solutions to enhance governance are co-created with state governments in a state-led way, where we focus on deep partnerships with states using an iterative cycle of think-demonstrate-document-transfer. We work closely with the top bureaucratic leadership, front-line workers and public officials in Finance, Planning, Human Resources and a few other priority line departments. Many of our solutions reflect ideas outlined in the book Accelerating India's Development, and these solutions are constantly refined based on real-time feedback and are designed to both be customized to the contexts we are working in, and to create templates that can provide the starting point for replication across contexts.

Our focus areas reflect evidence that key characteristics of high-performing organisations include (a) measuring outcomes through reliable, high quality data that enables goal setting and progress monitoring; (b) strategic use of personnel – competency based hiring and training, skilling, and performance appraisals to determine job assignments, pay, and promotions – to achieve the goals above; (c) strategic budgeting where resource allocation and revenue collection are based on evidence and cost-effectiveness; (d) and creating efficient systems to leverage external actors (including for-profit and nonprofit organisations). CEGIS partners with states to improve capacity by focusing on these pillars of State effectiveness, and aims to also integrate these horizontal governance improvements into integrated sectoral roadmaps to accelerate the achievement of state and national development outcomes.

Internally, CEGIS is organized into solutions teams that lead the design and technical quality control of our research and evidence-backed approaches to improving governance and state capacity; delivery" teams that lead state-facing work to contextualize the solutions, and support governments in implementing them; and enablement teams that enable the organization to function smoothly.

CEGIS@6 to CEGIS@10: Building on momentum to catalyse national development

Since its incorporation in 2019, CEGIS has gained significant momentum in building strong collaborations with state government(s) as a trusted partner who can provide both thought leadership and implementation support on key governance reforms. CEGIS position as a non-profit that does not take any funding from the government (other than in-kind contributions of office space/staff) has been a key enabler in earning this trust.

Beginning with 1 state government engagement in 2019, today CEGIS is working across 9 Indian states (Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh). We also partner with union agencies/ministries such as Capacity Building Commission, Ministry of Women & Child Development (MoWCD), and Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) to share insights from our state-level work to inform national-level guidelines and dissemination to other states. Finally, we also take on selected work at the district level to design and test implementation templates.

From a small group of founding members, we have grown to become a team of 150+ members located across the country, and expect to grow to over 200 in the coming year. Led by a former senior civil-servant with deep governance experience; state and solution team leads with decades of domain expertise; and enabling functions led by professionals with considerable corporate experience, the team at CEGIS brings together knowledge and experience that spans various sectors – from development economics, research, governance, management consulting, and social entrepreneurship.

Over the last 6 years, CEGIS has also garnered support for our vision and theory of change from several foundations and philanthropists whose partnership has enabled us to build our organisational capacity as well as continue to experiment and improve our solution design to augment state capacity and governance. With the rapidly growing demand for CEGISs offerings, CEGIS is well-positioned to play a key role in accelerating Indias development.

To explore what the mission of CEGIS is and the impact we hope to have, please take a look at this video of our CEO, Dr Vijay Pingale.

About the projects in Uttar Pradesh:
CEGIS has partnered with the Government of Uttar Pradesh to strengthen governance systems and enable data-driven decision-making in the states Finance and Planning departments. The partnership supports Uttar Pradesh's strategic vision through initiatives to establish a Financial Analytics Unit, strengthen data systems for improved planning and service delivery, and build institutional and personnel capacity aligned with Mission Karmayogi principles. This collaboration aims to embed evidence-based reforms and enhance outcomes across the states core development priorities.

Position Summary

The Senior Program Associate (SPA) will play an important role in contextualising and executing the CEGIS vision in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. This includes handling concept notes, department-level diagnostics, solution identification, pilot development, pilot implementation, and providing support for scale-up initiatives. Projects typically involve frontline service delivery. Reporting to the respective Program Manager(s), you will significantly contribute to the analytical aspects of the projects, ensuring effective governance and public expenditure reforms.

Roles and Responsibilities

Data Analysis and Insight Generation:

    • Track and analyze data for accuracy and conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis.
    • Extract important insights from complex datasets relevant to key stakeholders.
    • Prioritize and address data issues promptly to support project progress and decision-making.

Research and Documentation

    • Independently conduct research and root cause analysis, documenting and presenting insights.
    • Produce comprehensive presentations and documentation to convey critical project insights.
    • Create concept notes, policy briefs, and other documentation for stakeholder communication.
    • Co-creates project specific solutions by collaborating with vertical teams
    • Suggests enhancements to project approach, frameworks and targeted solutions based on government context

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication:

    • Evaluate project contingencies and engage with internal and external stakeholders.
    • Anticipate client requirements through policy review
    • Coordinate stakeholder meetings and gather feedback for project progress and decision-making.
    • Foster deep connections with stakeholders including level 2 and level 3 stakeholders and suggest innovative ideas to nurture partnerships.

Project Management:

    • Plan and prioritise work plans, ensuring accountability for set timelines.
    • Evaluate project contingencies incl delays, roadblocks and assist in strategies to create buy-in
    • Ensure transparent and effective communication channels are maintained throughout the project lifecycle.
    • Develop high-quality outputs, including reports, notes, and analyses & Ensure these deliverables meet the standards for dissemination at various forums, contributing to the project's success and visibility.
    • Support project team members and manage their time effectively.
    • Assist in altering project goals and outcomes based on stakeholder feedback and project progress.
    • Take increasing responsibility for project management

Documentation and Knowledge Creation & Facilitation:`

    • Document and disseminate domain specific information that enables project success.
    • Create original knowledge pieces like blogs, concept notes, work flows etc.
    • Maintain Project based knowledge repository and contribute to other Knowledge management processes.

Required Qualifications, Skills and Abilities:

  • 3-6 years of experience with minimum 3 years of experience with a Masters degree or equivalent in economics, public policy, social science, or related fields from a reputable institution. High calibre Graduates will be considered.
  • Fluency in English and basic to intermediate proficiency in Hindi..
  • Proficiency in data analysis, including strong analytical skills in tracking and analyzing data, expertise in statistical tools like STATA and Excel, and conducting independent research and root cause analysis.
  • Strong problem-solving skills coupled with creative thinking aptitude, risk-taking willingness, and the ability to translate ideas into actionable plans, all complemented by adept project management abilities.
  • Exceptional writing and communication abilities to create documentation and presentations to convey complex ideas to diverse audiences.
  • Adaptability to excel in independent work environments and small organizational settings, demonstrating both self-motivation and the ability to work effectively with minimal supervision.
  • Capacity to foster partnerships and nurture stakeholder relationships.
  • Proficiency in prioritizing tasks, planning timelines, and consistently meeting deadlines.
  • Knowledge management and organizational skills for maintaining project-related data and information.
  • Commitment to CEGISs mission and values.

Location and Compensation

Location: The role will be based out of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Travel to other states may be required.

Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social sector pay scales and will depend on the candidate's experience levels.

Interested candidates are requested to submit their applications by clicking the apply button below

Note: CEGIS has zero tolerance for sexual harassment. We therefore expect each applicant to self-declare related to the same. CEGIS could, if required, initiate a prevention of sexual harassment-based background verification. If an applicant is reported for misconduct, appropriate action that may include employment termination would be taken. Please complete the details for self-declaration on the application form.

Pre-reads for the application process

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