Evidence Action is hiring for Senior Program Associate. Evidence Action aims to be a world leader in scaling evidence-based and cost-effective programs to reduce the burden of poverty for hundreds of millions of people in the poorest places. Last year Deworm the World reached 280 million people with deworming medications, partnering with governments to launch, scale, and sustain mass school-based deworming programs, including in India. Meanwhile, Dispensers for Safe Water provided 4M people across rural Africa with clean water, saving thousands of young lives. The approach relies on an innovative and human-centric design to deliver clean water at the source. These serve as just two examples of the work Evidence Action is undertaking.
Job Description
- Inspired by mission of measurably improving the lifelong prospects of hundreds of millions of people across India
- Strong problem solver and people manager supporting the lead of India
- Prepared to take over all responsibilities of National Program Manager in their absence
- Proficient at handling state-based programs, managing teams, liasing with government stakeholders and NGOs.
- Support the global team to facilitate transparent communication about progress and results
- Required to travel to state-based pilot sites for up to 50% of time.
Job Responsibilities
Overall
- The Sr. Program Associate must be prepared to serve as the National Program Manager and take over their responsibilities in the NPM’s absence
Pilot Implementation
- With assistance of the NPM, manage a pilot team of nine individuals across three states and eighteen locations
- Serve as the day-to-day pilot manager considering timelines, establishing and ensuring the pilot meets deadlines, and involved in the finer details of the exercise
- Lead and operate across all phases of the pilot from pilot establishment to implementation to scale down and transition
- Be prepared to represent Evidence Action and EAII Advisors Private Limited in engagements with national Jal Jeevan Mission representatives, state Jal Jeevan Mission representatives, state departments of water, NGO partners, suppliers, manufacturers, and others
- Remain informed on budget implementation and keep global team representatives updated of budget spend vs. budget planned
- There will be a heavy emphasis on supplier and contract engagement. Hold suppliers and contractors accountable for work, agreements, timelines, and warranties under contract
- Coordinate with the data collection and information management firm(s) to capture baseline, pilot conduct, and post-pilot information
- Support assessment of each device’s installation process, operational feasibility, and device efficacy of water treatment technologies
- Participate in weekly calls with global team leadership providing status updates and appropriately forecast where challenges may arise
- Maintain a learning perspective and throughout the process capture and document in written form lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations on devices, pilot design, and pilot implementation
- Help inform a final recommendation and report to state level governments and Jal Jeevan Mission on the performance and efficacy of the water treatment technologies in their designated intervention points
Program Management & Leadership
- Continually assess where challenges may arise in pilot development, implementation, and scale down. Place self and leadership team at greatest points of friction to mitigate those challenges
- Serve as the primary point of contact and manager of three state managers
- Establish and implement timelines for each state
- Willingness to operate in constrained timeline
- Support leadership team visits to Delhi and pilot sites
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in related fields with at least 8 years of relevant professional experience of progressively increasing responsibility in program delivery at scale.
- Demonstrated experience in day-to-day management of project activities and program deliverables. Experience of scaling water interventions in India will be an advantage;
- Demonstrated experience working with the government in India.
- Demonstrated experience managing teams across multiple states;
- Ability and willingness to operate in time constrained and uncertain environments;
- Excellent spoken and written English. Ability to synthesize information clearly and produce good quality documents keeping to tight deadlines.
- Strong existing network in the development sector (preferably water, health & nutrition) in India.
- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to engage with internal and external stakeholders within India and globally.
- Exceptional ability to work with minimal supervision, while also proactively communicating relevant progress updates and bottlenecks requiring attention or support from leadership;
- Availability and willingness to travel within India up to 50% of the time.