Senior Program Associate- SPF

Position Name: Senior Program Associate- SPF

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Location:

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Organization Name

Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS)

Job Description

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.

The four key characteristics of any high-performing organisation are (a) measuring outcomes through reliable, high quality data that enables goal setting and monitoring progress towards these goals; (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 is based on evidence and cost-effectiveness; (d) and creating efficient systems to leverage external actors (including for-profit and nonprofit organisations). The Indian State needs to perform better on all four fronts above, by enhancing its capacity. CEGIS partners with states to improve this capacity by focusing on these four pillars of the State.

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. This vision and Theory of Change (ToC) is an outcome of extensive research done by Prof. Karthik Muralidharan (CEGIS Co-Founder and Scientific Director) and strategic philanthropic support provided by Mr. Ashish Dhawan (CEGIS Co-Founder).

Prof. Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellors Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. Over the past two decades, he has led extensive research projects in India across education, health, and social welfare. His book, Accelerating Indias Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance, systematically analyses Indias governance challenges and provides actionable, evidence-based strategies, emphasising state-level reforms as critical for Indias advancement.

Ashish Dhawan is a leading Indian philanthropist and the Founder-CEO of The Convergence Foundation (TCF). He is also the Founding Chairperson of Ashoka University and the Central Square Foundation, and is a governing board member of the Gates Foundation. Before his second career as a philanthropist, Ashish was among Indias most successful private equity investors.

CEGIS Approach and Model of Functioning

Our solutions to enhance governance are co-created with state governments in a state-led way, where we focus on deep partnerships with states with 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.

In alignment with our four principles or pillars of change - outcome measurement, personnel management, strategic public finance, states and markets, CEGIS is currently working with the governments of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, NCT of Delhi, Assam, and a few Government of India entities like the NITI Aayog and Capacity Building Commission (CBC) across a range of projects and sectors. Through CEGIS flagship offering, the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) Survey, we are helping enable state governments we are working with to collect better quality citizen level data, make informed, evidence-based decisions, and institutionalise this process of securing periodic citizen-level feedback. We are setting up a Financial Analytics Unit (FAU) to enhance analytical capacity and increase the effectiveness of budgetary allocations of the Finance Department in another state. In alignment with our personnel management workstream, we are also working with the HR/Administrative Reforms & Training Department to set up and institutionalise an in-house Capacity Building Unit (CBU) that aids the adoption of competency-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Performance Management Systems (PMS) with a few of these entities. Similarly, to improve the value of public money, we are working at the interface of states and markets which encompasses procurement, regulation, and policy formulation. Our solutions are constantly being refined based on real-time feedback and are designed to be customised and replicated across contexts.

CEGIS@5: A Journey of Learning & Building Capacity

Since its incorporation in 2019, despite the enormous challenges posed by COVID, CEGIS has gained significant momentum in building strong collaborations with the 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 2 state government engagements in the first 2 years of its inception, today CEGIS is working across several Indian states with 15+ projects across several sectors, including education, nutrition and local governance. From a small group of founding members, we have grown by leaps and bounds to become a team of 150+ members located across the country. Helmed by a former bureaucrat with invaluable governance experience, state and solution team leads with decades of domain expertise, and enabling functions led by professionals with considerable corporate careers, the team at CEGIS brings together knowledge and experience that spans various sectors - from developmental economics, research, and governance to management consulting and social entrepreneurship.

Over the last 5 years, we have also been able to garner support for our vision and theory of change from a diverse range of foundations and philanthropists whose partnership has enabled us to build our own organisational capacity as well as continue to experiment and improve our solution design to augment state capacity and governance. We believe that this approach will gradually enable all government officials to achieve their goals more effectively, thereby improving the ability of the State to deliver services to all Indian citizens in the decades to come.

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.

Funding Partners

TCF-https://theconvergencefoundation.org

NATCO- https://www.natcopharma.co.in/

Veddis Foundation- https://veddis.org/

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- https://www.gatesfoundation.org/

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation- https://www.dell.org/

Overview

Within CEGIS, the Public Revenue/Taxation/Public Finance teams role is to support institutionalisation of data driven decision making by setting up the required infrastructure and technical capacity with the relevant line departments. High quality data and insights generated are expected to aid the State in goal setting, progress monitoring and strategic decision making. In addition, as a sectoral workstream, specific objectives are furthered by testing and institutionalising interventions in the form of Micro RCTs with the larger goal of improving tax compliance and augmenting revenues.

Position Summary

As a Senior Program Associate (SPA) at The Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS), you will play a vital role in various projects across their entire life cycle. This includes handling concept notes, department-level diagnostics, solution identification, pilot development, pilot implementation, and providing support for scale-up initiatives, all while significantly contributing to the analytical aspects of the projects. Typically, these projects shall be anchored with the Departments of Finance and Planning and may involve engagements with frontline service delivery departments (e.g., local governance, nutrition, education etc.). You'll ensure effective governance and public expenditure reforms by meticulously tracking and analyzing data from various sources, conducting independent research and root cause analysis, and presenting insights for effective problem-solving. Additionally, you'll support project planning and implementation, stakeholder engagement, and documentation of project progress and knowledge management under the supervision of respective Project Leads.

Key Result Areas (KRAs)

• Data Analysis and Insight Generation:
• Engage with departments to collect relevant data, develop quantitative and qualitative tools/templates, administer these tools, and support in cleaning and organizing the data.
• 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.
• Ensure compliance with internal data management and security protocols
• Research and Documentation:

• Independently conduct research and root cause analysis, documenting and presenting insights.
• Produce comprehensive presentations and documentation to convey critical project insights.
• Collaborate with other teams to jointly develop and implement technical solutions tailored to specific project requirements as is suitable for the states context.
• Create concept notes, policy briefs, and other documentation for stakeholder communication.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Communication:

• Evaluate project contingencies and engage with internal and external stakeholders.
• Assist the project team in collecting critical information and departmental updates by maintaining regular communication with government counterparts, partner organisations, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Coordinate stakeholder meetings and gather feedback for project progress and decision-making.
• Foster deep connections with stakeholders and suggest innovative ideas to nurture partnerships.
• Project Management & Delivery:

• Understand project requirements, coordinate with internal teams and external partners for delivery excellence.
• Support comparison and assessment of different strategies, frameworks, and solutions for effective decision-making.
• Plan and prioritise work plans, ensuring accountability for set timelines.
• Assist in altering project goals and outcomes based on stakeholder feedback and project progress, flag project risks.
• Support knowledge management processes to help achieve project and organisational objectives (for example, assisting in maintaining a project-based knowledge repository).
  
  

Qualifications

A Masters degree or equivalent preferred in economics, public policy, social science or related fields from a reputed institution, bright graduate applicants may be considered.

• 3-6 years of experience. Minimum 3 years of work experience in India with organisations working in related fields of work i.e., research agencies, policy think-tanks, government or private sector organisations working on government advisory or consulting
• Proven experience in project management and analytical contributions.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.
• Experience with data cleaning and analysis of large and complex data sets and econometric analysis
• Knowledge of STATA or R (strongly preferred) or any other data analysis software preferred
• Experience in client servicing/government projects would be preferred
• Report writing and presentations with proficiency in MS Office and other tools
  
  

Personal Characteristics and Desired Qualities

• Fluency in English and proficiency in Tamil.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, with an aptitude for research to formulate solutions
• Excellent writing and communication skills (ability to communicate complex ideas in a meaningful way and across different audiences)
• Ability to set priorities, plan timelines and meet deadlines
• Ability to think creatively, willing to take risks, to experiment with new ideas and to turn ideas into action
• High ability to collaborate and actively listen to others, understanding and valuing others views
• Operating style suited to working independently and in a small organization setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued
  
  

Note: CEGIS has zero tolerance to 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 of misconduct, appropriate action that may include employment termination would be taken. Please Click the link for self declaration.

Pre-reads for the application process

Please go through the following materials before sending in your application:

• Concept note on CEGIS
• A glimpse into life at CEGIS - CEGIS Retreat 2024
• CEGIS Snapshot 2023-24
• Podcast episodes with Prof. Karthik Muralidharan one each on education and healthcare in India.
• You are also encouraged to read more of Prof. Karthik Muralidharans work here and through his book Accelerating Indias Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Indias Development.