Job Description

Position -Senior Program Associate, Knowledge Creation and Management 

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/



About: Knowledge Creation and Management (KCM)

Knowledge Creation and Management (KCM) has recently become one of the most sought-after fields in the information and consulting industry. In the age of high and dynamic information transactions, it is essential to preserve organisational and expert knowledge through various enablers, systems, and process frameworks. Over the past 5 years, CEGIS has been working closely with various state governments, while delivering solutions for system strengthening. The organisation is currently at a pivotal point, where this extensive experience has amassed a significant pool of knowledge. This repository of insights is valuable not only internally but also holds substantial external relevance. In response, the Organisation is fast transitioning into a knowledge-centric entity, while capturing and preserving the body of knowledge for effective applications. This shift also involves active sharing and collaborative learning from interactions with the broader ecosystem to leverage into existing and future state capacity interventions. CEGIS knowledge management team plays a crucial role while working closely with core company strategy and serving as a central processing hub, collaborating with - various organisational groups, project teams, state and vertical leads, executive members, and advisors. 

As a member of the KCM team, your role will be dedicated to contributing for developing and solidifying various organisational dimensions of the knowledge building blocks, to name a few Systems and Processes, Culture and Values, Databases and use of Technology, Resources and Assets, Personnel, and Partnerships. The KCM team also works on developing various frameworks and templates for output-oriented steer with teams, while also ensuring quality adherence to processes for effectively capturing and disseminating knowledge across different levels of activity. Overall, the role with this team is crucial in strengthening CEGIS as a knowledge organisation and effectively positioning the organisational offerings in the solutions and thought leadership space

Position Summary: 

As a Senior program associate (SPA), you will regularly engage with various teams to develop knowledge outputs and products. These activities include- coordinating, assessing, creating, and delivering knowledge for internal and external audiences. The PA is desirous of having experience in the social sector, the ability to work in a multidisciplinary team, and a basic working knowledge of various study methodologies and impact assessments in the social sector. The candidate must be willing to work on new ideas and tools and have a problem-solving aptitude. The position offers an exciting opportunity to shape the knowledge management systems of one of the leading organisations in India's governance consulting ecosystem.

List of Key Responsibilities:

1. Identify and organise insightful process information, process learnings, and knowledge assets for organisational utility.
2. Monitor and maintain knowledge management systems, including - databases, protocols, processes, and various outputs, to ensure an accurate and up-to-date knowledge management system.
3. Evaluate the effective usage of knowledge management systems, templates, and adherence to quality processes for developing knowledge outputs and products.
4. Contribute towards developing various knowledge enablers in the organisation, such as - Protocols, Toolkits, Knowledge Templates, questionnaires, Facilitation Guides and Frameworks.
5. Contribute to research, interviews, focused group discussions and workshops on behalf of project teams towards curating knowledge.
6. Gather, synthesise, organise, and share knowledge produced during interaction with project teams with external and internal stakeholders, and document the learnings in suitable formats.
7. Diligent execution of administrative and other necessary activities, e.g. organising meetings, preparing minutes, follow-ups with teams, reporting updates, etc.

Desired Characteristics and Job Skills:

1. High understanding and strong passion for working in the social development sector.
2. Proficient in sourcing, collecting, curating, structuring and empirical analysis of Information for required knowledge assessments.
3. Competent as a team player and able to deliver outputs with minimum supervision
4. Ability to handle multiple diverse assignments simultaneously, complete assigned tasks and meet deadlines while conducting high-quality work
5. Excellent communication, narration and writing skills.
6. Well-versed with MS Office tool, Organisational and Management Tools (e.g. Slack, Google Workspace, Notion, Timesheet, etc.) and Presentation Skills
7. Strong work ethic and sense of self-responsibility towards the assigned tasks
8. Enthusiastic learner and active contributor towards the growth of CEGIS.

Education and Experience:

1. Bachelor's or Master's in - Economics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, or related fields from a reputed institution.
2. 2-3 years of work experience in India with organisations working in related fields, i.e. research agencies, policy think tanks, government or private sector organisations working on government advisory or consulting.
3. Working experience in delivering projects involving government collaboration.
4. Candidates with interdisciplinary qualifications or specialised certifications in the associated subjects are encouraged to apply.
5. Strong analytical ability and problem-solving are desired skills.

Location and Remuneration:

• The candidate will be located in the New Delhi Office.
• The remuneration depends on the candidate's experience and merit. 
• The pay scales are competitive with those of Indian philanthropy and the social sector.

Travel:

Domestic Travel within India to engage with different state teams, as per requirements. The travel time distribution will vary depending on project needs and could range from approximately 10% to 15% of the working time.

Additional Information

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

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.