About Mantra4Change
A decade ago, Mantra4Change stepped into the education ecosystem with a vision to transform public education in India. We believe that in a unique nation like India, our approach to quality education cannot be exclusive of systemic reforms and collective action. We work with stakeholders in the system especially in positions of leadership to enable school improvement across the states we work with. A key question that drives us is - how might we enable enriching experiences for children at scale, with speed, and sustainably? Committed to enabling education leaders to drive sustainable improvements across 150,000 schools by the end 2025, we aim to ensure that every child has the skills and knowledge to thrive in an ever-evolving world.
Our Programs are designed to improve and impact critical challenges:
- at ground level like teacher capacity building - Transform
- at system level like empowering leaders with administrative and academic tools - Enable
- at ecosystem level by inspiring thought leaders and entrepreneurs to build a collective of changemakers - Inspire
About the role
The State Program Lead: Research & Design role is aimed at understanding the grass-root challenges, learning from research, and designing innovative solutions for stakeholders. This role is most suited for those exploring opportunities in doing primary and/or secondary research and in leading program design.
Roles and Responsibilities
Monitoring & Evaluation (40%)
- Lead the evolution of M4C organizational M&E strategy, plans and frameworks across diverse programs and geographies.
- Design, maintain and align M&E systems in consonance with program goals, Theory of Change, and government partner outcomes.
- Embed mechanisms for continuous learning and reflection across teams and projects to incorporate insights from evaluation into program design and operations.
- Build pathways for evidence to inform Mantra program design, strategy, and system-level engagements.
- Evaluate underlying causes for gaps in implementation, collaborate to respond effectively and contribute to customizing program
- Co-create baseline and endline of all key programs with external partners and enable SCERT assessment cell to design and conduct baseline- endline , ITEM development, Holistic Progress Card etc. for the PBL and FLN program.
Research & Design (30%)
- Research and develop tools to identify needs of schools and teachers
- Design pilot-ready solutions for problems, challenges, and needs identified through research
- Collaborate with partners for piloting solutions, collecting data on the pilot, and refining solutions based on pilot
- Create case studies and position and research papers on the solutions
- Design strategies for dissemination of solutions
- Identify and forge new external partnerships with organizations/people aimed at learning from existing resources
- Participate in meetings, workshops or related forums/events that contribute to development and growth of Mantra
Team Development(20%)
- Build and mentor a high-performing Research, M&E and tech team with clarity of purpose, skill, and autonomy.
- Design and implement team development and mentoring processes to reach and maintain high performance levels.
- Support field teams and government officers in using Research, M&E tools and interpreting data for decision-making.
- Promote a culture of curiosity, questioning, and experimentation in data practices across the organization
Innovation(10%)
- Design and Pilot interventions of your choice and interest area in alignment with organizational goals with state education department
Experience & Competencies Required
- Master’s degree in Public Policy, Education, Development Studies, Data Science, or related fields preferred.
- Min 5 years in Monitoring & Evaluation, with experience managing tech products/tools and working with education systems.
- Hands-on experience with data systems (e.g., Power BI/Looker Studio/Tableau, Google Suite/Excel, Survey CTO/Kobo Toolbox, or others). Proficient in MS Office, excel in particular, along with Stata, SPSS, etc.
- Familiarity with education data, government MIS systems, or EdTech platforms (e.g., DIKSHA etc.)
- Prior work experience in the education/development sector is a must.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to simplify complex insights for diverse audiences, and fluency in English and Hindi.
Remuneration: An annual CTC of INR 8 Lakhs onwards (depending on competency and experience)
Location: Patna, Bihar
Learn more about Mantra on our website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
