International Development - Program Associate, Schools Program, Quest Alliance, Odisha (2024)

Program Associate, Schools Program

Location: Bhadrak, Odisha

About Quest Alliance:

At Quest Alliance we transform learning ecosystems through education technology, capacity building, and collaboration to build 21st-century skills for learners and facilitators .

We are a not-for-profit trust that focuses on research-led innovation and advocacy in the field of teaching and learning. We engage with educators, civil society, government institutions and corporate organizations to demonstrate and enable scalable and replicable solutions in school education and vocational training .

At Quest you will get the opportunity to apply your skills and contribute to addressing issues around quality education and skills training. The organization gives you the space to learn and grow in a fun and engaging environment. We have an eclectic group of people working at Quest drawn from diverse disciplines including Education, Technology, Design, Youth Development and Business.

About the Role

Quest Alliance has been working in the secondary schools for the past few years. In 2020, we rolled out a program to build 21st century skills and STEM mindsets among adolescent girls (grade 8 and 9) from government schools in Odisha. One of the key areas of QUEST’s work is around building computational thinking among adolescents and youths. In Odisha we intend to work with 1075 secondary schools across 30 districts of the state to enable adolescents building computational thinking and skills to code.

We are looking for multiple Program Associate who will be responsible to work closely with the teachers, and district officials and ensure smooth implementation of the programme at the school level. Each Program Associate will be responsible for managing programmes in schools of two districts. The responsibilities include orientation of the teachers and district officials for enhancing more support and systemic buy-in. Training of teachers on the aspects of computational thinking and 21st century skills and conducting workshops with students at the school level. The personnel will also be responsible for managing and organizing events/camps at the school and district level.

Detailed Responsibilities

• Ensuring that the officials at the district level and teachers are oriented about the approach of the programme and their support is being given
• Work closely with the district officials in ensuring that the programme becomes part of the main agenda of the district, shared vision is being developed along with plans which are reviewed in agreed timelines
• Facilitate training of teachers on the modules of computational thinking and 21st century skills.
• Ensure that the students are being on-boarded to the chatbot and are completing their coursework online
• Ensure that the students database is being secured from the teachers and is updated at all times
• Facilitate workshop/camps for students to attend physical hour of code sessions and build understanding
• Organize and facilitate hackathons at the school level to engage and support students in identification of problem statements, identify solutions and building prototypes.
• Ensure that the prototypes developed by students are recorded and stored properly
• Facilitate the process of recognition in the district and ensure identification of best practices
• Ensure and organize share out events at the district level for teachers and students to showcase their work
• Support teachers and students in representing the districts and share their work during the state level event
• Ensure submission of all required data and reports
• Ensure submission of all best practices, change stories and photos

Required skills and Experience:

• Minimum 1-2 years of work experience in facilitation of training, workshop or working with teachers/students
• Prior experience of facilitating training and workshops for the govt. Teachers (desirable)
• Willingness to learn and influence prevalent practices in education ecosystem
• Having prior knowledge of working in Scratch 2.0, 3.0 or Scratch Junior is preferred
• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills in English and Odia (preferred)
• Excellent IT skills
• Willingness to travel
• Ability to train, build capacity of, and manage relationships with new people
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively with other teams

Salary: The pay band for the position starts at Rs. 30,000/- per month (cost to company)(The salary offered will be commensurate with the experience and expertise of the candidate)

To Apply

At Quest Alliance, we pride ourselves on being an Equal Opportunities employer, embracing applications from all segments of the community. We are committed to ensuring that every applicant and employee is treated with fairness and respect, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, marital status, social status, caste, religious belief, age, or any other factor that is irrelevant to performance. Your individuality is valued and respected within our organization.

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