AMERICAN INDIA FOUNDATION

Education Program- Digital

Position Title Project Lead Program Equalizer (STEM Powering
Students Projects)
Location Bangalore Reporting Relationship Regional Program Manager
Nature of
Staff Number of Position 1
Employment
Duration: 9 Months or till the project end date, whichever is earliest.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN INDIA FOUNDATION

The American India Foundation Trust (AIF) is committed to improving the lives of India’s underprivileged, with a
special focus on women, children, and youth. The Foundation does this through high-impact interventions in
education, health, and livelihoods because poverty is multidimensional. Founded over two decades ago, in the
aftermath of the devastating Gujarat earthquake, as a humanitarian initiative by the then Prime Minister of
India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji, and the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, AIF has impacted the lives of 18.88
million of India’s poor across 35 States and Union Territories of India.

Registered as a Trust in India, with an independent Board of Trustees, AIF adheres to strict financial and
governance standards, ensuring transparency, accountability, and responsible management of resources. As per
statutory mandates, AIF is registered under FCRA, CSR, 80G, and 12A. These registrations and certifications are
tangible evidence of the organization's existence, credibility, and compliance with the applicable legal and
regulatory frameworks while demonstrating a firm commitment to its vision and mission. Learn more
at https://aif-india.org/

ABOUT DIGITAL EQUALIZER PROGRAM

Digital Equalizer (DE) envisions a world where all children from under-served communities, especially girls, are
prepared for a career and life. The program is bridging India’s digital divide by providing and integrating
technology into underperforming, under-resourced public schools, training teachers in techno-pedagogy and
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) methodology, and transforming classrooms into
collaborative and interactive places for students to learn while preparing them for success in the 21st-century
global economy. Targeting students most at risk of dropping out of school (grades 6-10), Digital Equalizer instills
a love for learning in them. Since its inception in 2004, the Program has empowered 8.14 million children with
interactive STEM experiences, trained 240,302 teachers in STEM pedagogy, and transformed 46,385
schools across 35 states and union territories of the country.

ABOUT PROJECT

As the schools are vulnerable to a variety of cybersecurity threats, including data breaches, phishing scams,
social engineering attacks, etc. In this project of ours, we are working towards bridging this gap and provide
cyber security awareness to Government school students in 4 states of India (Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) and reaching out to 1500 schools. The project aims to provide cybersecurity awareness
within government schools, thereby fostering a safer digital environment for students, teachers and schools. The
Project will not only help address the immediate challenges faced by cyber threats in but also create a
foundation for a more equitable and inclusive digital future.

KEY ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Overview: The role of a project lead is to act as the end accountable person for the program’s projects across
planning, implementation/execution/delivery, reporting, donor driven requirements, financial & other statutory

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compliances. They will be required to plan, manage, supervise, and organize activities and ensure that project
goals align with the program objectives & organization’s mission.

1. Project Planning, Implementation & Budgeting:

• Develop an operating plan & goals with detailed project plan (micro-plans), for the delivery of the
project as per organizational protocols & contractual commitments.
• End accountability for timely execution of all project’s activities and operating plan as per
organizational standards of time and quality to fulfill project’s MoU / contractual commitments.
• Ensure excellent project management and effective utilization of time and resources.
• Analyze project risks.
• Based on project monitoring, Implement and manage changes and interventions to ensure project
goals are achieved.

2. Approvals, Documentation & Legal compliances:

• Proactively seek approvals from government, partners, any other stakeholders as applicable, to ensure
timely on-ground implementation.
• Ensure timely and accurate documentations - legal and others, w.r.t project implementation activities,
including but not limited to, contracts, budgets, expenses, fund utilization, manpower, administrative
expenses etc.
• Ensure all legal compliances are adhered to within the project at all times including, labor compliances,
taxation and other financial compliance, auditory compliances, POSH, Child protection, Code of
Conduct, HR & admin policies.

3. Manpower hiring, HR management & contracting:

• Proactively plan manpower staffing for effective project delivery.
• Conduct recruit activities as per HR policies. Prepare JDs, NAFs, design & conduct technical assessments
and participate in the selection process actively to ensure timely recruitment of qualified project
manpower.
• Train the project team effectively to deliver to the needs of the project.
• Consultancy contract management for projects’ consultants to ensure 100% compliance and zero
deviations w.r.t organizational & legal compliances. Ensure contracts are UpToDate and duly approved
by Leadership before manpower is deployed on ground.
• Manage the project team to ensure project’s goals are met, esp. in the areas including donor
satisfaction, safety, quality, and teams’ performance & motivation. Set goals for the project team,
monitor progress & performance monthly and give timely feedback and support to ensure the team
performs well.
• Adhere to all HR policies for project staff & consultants.
• Proactively support HR in project staff hiring & HR operations such as performance management,
development, data, MIS etc.

4. Financial management, Budget monitoring, expense management & approvals:

• Develop a detailed operational budget for the project.
• Proactively manage budget utilization & project expenses.
• Monthly monitor and report budget utilization, project expenses internally & externally;
• Local expense management incl. approvals, staff expense approvals, management of advances &
reimbursements, local procurements,
• Collaborate proactively with Finance on all statutory & donor compliances w.r.t project finances;
• Vendor management for administrative & other services as per project needs & organizational norms;

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 • Optimal utilization of ERP for timely & accurate project expense management, procurements,
reimbursements etc.

5. Reporting:
• Ensure monthly project monitoring through Smartsheet and timely updation to maintain accuracy at
all times on Smartsheet for respective projects.
• Consistently provide excellent quality data and documentation that meet the quality standards of the
organization;
• Produce accurate and timely reporting of project status throughout its life cycle - conduct project
reviews monthly, quarterly for Leadership and as per project MoUs and contracts.

6. Communications:
• Share project updates and highlights from time to time including written notes & briefs, photographs
& videos, presentations etc.
• Ensure success stories are documented and shared periodically for program communication through
AIF social media handles;
• Facilitate field visit for any internal & external stakeholders incl Leadership, Board, Donors, Partners
and any other.
• Support in planning & execution of events, training for the project at the ground-level.

7. Evaluations & studies:

• Support in evaluation studies.
• Support in development of evaluation methods to assess project strengths and identify areas for
improvement.

8. Government representation:
• Proactively engage with government bodies and relevant stakeholders for implementation success,
project sustainability, scalability & replication.
• Actively foster new Government relationships and nurture existing relationships with government
partners.

9. Stakeholder engagement:
• Ensure timely and effective communication & active engagement (including periodic meetings) with all
internal & external stakeholders to make communication easy and transparent regarding project
progress, issues and related decisions;

10. Donor engagement & Fundraising:

• Coordinate a system for regular feedback from donors and partners;
• Build excellent professional relationships with our donors & partners;

11. Technology utilization: Utilize all technological tools and innovations as per organizational norms

12. Administration & Procurements:

• Proactively plan for procurement to meet MoUs and contractual commitments.
• Execute procurement activities timely, as per organizational policies & protocols.

13. Fundraising:
• Develop proposals timely and partner with the SP team to ensure uninterrupted project funding as well
as for follow-up funding;

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 14. Field & facility management:
• Regulator visit to the field for effective monitoring.
• Ensure Field leasing, rent renewals and general office administration is planned & managed for safety,
cost optimization & efficient project monitoring - adhere to all admin & HR policies applicable;

15. Organizational ambassadorship:

• Adhere and maintain utmost levels of integrity & urgency towards all legal, statutory & organizational
compliances that may be required internally or externally from time to time and as per prevalent laws
and/or donor requirements.
• Work smoothly with peers and managers and receive constructive feedback well;
• Go beyond own deliverables to support others in the team or the larger organization where required;
• Maintain the highest level of respect & integrity towards the organization’s policies, goals and values.

REQUIRED KEY SKILLS, QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE:

1. Post-graduation, with specialization in social entrepreneurship or communication or development

management or economics or business studies preferred.
2. Minimum 05 years of experience- either as a lead team member in a social enterprise and/or non-profit
organization and/or eco-system building, with minimum 02 years of direct accountability as leader /
manager of a project of upto/ around 1 Crore.
3. Prior experience in a consulting venture or strategic communication, fundraising and research functions
would be preferred.
4. Strong personal demonstrable commitment to “serve” those who are underprivileged.
5. High personal Integrity.
6. Strong PowerPoint presentation design & delivery skills.
7. Excellent English skills –written and verbal.
8. Demonstrated excellence in time management, multi-tasking and problem-solving ability.
9. Adaptability, flexibility, and openness to feedback.
10. Ability to deliver under pressure and work on tight deadlines.
11. Ability to work in fast changing environment and continuously evolving needs,
12. Strong team playing skills.
13. “Can do” attitude.
14. Ability to work independently with large volumes of data with initiative.
15. Ability to work with across teams and supervisors.
16. Ability to respond positively to feedback.
17. Ability to respect diverse point of views.

OTHERS:
Salary shall commensurate with experience.

POSITION AVAILABILITY:
Immediate

APPLICATION PROCESS:
To apply for this position, please click https://forms.gle/KktuRRdkuoA8UDoD9. Only applications of shortlisted
candidates will be acknowledged.
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