Program Lead - Design and Monitoring & Evaluation in Patna | Mantra4Change | ₹8-10 LPA

Mantra4Change

Mantra4Change is a non-profit that works with state governments to improve public schools in India, so that millions of children can learn better and thrive. It works closely with state education departments, the SCERT (State Council of Educational Research and Training) and DIETs (District Institutes of Education and Training), to build strong school and system leaders, create schools where teachers work together, and bring communities in as partners in learning. Its belief is that lasting change happens when governments lead their own improvement. By pairing on-ground work with steady learning, it helps school systems find what works, grow it carefully, and keep it going. This role sits within Mantra4Change's STEP Bihar program, which has worked with Bihar's education department since 2021 on Project-Based Learning for Grades 6 to 8 in all 38 districts, a cadre of about 4,200 government academic mentors, teacher development planned by DIETs, and deeper district work in Lakhisarai and Gaya.

Role

As Program Lead - Design and Monitoring & Evaluation, you will own both the plan behind STEP Bihar and the evidence that shows whether it is working. You will design the theory of change, outcome chains and workplans, then build the indicators, data systems, dashboards and studies that check whether the program is truly changing how the system works, how teachers teach, and how students learn. You will work with government partners and help the Bihar and district teams use data to make decisions, not only to report numbers.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the theory of change, outcome chains and logic frameworks for each state workstream, with short, medium and long-term outcomes kept separate and assumptions written down clearly.
• Turn the program design into annual workplans and clear goals that each workstream team can follow.
• Create the state set of indicators with baselines, targets, data sources and reporting schedules, keeping outputs (like trainings held) separate from outcomes (like changes in classroom practice).
• Measure training and capacity building in levels, tracking what people learned separately from what they changed in their work, and link progress to Bihar's SQAAF (School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework) and PARAKH (the national assessment centre) benchmarks.
• Design data collection tools for classroom observation, mentoring visits, training and reviews, set data quality standards, and build state and district dashboards with the VSK (Vidya Samiksha Kendra, the state's education data centre).
• Support SCERT and DIETs to run yearly student assessment surveys, commission studies when new answers are needed, guide outside evaluators, and turn field evidence into changes in program design.
• Run monthly state and district reviews that lead to clear decisions, and visit the field with officials to check that the work on the ground matches the data.
• Write concept notes, proposals, results frameworks and reports for funders and government backed by real evidence, keep records of program decisions, and build the design and measurement skills of program teams and government partners.

Requirements

• A master's degree in education, social sciences, economics, statistics, public policy or a related field.
• 4 to 8 years of experience in program design, M&E (monitoring and evaluation) or research, ideally in education, with past work in the education or consulting sector preferred.
• Proven, hands-on experience building theories of change, logical frameworks, logic models and indicator sets, with real work you can show.
• Strong number skills, working knowledge of SurveyCTO, Kobo or similar tools, and experience building dashboards in Looker Studio, Power BI or similar, with Python, R or Stata as an advantage.
• An understanding of Bihar's education system and of policies such as NEP (National Education Policy) 2020, NCF-SE (National Curriculum Framework for School Education) 2023, PARAKH, SQAAF and Mission NIPUN Bihar.
• Working knowledge of G-Suite, Canva, DIKSHA (the national digital learning platform), data dashboards and basic AI tools.
• Excellent written and spoken Hindi and English, and the ability to work well with government officials.
• Based in Patna and able to travel to districts in and outside the assigned area, and able to attend an in-person assessment centre in Patna, covering your own travel and stay.

Benefits

• Annual CTC (cost to company) starting at ₹8 LPA (lakh per annum), based on your experience and last drawn salary.
• 24 days of paid leave and 12 holidays each year.
• Health insurance of up to ₹5 lakh for you and your dependents.
• One day of menstrual leave each month for women employees.
• A ₹5,000 learning and development fund for job-related courses.
• A trust-based, open and collaborative team where questions and new ideas are welcome.

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