State Coordinator, Program Operations

World Change Starts with Educated Children ®   2025 is our 25th Anniversary! J oin Us in Celebrating 25 Years of Progress. IMPORTANT : All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the country where the position is located. Room to Read is not able to provide sponsorship. Position Overview :

The State Coordinator, Program Operations is responsible for Room to Read’s operations in a geographic area, a state in this case. The State Coordinator is primarily responsible for ensuring government relations at state level, timely and effective implementation of programs at the field office, including implementation, spending, hiring, local procurement, inventory management, distribution and logistical support. The position is required to take initiative for project management, improving work approaches, partnerships, selection of projects sites, and ensuring adequate staff to work at the field level. They will work to strengthen coordination and collaboration within teams and across all CO program teams, maintaining and ensuring constructive communication, building team morale within individual teams and contributing to a positive working environment. State Head will report to the Senior Manager, Program Operations and will have dotted line reporting to various stakeholders from the Country Leadership Team. The entire state team will report to State Head.

Key Responsibilities :   System strengthening and system integration :

Working closely with State officials in ensuring government system strengthening and institutionalization of RtR programs in the states.

Preparation of overall strategic plan, basis local context and RtR Vision plan 2025 for the respective state and continuously reviewing the same.

Organizing various discussions / consultations with Government to work towards system strengthening and positioning RtR as a thought leader in Literacy and Girls Education program.

Building body of evidence that can push appropriate policy / practice changes backed by robust evidence.

Support INCO Op’s in proposal development and country growth plan as needed

External Coordination, branding, and Networking :

Attends to donor affairs including hosting donor and project site visits in collaboration with programs staff.

Develop and lead media advocacy plan for the state.

Assist RtR communication team in promotion of RtR programs through active media liasioning in state in accordance with the strategy, policies and guidelines of RtR.

Scanning of education landscape in the state and positioning RtR as a thought leader through strategic management

Take lead in dissemination of program results, sharing program report to government and other agencies in suggestions with OPS team.

Meets regularly with local government representatives, NGO partners, school administrators and parent groups to represent RtR.

Promotes and protects the reputation of Room to Read in external settings, ensuring that the organization’s experience and expertise is well communicated and consistently presented, and that we are looked upon as a professional Education organization.

Management and Coordination :

Ensures efficient and effective coordination across all elements of the Literacy Program and Girls’ Education Program in his / her region.

Supervises and oversees the work of the field staff and is responsible for optimizing their productivity through effective management and leadership techniques (, coaching / advising).

Ensures staff are consistently complying and adhering to policies, procedures and guidelines articulated in the CO handbooks and facilitates the dissemination of information to all staff members to promote transparency.

Supports staff through consultation with CO-level technical team to regularly assess staff capacity building needs.

Ensures the performance management process is well-planned and conducted in a timely for all field staff. This includes setting performance goals, conducting progress check-ins, providing feedback, conducting year-end appraisals, and making recommendations for staff development and career advancement.

Collaborates with Human Resources to handle recruitment and training of staff according to need.

Leads and facilitates field staff in bi-weekly or monthly meetings to review progress against plans, find solutions to problems, share lessons learned, exchange expertise across programs, and to motivate and encourage teamwork.

Ensures that field-staff are aware of and understand the programs’ goals and objectives, working approaches and methodology, and have all necessary information related to annual plans, targets, and implementation calendars.

Conducts regular field visits to monitor and verify the programs’ progress and impact, understand the challenges, and needs of stakeholders (, RtR staff, Social Mobilizers, Field Facilitators, communities, children, etc...), and suggest appropriate solutions.

Develop and implement plans for on-line material development in consultation with Country office as per the state specific context.

Perform other tasks as assigned by the Sr. Manager – Operations and Country Management Team.

Financial management :

Supervises fund disbursement, reviews and approves the field monthly and quarterly financial expenses in accordance with financial and purchasing policy and procedures.

Timely submission of Cash forecast, booking of monthly bills and variance tracker

Monthly tracking of all expense vis-à-vis the budgets and flagging any deviations to concerned person.

Coordinates the timely completion of annual planning and budgeting.

Ensuring full utilization of respective budgets as per the financial guidelines.

Co-ordinate and answer any audit queries for the state.

Reporting and Documentation :

Develops high quality quarterly report for distributing to partners, if applicable.

Prepares high quality monthly and quarterly donor programmatic reports, coordinate with concerned Program, Finance and OP’s department in INCO for finalizing and sharing the report on time.

Ensuring high level of data quality for all reporting purposes.

Preparation of appropriate case studies for submission to donors / communication team.

Qualifications : Required :

Master’s in education / social sciences / management Social Work or equivalent.

Minimum 12 years of relevant experience and 5+ years of management experience of related sector

Prior experience of community engagement / mobilization activities.

Command of the local language is preferred.

Compensation :

Room to Read offers a competitive salary with excellent benefits. Benefits include thirteenth month bonus, health insurance and a retirement plan. The non-monetary compensation includes a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, meaningful, and rapidly growing organization that is changing transforming the lives of millions of children in developing countries on literacy and gender equality in education.

Room to Read is a Child safe organization.

Child Protection Principles

• Room to Read is committed to the education and welfare of children and protecting them from abuse and exploitation
• Room to Read has zero tolerance for child abuse and exploitation.
• All children have the right to be free from abuse and exploitation, including neglect, maltreatment, and physical, mental or sexual violence, injury or abuse.
• All children should be treated with respect and dignity.
• The well-being of the child is Room to Read’s first priority when dealing with all identified or suspected cases of child abuse.
• Room to Read shall integrate child protection into all its organizational strategies, structures and work practices.

Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Principles

Room to Read is an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds. Read is a child-safe organization; all personnel must adhere to Room to Read’s Child Protection Policy, Child Protection Code of Conduct and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Policy.

About Room to Read :

Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, Room to Read envisions a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality, where all children have room to read, learn and grow – creating lasting change. Through our Literacy Portfolio, we train and coach teachers of the early grades in literacy instruction; create and publish quality books and curricular materials in local languages; and establish children’s libraries filled with diverse children’s books that can be enjoyed at school and home. Our Gender Equality Portfolio supports adolescents, particularly girls, in developing life skills that promote gender equality, helping them to pursue lifelong learning and make informed decisions.

We support young people of all genders to overcome gender biases and build the knowledge and skills to create a gender-equal world. Room to Read collaborates with local communities, partner organizations, publishers, and governments to test and implement innovative models that can be integrated into the education system to deliver positive outcomes for children at scale. To date, Room to Read has benefited more than 50 million children in 28 countries.