Job Description:
Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS pronounced See-Jis) aims to improve lives by helping Indian state governments deliver (beer development outcomes.
The four key characteristics of any high-performing organisation are (a) measuring outcomes through reliable, high quality data that enables goal setting and monitoring progress towards these goals; (b) strategic use of personnel competency based hiring and training, skilling, and performance appraisals to determine job assignments, pay, and promotions to achieve the goals above; (c) strategic budgeting where resource allocation is based on evidence and cost-effectiveness; (d) and creating efficient systems to leverage external actors (including for-profit and nonprofit organisations). The Indian State needs to perform beer on all four fronts above, by enhancing its capacity. CEGIS partners with states to improve this capacity by focusing on these four pillars of the State.
Informed by cutting-edge research and evidence as well as a practical orientation toward implementable ideas, CEGIS works with State Governments in India to enable a transformative improvement in their functioning. This vision and Theory of Change (ToC) is an outcome of extensive research done by Prof. Karthik Muralidharan (CEGIS Co-Founder and Scientific Director) and strategic philanthropic support provided by Mr. Ashish Dhawan (CEGIS Co-Founder).
Prof. Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellors Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. Over the past two decades, he has led extensive research projects in India across education, health, and social welfare. His book, Accelerating Indias Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance, systematically analyses Indias governance challenges and provides actionable, evidence-based strategies, emphasising state-level reforms as critical for Indias advancement.
Ashish Dhawan is a leading Indian philanthropist and the Founder-CEO of The Convergence Foundation (TCF). He is also the Founding Chairperson of Ashoka University and the Central Square Foundation, and is a governing board member of the Gates Foundation. Before his second career as a philanthropist, Ashish was among Indias most successful private equity investors.
CEGIS Approach and Model of Functioning
Our solutions to enhance governance are co-created with state governments in a state-led way, where we focus on deep partnerships with states with an iterative cycle of think-demonstrate-document-transfer. We work closely with the top bureaucratic leadership, front-line workers and public officials in Finance, Planning, Human Resources and a few other priority line departments.
In alignment with our four principles or pillars of change - outcome measurement, personnel management, strategic public finance, states and markets, CEGIS is currently working with the governments of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, NCT of Delhi, Assam, and a few Government of India entities like the NITI Aayog and Capacity Building Commission (CBC) across a range of projects and sectors. Through CEGIS flagship offering, the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) Survey, we are helping enable state governments we are working with to collect beer quality citizen level data, make informed, evidence-based decisions, and institutionalise this process of securing periodic citizen-level feedback. We are seing up a Financial Analytics Unit (FAU) to enhance analytical capacity and increase the effectiveness of budgetary allocations of the Finance Department in another state. In alignment with our personnel management workstream, we are also working with the HR/Administrative Reforms & Training Department to set up and institutionalise an in-house Capacity Building Unit (CBU) that aids the adoption of competency-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Performance Management Systems (PMS) with a few of these entities. Similarly, to improve the value of public money, we are working at the interface of states and markets which encompasses procurement, regulation, and policy formulation. Our solutions are constantly being refined based on real-time feedback and are designed to be customised and replicated across contexts.
CEGIS@5: A Journey of Learning & Building Capacity
Since its incorporation in 2019, despite the enormous challenges posed by COVID, CEGIS has gained significant momentum in building strong collaborations with the government(s) as a trusted partner who can provide both thought leadership and implementation support on key governance reforms. CEGIS position as a non-profit that does not take any funding from the government (other than in-kind contributions of office space/staff) has been a key enabler in earning this trust.
Beginning with 2 state government engagements in the first 2 years of its inception, today CEGIS is working across several Indian states with 15+ projects across several sectors, including education, nutrition and local governance. From a small group of founding members, we have grown by leaps and bounds to become a team of 150+ members located across the country. Helmed by a former bureaucrat with invaluable governance experience, state and solution team leads with decades of domain expertise, and enabling functions led by professionals with considerable corporate careers, the team at CEGIS brings together knowledge and experience that spans various sectors - from developmental economics, research, and governance to management consulting and social entrepreneurship.
Over the last 5 years, we have also been able to garner support for our vision and theory of change from a diverse range of foundations and philanthropists whose partnership has enabled us to build our own organisational capacity as well as continue to experiment and improve our solution design to augment state capacity and governance. We believe that this approach will gradually enable all government officials to achieve their goals more effectively, thereby improving the ability of the State to deliver services to all Indian citizens in the decades to come.
To explore what the mission of CEGIS is and the impact we hope to have, please take a look at this video of our CEO, Dr Vijay Pingale.
Position Summary
The Program Manager : Administration. The role reports to the Head -Administration and also works very closely with the Program Manager- Founders Office . It requires working with the leadership and other teams of CEGIS and managing administrative tasks like office management, vendor management, travel bookings, organizing events/workshops and internal meetings, expense management and coordinating with the CEO's office. Provide logistics support to the teams in Delhi for field visits. Support in organizing internal events in all CEGIS offices .
Role and Responsibilities
General Administration Work
- Plan and coordinate administrative procedures and systems and devise ways to streamline processes
- Ensure the smooth and adequate flow of information within the company to facilitate other business operations
- Responsible for day-to-day facilities operations including supervising the maintenance and alteration of office areas and equipment (Printers, papers, workstations, stationary, water dispenser, Tea), purchasing office supplies, furniture, and office equipment for staff.
- Monitor inventory of office supplies and the purchasing of new material with attention to budgetary constraints
- Monitor costs and expenses to assist in budget preparation
- Identify vendors and manage contracts
- Conduct regular monitor checks for the housekeeping staff
- Support managers and employees through a variety of tasks related to organization and communication.
- Effective management of all activities related to travel, stay, and logistics to ensure all arrangements needs are met at the least cost.
- Overseeing the logistics and administration requirements of CEGIS State Teams, especially teams based out of Delhi.
- Planning, scheduling, and facilitating office events, including meetings, conferences, interviews, orientations, workshops, seminars, and training sessions. (in-person & virtual)
- Manage the fixed assets of the organization with proper reporting
People and Culture and Finance Operations Support
- Pre-joining support for new joiners like -- relocation & accommodation/travel arrangements
- Planning & coordination of On-boarding and orientation of new joiners with internal teams and managing exit formalities
- New office space set up/coordination with vendors and internal teams
- Day-to-day management of operational issues related to IT/admin/logistic
- Internal coordination with teams for meetings/ review
- Check all the expense bills raised by employees
Founders Office Support
- Support the Co-Founder's travel by booking travel tickets, and arranging transportation, accommodations, and visas for both global and domestic engagements.
- Coordinate logistics for public talks, lectures, and events where he serves as a speaker or participant.
- Oversee and ensure all logistical arrangements are in place for the seamless execution of events.
- Assist in maintaining Prof. Muralidharan's academic and book web pages to ensure they reflect the latest information, publications, and resources.
- Efficiently address unexpected scheduling conflicts or logistical challenges and act as a liaison during urgent or high-pressure situations to ensure smooth operations.
- Track invoices, process reimbursements, maintain financial logs, and manage communication for timely reimbursement processing.
- Proactively track and follow up on pending tasks, deadlines, and deliverables with internal teams and external stakeholders to ensure timely completion and alignment with priorities.
Desired Skills
- 5-9 years of relevant work experience
- Bachelors degree in business administration, management, or a related Exceptional time, task, and resource management skills
- Strong problem solving, critical thinking, and verbal and written communication skills.
- Proficiency with computers, especially MS Office
- Ability to plan for and keep track of multiple projects and deadlines
- Able to find new vendors , negotiate and manage the vendors
- Familiarity with budget planning and enforcement, human resources, and customer service procedures
- Proficient in MS Office
Location and Compensation
The ideal candidate can be based out of Delhi and should be willing to travel, when needed. Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social sector pay scales and will depend on the candidates experience levels.