The Convergence Foundation
About CEGIS
Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS pronounced See-Jis) aims to improve lives by helping Indian state governments deliver better 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 better 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 better quality citizen level data, make informed, evidence-based decisions, and institutionalise this process of securing periodic citizen-level feedback. We are setting 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.
Overview:
Within CEGIS, the Outcome Measurement (OM) teams role is to support the institutionalisation of data-driven decision-making by setting up the required infrastructure and technical capacity with the Planning department and relevant line departments in the state. The Program Managers (OM) will play a crucial role in executing this vision in the state, working closely with both the OM technical team and the State team.
The Program Manager will oversee complex digital data collection operations, work with senior academics and government stakeholders to tailor research design and protocols to the local context, and ensure adherence to data quality protocols. Additionally, they will support the development of high-quality outputs summarising project progress, data analyses, and research findings for dissemination at various forums.
Role and Responsibilities:
Data Collection and Quality Control:
- Provides appropriate templates for gathering and quality controlling administrative data from relevant government line departments and front-line functionaries.
- Designs and administers questionnaires for data collection using tools like interviews and focus group discussions.
- Manages all primary, secondary, and administrative data by following data management and security protocols.
- Ensures adherence to data quality protocols, including auditing enumerators, monitoring data collection, and conducting data quality audits.
- Creates protocols on data sharing for validation of data sources and conducts verification checks to guarantee data reliability.
- Maintains records of data quality control processes and identifies areas for enhancing quality control processes.
- Replicates analyses and processes to verify the rigor and quality of project outputs.
Data Analysis and Reporting:
- Evaluates data quality, analyzes trends, and interprets findings using statistical software and analytical tools.
- Creates visual representations of data to enhance understanding and prepares data diagnostic reports.
- Reviews administrative data and conducts analysis as required.
- Develops high-quality outputs such as reports, analysis, etc., for dissemination at various forums.
Communication and Project Management:
- Communicates project updates, findings, and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders.
- Supports managers in developing effective engagement strategies with external stakeholders.
- Sets, assesses, and reports specific goals for self and remains receptive to feedback.
- Owns learning and focuses on self-development by seeking opportunities for growth.
- Demonstrates willingness to take up additional responsibilities and collaborate with team members based on project priorities.
Collaboration and Stakeholder Management:
- Collaborates with project delivery teams and stakeholders to ensure alignment of data diagnostics and analysis plans with project objectives.
- Supports the creation of technical notes, measurements, and analysis protocols for projects.
- Designs and supports smaller-scale survey operations in-house and supervises intricate digital data collection operations executed by external agencies.
- Assists in defining metrics and drafting project diagnostics reports after conducting feasibility studies.
- Engages in discussions with stakeholders to explore and understand use cases of ongoing interventions.
Required Qualifications, Skills, and Abilities:
- Masters degree or equivalent in economics, statistics, public policy, engineering, social science, or related fields from a reputed institution.
- 5 to 8 years of relevant work experience, including extensive field research, managing evaluations, basic quantitative analysis, and managerial experience.
- Experience in quantitative data management and analysis using STATA, R (strongly preferred), or Python programming.
- Understanding of experimental and non-experimental research methods, including the design and implementation of field sample surveys.
- Excellent problem-solving and strategic thinking skills, strong research aptitude, ability to analyze complex quantitative and qualitative data, and formulate solutions.
- Excellent writing and communication skills to communicate complex ideas effectively within and outside the organization.
- Demonstrated relationship-building ability and management of high-level relationships with partner organizations, ideally based on experience of working with Indian state governments.
- Strong planning and organizational skills, ability to set priorities, plan timelines, and meet deadlines.
- Passion for improving the effectiveness of Indian States, and alignment with CEGISs theory of change/impact.
- Operating style suited to working independently and in a small-organization setting, where teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued.
- Ability to work under pressure, handle competing priorities, maintain attention to detail, and deliver high-quality outputs.
- Ability to think creatively, willingness to take risks to experiment with new ideas, and ability to turn ideas into action.
- High ability to collaborate and actively listen to others, understanding and valuing others views.
- Versatility to be comfortable taking on different projects and quickly diving into new sectors.
Compensation:
Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy and social sector pay scales and will depend on the candidates experience levels.
Note: CEGIS has zero tolerance to sexual harassment. We therefore expect each applicant to self-declare related to the same. CEGIS could, if required, initiate a prevention of sexual harassment-based background verification. If an applicant is reported of misconduct, appropriate action that may include employment termination would be taken. Please Click the link for self declaration.
Pre-reads for the application process:
Please go through the following materials before sending in your application:
- Concept note on CEGIS
- A glimpse into life at CEGIS - CEGIS Retreat 2024
- CEGIS Snapshot 2023-24
- Podcast episodes with Prof. Karthik Muralidharan one each on education and healthcare in India.
- You are also encouraged to read more of Prof. Karthik Muralidharans work here and through his book Accelerating Indias Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Indias Development.
