Position: Fellow
 
Location: Jammu and Kashmir
 
About Karta
 
Karta is a social mobility movement to transform the future of bright students from underprivileged and marginalized communities in India. It brings together schools, non-profits and government, top universities in the UK, Canada and India; employers from around the world, and charitable foundations and philanthropists. The population of young people under the age of 25 years is significant in India (~47%); by focussing on this target population, Karta is working towards building dignified future for the communities in India.
Youth from India's most underprivileged and marginalized communities fail to access quality education and subsequent workplace opportunities. The weakest link is the transition of such children from school to university and then to well-meaning livelihoods. In the absence of adequate awareness, financial resources, and weak orientation towards 21st century and market-ready skills; talented youth fail to realize their full potential and are forced to go back to either their traditional family occupations or settle into sub-optimal career choices, thereby reinforcing their marginalization across generations. Further, universities, corporations and other organizations also lose out on top talent as a consequence.
Karta works with rural youth (14-22 year olds) from underprivileged and marginalized backgrounds (Tribals, Dalits and Mushar community - one of the Mahadalit communities in northern India), from government/public schooling system across a period of 5-7 years right from class XIth, to their admission into premiere universities (various premiere universities in India, the UK and Canada), till they get into well-meaning livelihoods.
Till date, Karta has worked with ~1,000 youth (14-22 year olds) across 30 schools, has 55 scholars in total (of which 41 are scholars of 2022), since inception. Karta plans to significantly scale up the program, and is working towards supporting 400 scholars over the next 5 years. Also, Karta Connect -free online resource, is helping the youth make informed decisions for their career-choices and help them prepare for the universities entrance processes, which has been uploaded on 70,000 tablets by Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (run by Ministry of Education, Union Govt. of India). Karta’s work is being recognized by the Govt of India and multilateral organizations; Karta was invited recently by Ministry of Education and UNICEF as a panel member to discuss and recommend suggestion for institutionalizing career guidance in Govt. schools in India.
In Karta’s endeavor to build meaningful future for the youth, university partners have been instrumental in extending their support to the marginalized youth including Oxford, University College London, Edinburgh University, Queen’s University, University of Toronto, McGill in the UK and Canada along with leading new age Indian universities – Ashoka, Flame, KREA, Plaksha, Ahmedabad University and Azim Premji University.
 
Karta Programs:
 
Scholar Program: deep, life-long impact interventions (18-22 year olds)
Developing inspirational young role models and nurturing movement leaders through:
  • Unlocking and financing access to world-class undergraduate education for a small group of selected Karta Scholars
  • Personal and professional development throughout university via 1-to-1 mentoring, work experience placements, network building and skill building workshops
  • Building ‘give-back’ channels enabling Scholars to share learnings in their communities
Access Programme: significant impact interventions (14-19 year olds)
Enhancing post-secondary readiness for 15-17 year olds through:
  • Enhancing 21st century skills and career awareness through workshops and group mentoring
  • Developing workplace exposure through industry visits
  • Improving academic pathway awareness
  • Opening access to summer schools at partner institutions
Karta Connect: broad-based technology-enabled impact interventions
Unlocking access to opportunities at scale through:
  • Disseminating information on various career opportunities and pathways
  • Building 21st century skills, e.g. critical thinking, digital literacy, communication
  • Developing the networks to deliver mentoring for aspiring students
  • Building an opportunity marketplace to bridge the gap between youth and opportunity
Our priorities
Develop as a movement
We have built a movement bringing together some of the most talented individuals and the most prestigious organizations in the world. We are growing our impact by strengthening and expanding this network of individuals, school systems, universities, donors, and world-leading corporates.
Scale up impact
We have demonstrated the effectiveness of interventions which can enable young people to access opportunity. We are scaling this work up through the use of digital technology and distributed mechanisms in order to transform the lives of thousands of youth. We plan to steadily grow the number of Scholars, widen access to the early stages of the Access Programme and continue to invest in Karta Connect to impact thousands of students.
The Karta Fellowship
 
As a part of its educational programs with Govt schools including Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Eklavya schools (under Ministry of Tribal Affairs), Minority institutions schools as well as NGO run schools for ultra-vulnerable communities (Adivasis, Mahadalits and PVTGs) across different states, the Karta Initiative is hiring fellows for its dynamic programs and engagement activities on the ground. The fellowship presents an incredible opportunity to understand and advance social impact and work towards a more equitable society. In the process, fellows will develop contextual understanding of multiple vulnerabilities and their interplay in the classroom, and their impact on the academic performance of the students as well as access to opportunities. The selected fellows will have extensive training workshops in Delhi by various experts. The fellows will benefit from an experiential learning program that can help them understand challenges of the Indian education system and will help fellows to discover their own path to contribute to social change, irrespective of whether they choose a career in civil society, corporates or government.
 
Role description
The fellows at Karta focus on empowering youth from rural and marginalized communities to be informed, inspired and skilled, ready to thrive in the world of 21st century opportunity. To achieve this, the fellows work in partnership with teachers, parents, communities, community leaders and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to advance:
  • 21st century skills - enhancing core skills including communication, critical thinking, English language and digital literacy, analytical capabilities, quantitative skills, logical reasoning, data interpretation
  • Networks and information: developing active and meaningful connections with individuals to open doors to new opportunities
  • World leading educational opportunities: unlocking access to a world leading higher education, in turn establishing inspirational role models
  • Engaging with teachers, non-teaching staff, parents, communities, community based organizations and PRIs : developing strong relationships with the communities, organizations and institutions in the rural areas
The Fellow role is a dynamic opportunity that involves being go-getter, self-starter, team player, agile, responsive, communicative, curious, passionate to work with youth from marginalized communities,  and a learner through continuous learning and unlearning. The role requires supporting the organization with programs right from inception and planning to execution. It requires an ability to build, nurture and sustain positive and collaborative relationships both within and outside organization including colleagues, students, scholars, education institutions and non-profits. It involves continuous engagement with this diverse set of various stakeholders.
Key responsibilities include, but not limited to
  • Mentor young people and run sessions with youth on 21st century skills, workplace and academic exposure 
  • Build, nurture and sustain relationship with schools, parents, communities, community based organizations and PRIs
  • Work with team to build and foster relationships 
  • Support Karta Access and Karta Connect programmes
  • Program planning & execution
  • Document lessons learned with pilot projects 
  • Support monitoring and evaluation 
Details of the Fellowship program
  • Educational qualifications – Graduates and above
  • The fellowship will be of a total duration of 24 months. The fellows will spend their time on the field and workshops in Delhi.
  • The fellows shall be entitled to an all-inclusive monthly grant of Rs. 35,000: fellowship amount of Rs. 30,000 plus a travel allowance Rs. 5,000. They will be provided accommodation in our partner schools in the field.
  • Each Karta fellow is expected to travel within 5-7 districts. In case of organizational requirements, Karta fellows may be required to travel to more districts.
  • As a catalyst for change, each fellow brings change in assigned schools by being a resource person for the Karta Initiative and by impacting the lives of children. The Karta Fellows will be expected to build and nourish relationships with our program schools, teachers and students.
  • Fellows will assist the Karta team to execute programs on the ground and help in documentation, data collection.
  • Fellows will be required to travel to all our partner schools in the region assigned and also engage in community interaction, research.
The fellows will be felicitated at Delhi and awarded certificates of excellence at the end of their engagement.
What we are looking for: Ideal candidate
  • Aware and sensitive towards the vulnerabilities and multiple marginalization of various communities in rural India
  • Aware and sensitive inequalities & vulnerabilities which arise as an outcome of social processes and social structures in India
  • Eager to work towards building a more equitable future
  • Has the mindset and capacity to turn empathy into action
  • Passionate for engaging and working with youth, especially from under-privileged and marginalized communities
  • Passionate for Karta’s mission and have a strong desire to impact a dynamic, growing organisation
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, strong presentation skills
  • Desire to travel to field locations and carry out fieldwork
What would a Fellow learn at the end of Karta fellowship
  • Get experience of engagement with school students at senior secondary levels, school teachers, education institutions, non-profits & community based organizations as well as PRIs
  • Get experience in managing projects across distributed locations and teams
  • Acquire research skills and the ability to analyse qualitative and quantitative data, craft possible solutions, and recommend actions
  • Ability to lead meetings, deliver presentations, and represent an organization to external audiences when required
  • Ability to work independently and proactively, without support staff and with little supervision
  • Strong planning and organizational skills, and an ability to be able to set priorities, plan timelines and meet deadlines

For detailed information, please check the complete version of the advert attached below. 

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