Position Summary
The Program Associate will serve as the critical, on-ground position of our state-level technical support unit, embedded directly within the District Social Welfare Office (DSWO). The core mandate of this role is to pilot, refine, and ground-truth our solution stack across three priority pillars: administrative data quality, financial planning/utilization, and workforce capacity optimization. The Program Associate will translate state-level strategy into local execution while feeding ground realities back to the state team to iterate the model for scale. This is an action-oriented role requiring a balance of data fluency, program management, public finance understanding, and exceptional stakeholder management skills within government systems.
You will report to the Nutrition Project Lead based in Bhubaneswar, work closely with the Odisha team, and have active interactions with other team members across our states for effective project delivery.

Roles & Responsibilities
Data Integrity and Monitoring Systems
Data Ground-Truthing:



Audit and cross-verify digital dashboard entries (e.g., Poshan Tracker data) with physical registers at the sector and Anganwadi Centre (AWC) levels to identify gaps in data quality.
Analytical Support: Analyze monthly district progress reports to spot low-performing blocks and present actionable data to the DSWO to drive data-backed administrative reviews.
Feedback Loops: Design and implement simplified, routine data validation protocols for field functionaries (Supervisors and Child Development Project Officers - CDPOs).
Financial Planning & Budget Utilization
Expenditure Tracking: Work with the district finance/accounts team to map fund flow bottlenecks and trace delays in scheme utilization (e.g., supplementary nutrition, flexi-funds).
Actionable Planning: Assist the DSWO office in preparing realistic, data-driven annual and quarterly District Action Plans based on historical spending capacity and actual local needs.
Com

📌 Program Associate (India)
🏢 Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS)
📍 India