Technical Consultant-Aparajita

Duration: June 2026 - May 2027

Location: New Delhi

About the Role and Aparajita:

J-PAL South Asia seeks to hire a Technical Consultant to support our collaboration with Pramod Bhasin (Founder-Genpact and Chairperson-ICRIER)’s new organization Aparajita. Aparajita has been founded to tackle the pervasive problem of sexual harassment and violence against women in India, and will be focusing on multiple strategies to tackle the problem and support organizations working in this field. The technical consultant will play a pivotal role in working alongside the Aparajita team and its’ leadership to support the incubation of the organization and lead the management of the overall collaboration with Pramod Bhasin and Aparajita.

Roles and Responsibilities:

1) Program Management: The technical consultant will oversee the timely and high-quality completion of all activities associated with the collaboration between J-PAL SA and Aparajita. A key area of focus for this will be supporting the incubation of Aparajita and helping Pramod Bhasin and his team in setting up the necessary systems, processes and functions for this organization. As part of these efforts the consultant will help onboard an external organizational development partner, and guide them in developing an organization building plan for Aparajita. Additional roles and responsibilities include:

a. Supporting Aparajita in recruitment and hiring of their staff members, including publicizing JDs and conducting interviews with potential candidates.

b. Ensure regular communication to the Aparajita team, including Mr. Bhasin, on J PAL’s ongoing work across the key workstreams described later.

c. Developing a communications strategy for J-PAL and Aprajita’s joint work, particularly to bring attention and focus on this issue, and to engage with experts in this field via roundtable convenings, newsletters and other outputs. This may also include support for Aparajita’s communications activities and plans, till such a point where a dedicated communications team member is hired at Aparajita.

d. Support the Aparajita team in the development of the organization website, including development of a wireframe and content pieces from Aprajita and J-PAL’s joint work for the website.

2) In addition to the above project management activities the consultant will also oversee the following key workstreams which are a part of J-PAL’s collaboration with Aparajita:
a. Identifying Promising Innovations: Manage the ongoing “Open Funding Call” underway as part of J-PAL SA’s collaboration with Aparajita through which Aparajita will support a number of organizations with catalytic funding. The consultant will be responsible for end-to-end management of the funding call, including setting up a

review board, coordinating the review processes and communication to applicants and review board members.

b. The technical consultant will also work with J-PAL’s policy team to conduct coaching calls with potential awardees and work on the “Evaluation

Incubator” where J-PAL will support funded organizations in develop

randomized evaluation ideas.

c. The consultant will also set up a reporting system and cadence for

organisations that receive funding from Aparajita, and support the Aparajita team in conducting due diligence for awardees.

d. Some of the awarded organizations will be matched with J-PAL affiliated researchers to conduct rigorous evaluations of their program. The

consultant will also oversee reporting from these evaluations back to

Aparajita.

3) Landscaping the Problem

a. Organise roundtables and other events to engage with experts across the domain of law, research, programming and advocacy to help build a coalition that is working to tackle the issue. The consultant will be responsible for overseeing all events and convenings organized as part of Aparajita-J-PAL’s joint work.

b. Develop collaterals and reviews using secondary literature and desk research that can feed into programs and plans for Aparajita.

4) Measuring Prevalence
a . J-PAL SA is currently completing a 3-city survey on the prevalence of sexual harassment and violence across 3 cities, led by researchers Seema Jayachandran, Lori Beaman and Anisha Sharma. The consultant will also organize an event where the final results from the survey are shared along with

announcements regarding the awardees of the open funding call.

b. The consultant will also organize meetings and sessions with Aparajita to share results and updates from the surveys.

4) Fundraising: A key goal of the technical consultant will be to develop materials and fundraising collaterals which can be utilized to bring on board additional donors to this mission. The consultant will
a. develop a fundraising plan,
b) identify potential donors, and
c) develop designed collaterals and materials that can support both Aparajita and J-PAL SA in raising further funding to continue this work.

Desired Qualifications:

● Education: Master's degree (preferably in international development, public policy or gender studies).

● Experience: This position requires 8-10 years of professional experience, with demonstrated capacities in managing external stakeholders and knowledge and understanding of issues related to gender-based violence and sexual harassment in India.

● Understanding Randomized Evaluations: Demonstrate a keen understanding of the value of randomized evaluations and their usefulness for policy decisions

Skills and Competencies:

● Communication: Attention to detail and excellent writing and presentation skills for communicating updates, research results and strategic plans in a clear manner. This requires clear, precise, non-technical writing, and creativity in presentation.

● Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving: Ability to think on your feet, take ownership of outcomes, and develop solutions to complex problems.

● Proven ability to handle several different projects/tasks at one time, successfully complete tasks assigned, and meet deadlines;

● High Adaptability: You can thrive in challenging environments where you have to build projects from scratch, and are able to pivot based on new information.

● High level of attention to detail;

● Strong interest in Gender and issues of gender-based violence.

● Language: Fluency in English (written and oral).