Aditi Desai Email & Phone Number

- Assignments include writing grant proposals, landscape studies, knowledge mobilization, amongst others. Please get in touch at aditi611@gmail.com.

• Managed a multi-country research project, “Multi-Modal Approach to Teacher Professional Development in Low-Resource Settings,” funded by the International Development Research Centre, Canada. • Key responsibilities included:o Lead program management in collaboration with university and civil society partners across Maldives and Afghanistan. o Lead communications for the project including developing social media assets, writing blogs, and identifying opportunities for knowledge dissemination and mobilization. o Organize learning sessions for key stakeholders in countries including 45 teacher educators to facilitate the use of action research to improve their practice.o Contribute to primary and secondary research (quantitative and qualitative): provide input on research instruments, develop templates for action research and research reports, perform cleaning, coding and analysis of baseline data, contribute to various research outputs for the project.• Part of the core research team for a biennial report, “State of Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education 2023,” to be released in September 2023. • Key responsibilities included:o Development of the research proposal, Institutional Review Board approval, and primary and secondary research.o Lead secondary data analysis of the UDISE+ database covering 1.5 million schools, 9.5 million teachers, and 265 million children, using STATA.o Lead and coordinate primary data collection in various cities and states across India (Mumbai, Hyderabad, Assam, and Mizoram) for the eight-state study. This included providing input on research tools such as surveys and interview questionnaires, coordinating field teams, training researchers, and ensuring data quality. o Manage the Editorial Board of five high-level members from academia and government, including organizing and moderating meetings, and preparation of key materials.• Drafted a policy brief on governance and regulation of teachers and teacher education in India.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Designed and managed GPE’s programs, Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, aka KIX and Education Out Loud, aka EOL, with a joint budget of $135m and activities in 68 countries. • Key responsibilities included: o Lead consultations with country partners, civil society organizations, philanthropic foundations, and GPE Board members to design operational frameworks and strategies for KIX and EOL. o Lead development of technical papers that identify knowledge and evidence gaps in six priority areas to inform KIX programming. o Manage program implementation for KIX (including procurement and contract management, workplan oversight, financials, risk management, and reporting to GPE committees and Board).o Support the design, launch and dissemination of calls for proposals ($45m for KIX and $14m for EOL).o Coordinate and participate in technical review processes for shortlisted grant proposals and implementing partners for KIX and EOL. o Develop communications plans and assets including announcements, factsheets, website updates, blogs, social media and webinars; and updates for GPE’s Board committees on KIX and EOL.• Managed a $25 million grant to a consortium of UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank aimed at ensuring continuity of learning in 68 GPE partner countries in the context of COVID-19. • Analyzed GPE’s COVID-19 accelerated funding portfolio of 66 grants totaling $467 million to assess whether grant interventions were aligned with the evidence on effective emergency response and recovery interventions in education.• Led a learning framework to capture lessons from the piloting of GPE’s new operating model to suggest refinements and adaptations for the wider roll-out in GPE partner countries.• Convened and coordinated a community of practice on Knowledge Systems Strengthening with over 50 members from donors and implementing organizations to support learning on the generation and use of evidence in education policy and implementation.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Same as above.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Supported design and launch of a grant making initiative, “Education Champions Network” for advocacy for girls’ secondary education in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Syrian refugee host countries. This included analyzing comparable grantmaking programs, leading consultations with the Board, developing country prioritization criteria, and identifying grantees for the first cohort of the network.• Worked with grantees to refine budgets, program design, deliverables and benchmarks, and reviewed and analyzed monitoring reports and impact data.• Supported capacity building for grantees by enabling access to experts, funders, and other resources.• Developed and supported implementation of portfolio and grantee level Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning frameworks (development of Theory of Change, indicators, reporting guidelines and templates).• Developed strategies for and supported expansion of the Fund’s grantmaking portfolio in India and in the education technology sector.

• Led research on conflict-sensitive education and preventing violent extremism amongst youth through education (including development of technical briefs and synthetic analyses, and managing production of audio-visual materials for research dissemination).• Supported communications and outreach for the Education Policy Working Group (including development of thematic, web-based resource catalogues, creating communications strategies, and managing working group correspondence).

Medford, Ma

• Assisted media relations team in monitoring social media and posting new items to the Fletcher News & Media pages and home page, using tools like SiteCore Content Management System and Hootsuite. • Other responsibilities include research and maintain database of key media contacts, using media database Cision and FileMakerPro.

Amman, Jordan

• Primary research assistant for the Head of the Research and Development Unit of the Education Department at UNRWA. • Led the organizational learning function, including dissemination of research about student dropout rates and classroom practices for use across UNRWA’s education offices in the region; drafted and edited donor reports • Part of the core team that developed and rolled-out of an UNRWA-wide Education Management Information System (EMIS).

Medford, Ma

• Worked on two impact evaluation projects focusing on better working conditions for women in factories across Jordan, Myanmar, India, Haiti and Indonesia. • Some tasks include data processing using STATA, translation and creating surveys using Open Data Kit (ODK).

Mumbai Area, India

• Implemented blended learning solutions using low-cost technology and open-source content from Khan Academy in 50 classrooms in public and low-cost private schools. • Performed cost-benefit analysis for multiple technology options, trained over 60 teachers, created curriculum frameworks and tests for Math, and designed monitoring mechanisms for learning outcomes. • Established relationships with school leaders, teachers, and other partners to enable MoUs between project funders and school management.

Pune Area, India

• Taught English, Math and Science to a class of 42 third graders and 30 sixth graders from low-income communities in a public and private school respectively. • Conceptualized and implemented an after-school financial literacy project to encourage saving and budgeting amongst students, impacting a low-income community of over 500 people.

Hyderabad Area, India

•Designed and implemented an ERP risk framework for a leading chemical and industrial products company with presence in five continents.•Worked on General Computer Controls, Business Cycle Controls testing engagements and Segregation of Duties analysis in the Oracle practice and security implementation engagements in the SAP practice in the area of Application Integrity.

•Conducted user research in the domain of small and medium businesses. •Developed use cases, created storyboards and assisted in prototyping the user interface for the next version of Office Mobile.

Master Of Arts In Law And Diplomacy

Bachelor Of Technology (B.Tech.), Computer Science

Continued Education Program (Cep) Course On Human-Computer Interaction

High School, Science