Coordinator/Resource Person — Social Startup Programme, Azim Premji Foundation, Ayodhya

About the programme

The Social Startup Programme supports development professionals — under 40, with 4+ years of field experience — to set up and run their own organizations in geographies the Foundation prioritizes.

Selected founders receive an 8 months support (with a monthly stipend), followed by an assessment at the end of the 8 months which decides the 2 year seed grant to build their organization.

Phase 1 runs in four geographies — Bangalore Urban, Eastern UP, Odisha and North- East India — with applications opening October 2026 and founders arriving February 2027.

About the role

This person will operationalize the programme on the ground. Before the call opens, they bring people to outreach sessions and build the list of interested candidates. During selection, they make sure applications are screened every week, fairly and on time. Through the programme, they are the single point of contact (SPOC) for the founders assigned to them by the geography team — their onboarding, reviews, wellbeing, partner introductions and logistics. And as founders register their organizations and start work, they are the main link between the founders, the Foundation's geography team and the partners around them. It is a field role that needs strong day-to-day organization: most weeks involve travel, trackers to update and ability to handle difficult conversations.

What you will do

Run outreach in the geography: regular sessions with campuses, community and civil-society organizations (CSOs) and networks; build and maintain the list of interested candidates.

Support the application window: help applicants apply, support the weekly screening in the portal, and coordinate interview logistics and reference checks on the ground.

Keep every applicant informed at each stage — acknowledgements, status, and next steps.

Onboard the founders assigned and be their single point of contact through the programme: weekly touchpoints, monthly in-person reviews, timely escalation of issues.

Run logistics for residential orientations and reviews; record reviews and milestone evidence in the management information system (MIS).

Coordinate with partner organizations for learning visits and postings — introductions, joint meetings and feedback conversations.

Support founders through registration, the end-of-programme assessment and the transition to the seed grant.

Keep records complete and current; protect the programme's commitments — support is milestone-based and the seed grant follows the assessment; maintain partner goodwill.

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