We are delighted to host books published by the Nature Conservation Foundation, and make them available for free under the CC BY 4.0 license on StoryWeaver. We hope that our community will enjoy reading & learning more about India's wildlfe through these stories, and that they will be translated into many more languages. The first 2 books resulting through this partnership are Gyalmo, the Queen of the Mountains and  Birds That Sing Their Name.

In this post, we'll give you a closer look at the making of 'Gyalmo, Queen of the Mountains'!

About the book: Koyna and her friend Lobzang are in Spiti Valley, trying to spot the most elusive cat in the world, while Gyalmo, the snow leopard, watches from a distance as they try their best to see her. Written by Ranjini Murali and illustrated by Komal Jain.

Ranjini Murali, the author, is the Conservation Scientist at the Snow Leopard Trust. In this interview, she tells us about her fascination with the mountains and why she wrote a children's book about snow leopards.

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Tell us why you chose to write about the mountains?

This story was first written for the 'Hindu in School' newspaper supplement which was meant for children studying in Bangalore and Chennai. I wrote this story then, as I wanted to introduce children to the fascinating animals of the Trans-Himalaya.

What is the message that you hope to share through these stories?

When I was a student in Bangalore, I didn't know there were snow leopards in India, nor did I know of these stunning landscapes or the amazing biodiversity present here. Maybe children now are more aware of this, but through this story, I hope to bring a bit more awareness to these landscapes.

Illustration by Komal Jain

What inspired you to conceptualize this story?

I've worked in the Trans-Himalaya for more than 10 years now and have never really seen a snow leopard! Part of this story was inspired by my constant search to see the snow leopard. The chase sequence was inspired by an video I had seen online of a snow leopard chasing a bharal!

Illustration by Komal Jain

How did you get to know about StoryWeaver, and what prompted you to make your story available on our platform?

I knew of the amazing work that StoryWeaver was doing, making reading accessible to children everywhere, so I jumped at the opportunity when a colleague reached out to me about plans of creating books on the platform. I especially love how the stories on the platform are accompanied by amazing illustrations. I was so excited to see this story come alive through the illustrations! I also like that the stories are available to be translated, so they are accessible to more children around India.

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 Read Gyalmo, the Queen of the Mountains

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This position is now closed. Do keep following us on Social Media for news on other openings on the Pratham Books team.

Pratham Books is a not-for-profit children's book publisher that was set up in 2004 to publish good quality, affordable books in many Indian languages. Our mission is to see ‘a book in every child’s hand’ and we have spread the joy of reading to millions of children in India.

In the last 3 years, we have invested deeply in technology based initiatives to further our mission. We are now looking for an experienced Product Manager that can lead our digital projects as we significantly scale these initiatives.

                                                                                                 

About the Digital Properties

Pratham Books has two digital platforms - StoryWeaver and Donate-a-Book. 

Storyweaver is a digital platform that hosts stories in languages from India and beyond, so that every child can have an endless stream of stories in her mother tongue to read and enjoy. The stories can be read, translated, versioned or downloaded for free. All stories on the platform are openly licensed and the goal is to open source the code as well. In just one year, StoryWeaver has scaled from 800 stories in 24 languages to 2800 stories in 59 languages by engaging with a community of users. We want every child to have access to quality reading resources in their own language. 

StoryWeaver is being recognized as an emerging innovation that can transform the early literacy reader ecosystem globally. Our vision is for StoryWeaver to be the largest multilingual open library in the world for children by empowering communities to address the scarcity of reading resources in their mother tongue languages and scale the quantity and quality of content being produced.

Donate-a-book from Pratham Books is a unique, crowdfunding platform that helps raise funds for organizations that want to build children's libraries.

Job Description                

We are looking for a passionate individual wanting to make a difference, one who believes that technology can be a powerful enabler in creating equitable access to resources. 

This role requires a seasoned manager and technologist who can work effectively, both independently and collaboratively, in a team environment and deliver the project in a timely manner within allocated resources and budgets. The Product Manager will play a strategic role in defining the product roadmap, translating it into detailed requirements and developing a roadmap for delivery. S/he will work closely with the domain, outreach and content teams to define the user requirements which will guide feature development. All aspects of managing the project including the RFP process, vendor selection, hiring of people, documentation and project delivery will be managed by the Product Manager.  

The position will report to the Head of Digital Projects but also requires working closely with the top management. In a 3 year time-frame the project outcomes are expected to scale by 10x and the Product Manager will play a critical role in ensuring  the smooth functioning of the platform at this scale. Most importantly the person needs to be an out-of-the box thinker and should be a strong believer and propagator of use of open technologies.

Responsibilities

• Understand the user requirements and define the product roadmap    

• Generate RFP’s and manage the process of technology vendor selection    

• Prepare the user stories, documentation and compile the platform requirement and workflow documents

• Scope and prioritize the product feature sets 

• Work closely with technology vendors on all aspects

• Ensure the project is done within the budgeted resources

• Optimize the user experience 

• Be an evangelist in the tech community to build awareness around the platform.

Mandatory Requirements

• BTech/MSc/MCA degree in Computer Science or related disciplines

• Proven work experience in product management 

• Strong technical background with hands-on experience in open source web and mobile technologies  

• Very good written and verbal communication skills

• 8 -10 years of experience 

Nice to have but not mandatory

• Experience working with non-profits.     

• Domain knowledge in publishing industry, Indic language experience     

Location: This role is based out of Bangalore and is full-time. The project is expected to complete within a 3 year time-frame.

Salary: Compensation will be commensurate with experience. 

Interested candidates are requested to send in their resume to [email protected]

Be the first to comment.

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UPDATE: This position has been closed. Thank you for your interest!

Pratham Books (www.prathambooks.org) is a not-for-profit children's book publisher that was set up in 2004 to publish good quality, affordable books in many Indian languages. Our mission is to see ‘a book in every child’s hand’ and we have spread the joy of reading to millions of children in India. As a publisher serving every child in India, Pratham Books has always pushed the boundaries when it comes to exploring innovative ways in which to create access to joyful stories and have been fortunate in finding partners to collaborate with who share this vision.

In 2015, Pratham Books' increased its footprint by going digital and launching StoryWeaver. StoryWeaver (www.storyweaver.org.in) aims at enabling book security at scale, by pioneering a new, inclusive approach to book creation and distribution. StoryWeaver provides open access to multilingual storybooks that can be read online, offline or downloaded & printed for non-digital environments. Easy-to-use tools enable further translation & versioning, so that the books can be customized for local requirements. In just 5 years, StoryWeaver has grown from providing 800 storybooks in 24 languages to 34,000 books in 297 languages. 

StoryWeaver is being recognized as an emerging innovation that can transform the early literacy reader ecosystem globally. Very early on, StoryWeaver was featured in the World Bank's report on 20 innovative EdTech projects from around the world, and more recently was the recipient of the prestigious Library of Congress Literacy Award 2017 International Prize.

We are looking for a Senior Project Manager: StoryWeaver

This position will work closely with the senior leadership to manage all projects related to the platform and shape the strategic direction of StoryWeaver.  There will be significant opportunities for innovation, working closely with internal and external stakeholders to further develop, nurture and scale a world-class digital platform that is redefining the way reading resources can be created and distributed globally. In light of the NEP (2020) which accords highest priority to achieving universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by 2025, StoryWeaver has been working on several Foundational Literacy Programmes. This position will play a critical role in all aspects of design and delivery of these programmes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work closely with the internal teams to design strategies to implement StoryWeaver’s strategic and operational plans
• Align processes and resource-planning with overall strategy
• Develop plans to materialize strategy and analyze strategic partnership opportunities
• Track and monitor user trends and usage data to develop insights that will drive future product enhancements 
• Monitor and analyze industry trends and market changes
• End to end ownership of all deliverables in the product lifecycle. Design, implementation, user testing and data tracking. Develop product collaterals including product explainers, protocols, dashboards, case-studies, user training modules and advocacy communication
• Project manage key programme design and implementation 
• Ensure effective usage of the new foundational literacy programmes by collecting data on learning, teaching and user-satisfaction metrics
• Work closely with senior leadership on grant proposals 

Required skills

• Masters in Business Administration, Marketing or a related field
• Minimum 6-8 years of experience
• Proven experience as a Strategic Planner or Business Consultant
• Understanding of market research and data analysis
• Knowledge of business operations and procedures
• Demonstrable project management abilities
• Analytical mind with problem-solving attitude
• Excellent organization skills 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English 
• Sophisticated ICT skills 

Nice to have but not mandatory:

• Experience working with non-profits
• BTech/MSc/MCA degree in Computer Science or related disciplines will be a plus

 Location: This is a full-time position based out of Bangalore

Compensation: Salary will be commensurate with qualification and experience.

Write to us: Email your resume with 'Senior Project Manager - StoryWeaver' in the subject line to [email protected]

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