Chair, Board of Trustees (Remote)

About the Company

STiR Education is an international NGO that supports education systems to reignite intrinsic motivation so that every child, teacher, and official is motivated to learn and improve.

• We believe education systems must prepare every child, everywhere, to thrive in a complex world.
• Our main idea is a world where teachers love teaching and children love learning.
• Since 2012, STiR Education has reached over 500,000 teachers and 12 million students across 94,000 schools in India, Uganda, and Indonesia.

STiR Education is at an important point. We have a new strategy, reorganized our internal structure, and introduced a Co-CEO model. We are looking for a Chair ready to guide STiR to deliver its mission.

We have been looking closely at STiR’s unique strengths from the last 12+ years to see how we can grow and sustain our impact differently. We found that our biggest strength is in bringing out the human factors often overlooked in system reform, such as connection, purpose, and professional growth. This helps address problems like low teacher morale, poor teaching practices, and weak student results.

Our new strategy focuses on amplification. We support key education reforms to grow at scale by helping them bring in and adjust lessons from motivation science into their work. We do this through two connected ways:

• Advisory: Supporting global organizations to put motivation science into their work. This means making education initiatives more effective through custom advice, program design, building organizational skills, and research.
• Localisation: Increasing the independence and staying power of existing STiR programs so that motivation science becomes deeply part of national education systems, led and owned by the government.

How We Will Do It

These two ways are driven by three core actions:

• Support: We will work with global groups like NGOs, multilaterals, and foundations to apply motivation science principles to their programs, helping them improve results at scale. Our support will be carefully custom-made and may include co-designing new actions, strengthening how things are put into action, and sharing research ideas to inform strategy and delivery.
• Localise: We will support STiR’s established country programs in Uganda and Indonesia to become fully independent national teams. These teams will keep working directly with governments to embed motivation science into main system functions, making sure the work is based on the local situation, can last, and is owned locally.
• Connect: We will create a global community for knowledge and learning focused on motivation science. This will involve gathering and sharing what we learn across different places, setting up key partnerships, and promoting motivation as a main driver of effective education system change.

Our Unique Value

• Deep Experience: STiR brings over 12 years of hands-on experience working with education systems to improve teacher motivation and student learning, reaching over 500,000 teachers and 12 million children.
• Proven Results at Scale: Our approach is cost-effective, leading to better learning results at just $0.25 per child for a 0.1 standard deviation gain.
• Rare Dual Delivery Model: By making direct system partnerships local while offering global support to encourage change, STiR combines deep knowledge of the local situation with the ability to grow and be flexible—which is uncommon in this field.
• Practitioner and Partner: STiR’s trust comes from doing the work. This lets us offer advice based on real experience that reflects actual system challenges and chances.

Our Values

How we work is as important as what we do. Our core values guide us:

• Humility: We do not have all the answers right away.
• Ownership: We give each other support and have high expectations.
• Openness: We will listen, learn, improve, and lead through difficulties.
• Purpose: We are united by a shared idea we will build and achieve together.

Role Overview

The Chair of the Board works closely with the Co-CEOs and other Trustees to guide STiR Education’s long-term idea, support its values, and make its impact stronger. The Chair gives main leadership to STiR Education’s Board of Trustees, making sure there is good governance, oversight, and support for the organization’s mission.

Responsibilities

Governance & Leadership

• Lead the Board in carrying out its governance duties.
• Make sure the Board works well, including finding, starting, and developing Trustees.
• Chair Board meetings and help guide strategic discussions and decisions.
• Support setting up local boards in Uganda and Indonesia and moving governance responsibility to them.

Strategic Oversight

• Work with the Co-CEOs and leadership team to shape and check on main strategic goals.
• Make sure STiR’s mission, values, and how things are done match up.
• Give high-level direction on managing risks, financial staying power, and how the organization is performing.

External Engagement

• Act as a main representative for STiR Education.
• Build relationships with donors, partners, and people who have a stake in our work.
• Support efforts to raise money and advocate for our work, using existing contacts to help STiR.

CEO Support & Evaluation

• Serve as a trusted advisor and sounding board to the Co-CEOs.
• Lead the Co-CEOs’ yearly performance review and planning for who comes next.

Requirements

• Experience working in or with education systems, international development, or public sector change.
• Proven experience in a senior leadership or governance role, ideally as a Chair or Trustee in a non-profit or mission-focused organization.
• Clear commitment to STiR’s values of Openness, Humility, Purpose, and Ownership.
• Commitment to improving Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in organizations.
• Excellent skills in communication, leading discussions, and working with people.
• Experience gained from leading change across strategy, organizational structure, and people.
• Ability to encourage teamwork, offer constructive challenge, and coach to help the Co-CEOs and fellow Board members grow.
• Familiarity with STiR’s areas where we work.
• Experience with and willingness to spend time supporting STiR’s fundraising activities.
• Understanding of systems change, behavioral science, or motivation theory.
• Commitment to locally led development and ideally experience with localisation processes.

Time Commitment & Tenure

• The appointment term is 3 years with the chance to renew for up to three more years.
• The Chair is asked to give 3 days a month to STiR Education.
• The Chair will set their own preferred check-in schedule with the Co-CEOs and Trustees.
• These are the main commitments, but there will be extra meetings or quick check-ins when needed.
• The position is not paid (beyond covering expenses).

Category

Human Resources