Hiring Agency/Individual - Strategic Leadership Development Intervention (2026–2027)
Room to Read India Trust
1. Background and Rationale
As Room to Read India continues to scale its implementation, there is a growing need to strengthen the strategic orientation of its leadership cadre. While programmatic excellence remains strong, building deeper capabilities in long-term thinking, prioritization, and strategic alignment will be critical to navigating complexity and driving sustained outcomes.
This intervention is designed as a structured leadership journey to enable key leadership groups to move beyond operational execution towards intentional, forward-looking strategy development.
The engagement will span approximately 18 months, covering two leadership cohorts in a phased manner:
- Phase 1: State Managers (till December 2026)
- Phase 2: Extended Country Management Team (ECMT) (From Jan 2027 onwards)
2. Objective of the Engagement
The primary objective is to build and institutionalize strategic thinking capabilities across leadership levels, enabling participants to:
- Approach decision-making through a strategic and systems lens
- Translate organizational priorities into context-specific, actionable strategies
- Strengthen alignment between state-level plans and national and GO direction
- Develop robust, future-oriented strategic plans supported by structured thinking
3. Scope of Work
The intervention will be delivered through a multi-stage, application-driven model, combining conceptual inputs with sustained coaching and iterative feedback.
Each phase will follow a structured progression from orientation → conceptual grounding → application → review → refinement → finalization.
4. Program Design and Approach
- Phase 1: State Managers (till December 2026)
- Stage 1: Pre-Work and Orientation (June 2026)
Participants will be provided with a curated set of pre-read materials, including:
- Foundational literature on strategic thinking
- Relevant articles and case references
- Room to Read’s current strategic documents
This stage is intended to develop participants’ thinking and establish a common baseline ahead of the workshop.
Stage 2: Conceptual Workshop (June 2026 | 2 Days, In Person)
A two-day facilitated workshop will introduce participants to:
- Core principles of strategic thinking
- Structured frameworks and tools
- Case-led discussions to contextualize learning
This stage will focus on building conceptual clarity and shifting mindsets, rather than immediate outputs.
Stage 3: Strategy Development (July – September 2026)
Over a period of 2–3 months, participants will work on developing their State Strategy Plans.
This phase will be supported through:
- Ongoing coaching and mentoring by the facilitator
- Structured checkpoints to guide progress
- Continuous feedback to strengthen strategic articulation
The emphasis will be on applying concepts to real contexts, ensuring relevance and ownership.
Stage 4: First Review (October 2026)
Draft strategies will be reviewed jointly by:
- Facilitator/Coach
- Country Management Team (CMT)
The review will focus on:
- Strategic coherence and clarity
- Alignment with organizational priorities
- Depth of analysis and feasibility
Stage 5: Feedback and Strengthening (November 2026)
Participants will receive detailed, structured feedback and will be expected to refine their strategies accordingly.
This stage is critical to sharpen thinking, address gaps, and strengthen alignment.
Stage 6: Finalization (December 2026)
State Managers will submit finalized State Strategy Documents, reflecting:
- Clear strategic priorities
- Defined pathways for execution
- Alignment with broader organizational goals
Phase 2: ECMT (January 2027 onwards)
The second phase will build on the same design architecture, adapted for senior leadership context and scope.
Key Focus Areas:
- Organization-wide strategic direction
- Cross-functional alignment and prioritization
- Long-term visioning and scalability
Approach:
- Pre-read and alignment inputs
- Two-day conceptual workshop
- Strategy development with coaching support
- Structured review and feedback cycles
- Finalization of strategic direction
This phase will shift the focus from state-level planning to enterprise-level strategy, with deeper emphasis on integration and scale.
5. Key Deliverables
- Design and facilitation of workshops
- Curated pre-read materials
- Ongoing coaching and mentoring support
- Draft and final State Strategy Documents (Phase 1)
- Draft and final Organizational Strategy Outputs (Phase 2)
- Structured feedback and review inputs
6. Evaluation Criteria
- Relevant Experience: Proven track record in designing and delivering leadership/strategic thinking interventions for senior teams
- Program Design Strength: Ability to offer a structured, multi-stage approach (workshop + application + coaching + review)
- Contextual Understanding: Demonstrated understanding of development sector and ability to customize to organizational context
- Facilitation & Coaching Capability: Strength of facilitators in driving conceptual clarity, mindset shift, and ongoing mentoring
- Quality of Past Work: Evidence of impact through previous assignments (sample outputs, client references, case studies)
7. Timeline Overview
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Phase
|
Timeline
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Milestones
|
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Phase 1 – State Managers
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Till Dec 2026
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Orientation, workshop, strategy development, reviews, finalization
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|
Phase 2 – ECMT
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Jan 2027 onwards
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Workshop, strategy development, reviews, finalization
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8. Expected Outcomes
- Strengthened strategic capability across leadership levels
- Clearly articulated, high-quality state and organizational strategies
- Improved alignment, prioritization, and decision-making
- Establishment of a structured and repeatable strategic planning approach
HOW TO APPLY
Proposals are invited from the interested agency for the above assignment and the last date for receiving the proposal is 22nd May 2026 at procurement.india@roomtoread.org [do not copy anyone from RtR]
Kindly submit two separate emails with the following subject lines:
- EMAIL (1): TECHNICAL PROPOSAL – Strategic Leadership Development Intervention
- EMAIL (2): FINANCIAL PROPOSAL – Strategic Leadership Development Intervention
Submission terms:
- All agencies/Individual are advised to thoroughly review the SoW before applying.
- Technical and Financial proposals are to be shared in two different emails separately and not in a single email (mandatory)
- Incomplete applications or deviations from the prescribed process will result in automatic rejection.
- Proposals received after the prescribed deadline will not be considered.
- Only shortlisted agencies/individual will be contacted and may be requested for face-to-face/online interaction/presentation.
For queries, please contact:
Vivek Shrawat