Trainee Program Officer

TRAINEE PROGRAM OFFICER

Vedicology Foundation | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Full-Time | On-Site 2 Openings | Fresher / 01 Year |

Immediate Joining | 2.4 3 LPA

• A child whose father passed away shouldn't have to drop out of school because his mother cannot afford the fees.
• A grandmother raising her grandchildren alone shouldn't watch them lose their future because no one showed up to help.
• A young person in institutional care shouldn't step out at 18 into a world with no place prepared for them.
• The Vedicology Foundation exists for exactly these three children. We need someone who wants to be in the field, finding them.

About Us

Vedicology Foundation is a Chennai-based Section 8 non-profit founded in 2024 by Praveen Saanker and Vandana Praveen. We serve three populations: orphaned youth living with grandparents or distant relatives after losing their parents, young people in Child Care Institutions, and children of single mothers whose husbands have passed away or abandoned the family. Through six active scholarship streams and nine areas of youth welfare, we ensure no deserving child loses access to education because of circumstances beyond their control.

We are small, serious, and growing. We are hiring 2 Trainee Program Officers to represent the Foundation on the ground.

What You Will Do

1. Identify and screen eligible beneficiaries across all three populations intake interviews, needs assessments, documentation
2. Build and maintain working relationships with CCIs, schools, colleges, and vocational institutions across Chennai
3. Stay in consistent, empathetic contact with active scholarship recipients to track academic progress and welfare
4. Represent the Foundation at inter-NGO meetings, network forums, and community events
5. Manage scholarship cases end-to-end application through disbursement through long-term follow-up
6. Support single mothers and elderly caregivers in navigating institutional processes they are unfamiliar with

Who You Are

• MSW graduate, 2024 or 2025 passout Community Development, Youth Welfare, or Child and Family Welfare specialisation preferred
• Tamil fluency is mandatory every field conversation happens in Tamil
• You have spent real time with vulnerable families or youth during your placement not just observed, but engaged
• Comfortable with regular travel across Chennai this is a field role, not a desk role
• You understand what it means to sit across from a grieving mother and help her navigate a system she does not understand
• You chose social work because you meant it not as a fallback

Where This Takes You

• Vedicology Foundation was founded in 2024. The people joining now grow with the institution.
• Trainee Program Officer Program Officer Senior Program Officer Program Lead
• Conversion from Trainee to Program Officer happens at 12 months, based on a formal performance review covering four things: field output, case management quality, beneficiary outcomes, and professional conduct. This is not automatic it is earned. Those who meet the standard move up with a salary revision. Those who exceed it move up faster.
• Beyond Program Officer, progression to Senior Program Officer and Program Lead is based entirely on merit the quality of your institutional partnerships, the depth of your beneficiary relationships, the reliability of your documentation, and your ability to take on greater program responsibility without being asked.
• We are not a large bureaucratic NGO where you wait five years for someone above you to retire. The organisation is growing and the roles above you are being built which means the people performing today are the ones who will fill them.
• For the right person, this is not just a first job. It is the foundation of a social development career built early, built on real work, and built inside an institution that will grow around you.

Compensation

240,000 300,000 per annum. This is a social-sector role, and the compensation reflects that. What it also offers direct field responsibility, a structured growth path, and meaningful work from week one is something most starting salaries at this level simply cannot match.

How to Apply

Please send your CV and a cover note of 200 to 250 words explaining what draws you to working with these families topraveen@vedicology.com, with thesubject line 'Application Trainee Program Officer'.

Applications without a cover note will not be reviewed. This is not a formality it is how we understand who you are before we meet you.

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