Job Description- Architect & Child-Friendly Spaces Consultant
Mobile Creches (MC), a pioneer organization in Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), has been operational since 1969, providing childcare, health, nutrition, and protection services to more than 15,000 children annually across worksites, urban slums, rural, and tribal communities in India. MC has played a pioneering role in advancing ECCD for children under six years, particularly those from marginalized and migrant communities, through its integrated approach of delivering quality childcare services, strengthening caregiver and community engagement, enhancing linkages with government systems, training the ECCD workforce, influencing policy, and promoting research in the field of early childhood development. Officially recognized as the National Creche Agency by the Government of India, Mobile Creches continues to expand sustainable childcare solutions in partnership with governments and civil society organizations.
Building on its extensive experience in community-based childcare and child protection, Mobile Creches is implementing an integrated drowning-prevention programme in the high-risk districts of South 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipur, and Paschim Medinipur in West Bengal. The programme will establish 50 community-based, supervised childcare centres operating for long hours for children aged 1–4 years, with the objective of reducing children’s unsupervised exposure to nearby water bodies while ensuring safety, nutrition, early stimulation, caregiver engagement, and community integration. In addition, the programme will promote child-centred water-safety and survival awareness, community mobilisation, and first-responder preparedness to strengthen local prevention systems.
The programme will work closely with Panchayati Raj Institutions, ICDS, public health systems, NRLM/Anandadhara platforms, and community institutions to create sustainable and scalable drowning prevention systems rooted in local governance and community participation.
As an organization, Mobile Creches adheres to a strict safeguarding policy, and all staff, volunteers, consultants, interns, and partners are required to comply with safeguarding norms and child protection protocols.
To know more about MC, please log on to www.mobilecreches.org.
Department: Child Care Services
Designation: Child Protection Specialist
Level: 4
Reporting to: State Lead-West Bengal
Location: Mobile Creches State Project Office, West Bengal
Position Overview:
The Architect & Child-Friendly Spaces Consultant is a state-level technical consultancy position will provide technical support during the initial phase of the drowning prevention crèche programme for identification, assessment, planning, and establishment of safe and child-friendly crèche centres and surrounding child spaces in programme villages.
The consultant will primarily focus on assessment of proposed crèche locations, nearby environmental risks, and village-level drowning-risk areas affecting young children. The role will support identification of safe locations for crèche establishment and provide technical recommendations to make crèche centres and nearby child spaces safer, child-friendly, accessible, and developmentally appropriate for children aged 1–4 years.
The consultant will conduct village-level assessments to identify risks related to ponds, canals, water bodies, unsafe access routes, open spaces, and other environmental hazards that may increase drowning risks for young children. Based on these assessments, the consultant will recommend practical, low-cost, and context-appropriate measures for reducing risks and improving child safety and supervised child spaces within communities.
The role is primarily technical and assessment-focused and will work closely with district programme teams during centre planning and operationalisation stages. The consultant will provide technical guidance on space planning, centre layout, child-friendly infrastructure arrangements, indoor and outdoor child spaces, safe movement areas, and utilisation of locally available resources for creating safe childcare environments.
The consultancy requires extensive field visits, site assessments, technical observations, preparation of assessment reports, and practical guidance for programme teams and community stakeholders.
Educational Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Architecture, Interior Design, Planning, Urban Design, Rural Planning, Environmental Design, or a related discipline from a recognised institute.
• Candidates with additional experience in child-friendly spaces, community infrastructure, ECCD environments, rural infrastructure planning, or inclusive design will be preferred.
Total Work Experience:
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in architecture, planning, infrastructure design, or community-based space development.
• Experience in child-friendly infrastructure, ECCD centres, schools, community institutions, or rural development projects will be preferred.
• Experience working in rural or low-resource community settings will be an advantage.
Essential Requirements:
• Willingness to travel extensively across rural programme villages and water-risk locations in West Bengal.
• Strong assessment, observation, and practical planning skills.
• Ability to provide low-cost, practical, and field-oriented recommendations suitable for rural communities.
• Ability to work closely with programme teams, local stakeholders, and village communities.
Key Responsibilities:
Technical Assessments and Site Planning:
• Conduct assessments of proposed crèche locations and village environments to identify suitability, accessibility, safety concerns, and operational feasibility.
• Assess drowning-risk locations near programme villages including ponds, canals, water bodies, unsafe open spaces, and child movement routes.
• Identify environmental and infrastructure-related risks affecting child safety and supervised childcare.
• Support programme teams in identification and selection of safe and suitable locations for establishment of community crèche centres.
Child-Friendly Space Design and Improvement:
• Provide technical recommendations for development of safe, child-friendly, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate crèche environments.
• Support planning of indoor and outdoor child spaces, play areas, caregiver-child interaction spaces, handwashing facilities, storage arrangements, and safe child movement areas.
• Recommend practical and low-cost infrastructure improvements to strengthen child safety, accessibility, ventilation, lighting, hygiene, and safe utilisation of space.
• Support development of child-friendly and supervised child spaces suitable for rural and water-prone communities.
Technical Support for Centre Establishment:
• Provide technical guidance to district teams during centre establishment and operationalisation processes.
• Support layout planning and space organisation of crèche centres based on programme standards and child-friendly principles.
• Suggest locally appropriate and low-cost design solutions using locally available resources and materials.
• Support programme teams in addressing infrastructure-related challenges during initial centre set-up.
Village-Level Child Safety Environment Support:
• Support identification of community-level environmental risks affecting young children.
• Recommend practical measures to improve safe child movement and supervised child spaces within villages.
• Facilitate technical discussions with district teams and community stakeholders on improving child-friendly and safer village environments around crèche centres.
Documentation and Technical Reporting:
• Prepare site assessment reports, risk assessment notes, layout recommendations, and infrastructure improvement suggestions.
• Develop simple checklists, technical guidance notes, and reference materials for child-friendly crèche environments.
• Document field observations, technical findings, and recommendations from programme villages.
• Provide regular technical updates and assessment reports to the State Lead and programme management team.
Coordination and Programme Support:
• Work closely with State Lead, District Coordinators, Field Supervisors, Trainers, Procurement Officers, and programme teams during planning and establishment phases.
• Participate in field assessments, programme reviews, and technical planning meetings as required.
• Provide technical inputs to strengthen quality and safety of programme infrastructure and child spaces.
• Undertake any other responsibilities assigned by programme management related to assessment and child-friendly space planning.
Key Skills Required:
• Strong understanding of child-friendly and safe space planning principles.
• Experience in infrastructure assessment, rural planning, or community-based design processes.
• Good observation, assessment, and analytical skills.
• Ability to provide practical and low-cost field solutions.
• Strong coordination, communication, and reporting skills.
• Ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams and rural communities.
• Proficiency in AutoCAD, SketchUp, MS Office, or visual documentation tools will be preferred.
• Fluency in English and Bengali preferred; knowledge of Hindi will be an advantage.
Duration of Consultancy: 6 Months
How to Apply:
Interested candidates may email their updated resume, portfolio/profile, cover letter, and expected consultancy fee to hradmin@mobilecreches.org.
https://forms.office.com/r/5265u3PJiY
Subject line: Application for Consultant – Architect & Child-Friendly Spaces, West Bengal
We will review applications on a rolling basis and reserve the right to close the position as soon as a suitable candidate is found. Hence, early applications are strongly encouraged.