Job Description- Nutritionist Consultant, West Bengal
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: Consultant Nutritionist
Reporting to: State Lead-West Bengal
Location: Mobile Creches State Project Office, West Bengal
Position Overview
The Consultant Nutritionist will provide state-level technical guidance and oversight to strengthen nutrition services and improve nutritional outcomes for children enrolled in the drowning prevention crèche programme during the programme establishment phase.
The consultant will review existing organizational and government nutrition protocols, feeding practices, and nutrition guidelines and contextualise them to local food habits, cultural practices, seasonal availability, and community realities of the programme districts in West Bengal. The role will support development of practical, locally relevant, child-friendly, and culturally appropriate nutrition guidance for community-based crèche centres.
The consultant will work closely with the State Lead, district teams, MEAL department, and the national team to support nutrition assessments, development of nutrition tools and systems, nutrition training inputs, and strengthening of nutrition monitoring and referral mechanisms during the initial programme implementation period.
The role is primarily technical and advisory in nature and will involve field visits, technical assessments, coordination with programme teams, and capacity-building support across programme districts.
Educational Qualifications:
• Master’s degree in Nutrition, Public Health Nutrition, Dietetics, Food and Nutrition, Community Nutrition, or a related discipline from a recognised institute.
• Additional certification or training in child nutrition, maternal and child health, or public health nutrition will be preferred.
Total Work Experience:
• Minimum 5–7 years of experience in nutrition programming, child nutrition, community nutrition, or public health nutrition programmes.
• Experience in ECCD, ICDS, maternal and child health, community-based nutrition programmes, or NGO/development sector programmes will be preferred.
• Experience in nutrition assessments, growth monitoring systems, nutrition counselling, and nutrition-related capacity building will be an advantage.
• Experience working with government nutrition systems, ICDS, health departments, or community-based frontline workers is desirable.
Essential Requirements:
• Willingness to travel regularly across programme districts and rural programme locations.
• Ability to work closely with multidisciplinary programme teams and community-based systems.
• Strong technical understanding of child nutrition, growth monitoring, and nutrition service delivery.
• Strong documentation, analytical, and coordination skills.
Key Responsibilities:
Nutrition Systems and Technical Support:
• Provide technical guidance for strengthening nutrition components within community-based crèche centres.
• Review and contextualise existing nutrition protocols, meal plans, feeding practices, and nutrition guidelines in line with local dietary patterns, locally available foods, cultural practices, and community needs in programme areas.
• develop the nutrition protocols, nutrition standards, meal planning guidance, feeding practices, and nutrition-related operational systems for the programme.
• Review and recommend age-appropriate, locally available, and culturally relevant nutrition practices for children aged 1–4 years.
• Support development of nutrition monitoring formats, growth-monitoring tools, and nutrition reporting systems in coordination with the MEAL team.
• Provide technical inputs for nutrition-related programme planning and implementation processes.
Nutrition Assessment and Programme Planning:
• Support nutrition assessments, dietary assessments, and review of nutrition-related needs in programme locations during the initial phase of programme implementation.
• Identify nutrition-related risks, gaps, and service requirements within programme communities and crèche centres.
• Support district teams in planning practical nutrition interventions and child-feeding approaches suitable for community-based childcare settings.
• Provide technical recommendations for improving nutrition quality, meal diversity, feeding routines, and child nutrition practices across centres.
Capacity Building and Technical Orientation:
• Support development of nutrition-related training content, guidance notes, IEC materials, and practical orientation tools for programme teams and caregivers.
• Provide technical orientation and handholding support to Trainers, Field Supervisors, caregivers, and district teams on child nutrition, feeding practices, hygiene, growth monitoring, and nutrition-related care practices.
• Coordinate with the national nutrition team to ensure standardisation and quality of nutrition-related technical content and processes.
• Support practical demonstrations and field-based orientation on safe food handling, hygiene, nutrition practices, and child feeding routines.
Nutrition Monitoring and Referral Support:
• Support establishment of systems for growth monitoring, nutrition screening, and identification of malnourished or nutritionally vulnerable children.
• Coordinate with MEAL teams for nutrition-related data tracking, reporting, and analysis.
• Support development of referral linkages with ICDS, health systems, and local nutrition services for children requiring additional nutrition or health support.
• Review nutrition-related data and provide recommendations for programme improvement and strengthening of nutrition outcomes.
Coordination and Programme Support:
• Work closely with State Lead, district programme teams, MEAL department, and national nutrition team for integrated programme implementation.
• Participate in programme reviews, field assessments, planning meetings, and technical consultations related to nutrition services.
• Support documentation of nutrition-related learnings, field observations, good practices, and implementation challenges.
• Provide technical support during programme establishment and early operationalisation of crèche centres.
Other Responsibilities:
• Undertake any other responsibilities assigned by the State Lead or programme management team related to strengthening nutrition systems and services under the programme.
Key Skills Required:
• Strong technical understanding of child nutrition, growth monitoring, and community nutrition systems.
• Good knowledge of nutrition practices for young children and community-based childcare settings.
• Strong analytical, documentation, and reporting skills.
• Ability to provide practical technical guidance and field-based support to programme teams.
• Good coordination and communication skills.
• Experience in development of nutrition tools, protocols, and training materials.
• Proficiency in MS Office, Excel, and reporting systems.
• Fluency in English required; knowledge of Bengali and 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 Nutritionist – 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.