Job Description- National Project Lead (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: National Project Lead-West Bengal
Level: 4
Reporting to: Sr. Thematic Lead, Child Care Services
Reported by: State Lead -West Bengal
Location: Mobile Creches Head Office, New Delhi with frequent travel to West Bengal.
Position Overview:
The National Project Lead will provide overall strategic leadership, technical oversight, donor coordination, and programme management support for the community-based drowning prevention crèche programme in West Bengal. The position will lead programme planning, implementation, monitoring, partnerships, government engagement, reporting, and knowledge management while ensuring high-quality implementation and achievement of programme outcomes.
The role will ensure that implementation across all programme districts remains aligned with organisational standards, safeguarding requirements, donor commitments, and programme quality benchmarks.
The position requires strong experience in programme leadership, Early Childhood Development (ECD), community systems strengthening, stakeholder management, donor engagement, and multi-location programme coordination.
Educational Qualifications:
Master’s degree in Social Work, Public Health, Rural Management, Development Studies, Child Development, or related discipline from a reputed institute.
Total Work Experience:
Minimum 10–12 years of relevant experience in leading multi-district or multi-state development programmes, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role. Experience in ECCD, child protection, public health, drowning prevention, or systems-strengthening programmes will be preferred.
Essential Requirement:
• Demonstrated experience in programme management (community-based programmes) and cross-functional team leadership.
• Strong experience in government engagement, strategic planning, and programme review and stakeholder coordination.
• Experience in donor-funded programme management preferred.
• Willingness to travel regularly to programme districts and field locations.
Age Criteria: 35–45 years.
Key Responsibilities:
Programme Leadership and Management:
• Provide overall strategic leadership for planning, implementation, quality assurance, sustainability, and scale-up of the community-based drowning prevention crèche programme across West Bengal.
• Ensure timely achievement of programme outputs, outcomes, milestones, timelines, and budget commitments in alignment with donor and organisational expectations.
• Lead development of annual work plans, implementation frameworks, review systems, risk mitigation plans, and programme monitoring mechanisms.
• Guide state and district teams on implementation planning, adaptive management, troubleshooting, and problem-solving to ensure effective programme delivery.
• Ensure that programme implementation across all districts remains aligned with organisational standards, safeguarding protocols, donor commitments, and quality benchmarks.
Donor Coordination and External Representation:
• Donor communication, programme reviews, progress reporting and presentations,
• Ensure timely submission of high-quality donor reports, programme updates, documentation, and visibility materials.
• Represent the organisation in relevant forums, consultations, technical discussions, and stakeholder meetings at state levels.
Government Engagement and Partnerships:
• Support the State Lead in building and strengthening partnerships with state and district government departments, technical agencies, research institutions, and knowledge partners.
• Facilitate convergence with ICDS, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Health Departments, NRLM, child protection systems, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Support the development of sustainability and institutionalisation pathways for integration of the programme within local governance and government systems.
Technical Oversight and Quality Assurance:
• Provide technical guidance on Early Childhood Development (ECD), child safety, drowning prevention, safeguarding, community systems strengthening, and first-responder mechanisms.
• Lead periodic programme reviews, field assessments, and evidence-based learning processes to support programme improvement and course correction.
• Ensure high standards in programme documentation, knowledge management, evidence generation, and dissemination of learning.
Monitoring, Risk Management, and Compliance:
• Oversee programme monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning systems in coordination with MEAL teams.
• Ensure strong internal controls, safeguarding compliance, programme risk management, and adherence to organisational and donor policies.
• Review programme progress through field visits, dashboards, reports, and review meetings, and ensure timely corrective actions where required.
Internal Coordination and Team Leadership:
• Coordinate closely with technical, finance, procurement, HR, training, safeguarding, MEAL, and operations teams for smooth programme implementation.
• Supervise, mentor, and support the State Lead and other key programme staff to strengthen team performance and collaboration.
• Promote a culture of teamwork, accountability, learning, and innovation within the programme team.
Other Responsibilities:
• Undertake any other responsibilities assigned by the Sr. Thematic Lead – Direct Operations, Child Care Services.
Key Skills Required:
• Strong strategic leadership and programme management skills.
• Strong team building and people management abilities.
• Excellent donor and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical, budgeting, and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent communication, documentation, presentation, and reporting skills in English.
• Ability to lead complex, multi-location teams in a dynamic field-based environment.
• Proficiency in English is essential; fluency in Bengali and working knowledge of Hindi will be preferred.
Location requirement: The candidate will be required to travel extensively (at least 10 working days per month) to programme districts in West Bengal based on programme requirements.
Application Process:
Interested candidates may email their resume, cover letter, and last drawn CTC (mandatory) to
hradmin@mobilecreches.org.
https://forms.office.com/r/5265u3PJiY
Subject line: “National Project Lead – 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.