Sandeep Kumar Mitra Email & Phone Number

India

After almost 15 years of being the Regional Head of the largest zone of CIF, I am excited and honoured to take on the role of the National Programmes Head of an organisation which has spearheaded Child Protection not only in India but across the globe.

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Given the opportunity to lead the largest Region of CIF- East & North eastern India, covering 13 states and 1 UT was a challenge as well as an opportunity to learn, innovate and deliver. Spearheaded a team of professionals in replication and scaling up of the child helpline services model to over 180 districts across the eastern and north eastern India. Instrumental in developing, managing & nurturing successfully the CSO network of more than 400 NGOs & and a grass root level workforce of more than 4000 personnel over a period of almost 15 years. Developed strong linkages with the State Governments (State Principal Secretaries, Director etc) across all the states & contributed in planning & policy changes being a member of several Key Advisory/Statutory Committees formed by Governments across several states of the Region.

This was an opportunity for me to work at a larger platform and gather further experience. Worked closely with the marginalized communities, especially those living in vulnerable situations in poverty ridden remote rural regions, street situations, emergency humanitarian settings, civil strife prone areas etc. and scaled up the CHILDLINE services across eastern and north eastern India. Successfully conceptualized, developed and piloted “CHILDLINE Preventive Model in Rural areas” (Supported by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust- Later on accepted and incorporated in erstwhile ICPS). My association with Child Helpline International provided the unique opportunity of replication of the CHILDLINE India model across the globe.

India

My next exposure to this sector was with Don Bosco Ashalyam- a grass roots organization working closely with Street Children in the slums/streets/railway stations across the urban and semi-urban areas of Howrah and its adjacent districts of Bengal. The programmes included outreach activities for street children, emergency rescue of children in need of care and protection (in coordination with the JJ Functionaries), shelter for vulnerable children, health care, education support, recreation, vocational training and rehabilitation. Here I learned case management skills by spearheading several rescue operation of trafficking survivors, child labour, child abuse etc. Consolidated strong linkages with district level Govt. officials and launched innovative awareness campaigns. My two years of experience was a learning ground for me to understand the children’s rights perspective, policy framework, law-legislations & schemes related to children & it implementation mechanisms, key duty-bearers, advocacy, understanding of prevention-rescue-rehabilitation framework, project designing, implementation & course correction skills etc.

India

My introduction into the social sector was with Women’s Interlink Foundation (WIF) - a grass roots organisation that runs shelters for survivors of sex trafficking, provides services to children of women in prostitution in red light areas, livelihood training for survivors of sex trafficking & prevention-rescue- rehabilitation of trafficking of women and children. WIF has been one of the pioneer-organisation in drawing attention to sex trafficking in the region of South Asia, and has been an excellent learning ground for me to gain exposure to the issue, learn programming skills and gain an understanding on policy and structural issues. I worked in both in urban Bengal (Sonagachi Red Light Area) & and also rural areas (Swarupnagar block, North 24-Parganas district, Rajgunge and Sadar blocks in Jalpaiguri district- 2 districts share its border with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, thus facilitating intense cross border trafficking.) with pilot interventions to resist trafficking, in shelters with survivors framing advocacy issues and with women in prostitution on their civic and economic rights.

Master In Human Rights

Master Of Social Work - Msw, First Class

Diploma In Social Work, First Class

Bachelor In Library And Information Science

Bachelor Of Science - Bs