Research Associate - Maternal and Child Care Program

Job Description

SELCO Foundation is a systems-focused organization working at the intersection of climate resilience, sustainable energy, livelihoods, and social development. Within the health sector, SELCO Foundation is strengthening maternal, adolescent, and child care ecosystems through climate-smart and future-ready solutions that improve accessibility, resilience, and quality of care delivery-particularly for underserved communities.

The Foundation works across domains such as decentralized clean energy, passive infrastructure design, digital technologies, med-tech, and ecosystem strengthening to reduce transaction costs and improve continuity of care across maternal and child health value chains.

Position Overview

SELCO Foundation is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Research Associate - Maternal and Child Care Program to support research, evaluation, knowledge-building, and systems strengthening initiatives within its maternal and child care portfolio.

The role requires an individual with strong analytical and field evaluation capabilities who can work closely with implementation teams, research teams, and ecosystem stakeholders to understand, benchmark, evaluate, and strengthen maternal and child care systems from a climate lens.

The Research Associate will play a key role in

• Mapping and benchmarking maternal and child care value chains
• Evaluating climate-smart interventions and implementation processes
• Developing baselines and assessment frameworks
• Synthesizing learnings from field programs
• Supporting knowledge convergence across sector stakeholders
• Generating actionable recommendations for strengthening maternal and child care ecosystems in India

The position requires a systems-thinking individual capable of integrating insights across maternal health, adolescent health, nutrition, childcare, infrastructure, clean energy, and community health ecosystems.

Key Focus Areas

Maternal Health Systems

Research and evaluate maternal care pathways across:

• Pre-delivery care
• Delivery and emergency referral systems
• Post-partum and post-natal care

The role will assess how climate-smart interventions can strengthen continuity, accessibility, resilience, and quality of maternal healthcare delivery.

Adolescent Health

Examine adolescent health systems and their linkages to maternal and child health outcomes, including:

• Nutrition
• Menstrual health
• Anaemia
• Preventive care
• Community-level health-seeking behaviors

Childcare and Early Childhood Development (0-6 Years)

Focus on childcare ecosystems, particularly:

• Daycare and childcare center models in India
• Nutrition and growth monitoring
• Developmental care and early stimulation
• Health and caregiving practices
• Infrastructure and environmental conditions for childcare delivery

The role will benchmark national and global childcare/daycare models and identify gaps, challenges, and opportunities for climate-resilient childcare ecosystems.

Key Responsibilities

Research and Benchmarking

• Conduct secondary and primary research on maternal, adolescent, and child health systems
• Map and analyze maternal and child care value chains from a climate resilience lens
• Identify and document national and global benchmarks, best practices, and innovative models
• Develop frameworks to assess climate-smart and future-ready healthcare systems
• Generate insights on care delivery models, ecosystem gaps, and systemic barriers

Baseline Development and Program Evaluation

• Design and support baseline assessments for SELCO Foundation's maternal and child health programs
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative evaluations of interventions and implementation processes
• Assess effectiveness, usability, adoption, and resilience of deployed solutions
• Analyze field data and synthesize findings into actionable recommendations
• Evaluate interventions post-implementation and document learnings and impact pathways

Climate-Smart Solutions Assessment

Evaluate solutions deployed within maternal and child care ecosystems, including:

• Passive and climate-responsive built environment designs
• Distributed renewable energy systems
• Clean energy-enabled healthcare delivery
• Point-of-care diagnostic devices
• Medical technologies
• Digital health platforms and technologies

Assess how these interventions:

• Reduce transaction costs
• Improve healthcare accessibility
• Strengthen service delivery
• Improve resilience of healthcare systems
• Enhance quality of care

Knowledge Management and Sensemaking

• Work closely with program implementation teams to continuously understand on-ground realities and evolving program needs
• Translate field learnings into structured reports, briefs, and strategic recommendations
• Support portfolio-level sensemaking across programs and interventions
• Build knowledge products for internal learning and sector dissemination

Stakeholder Engagement and Knowledge Convergence

• Support the design and facilitation of at least three sector workshops, roundtables, or convergence platforms during the year
• Engage with experts, practitioners, institutions, and ecosystem stakeholders across maternal and child health sectors
• Contribute to dialogue-building on climate-resilient and future-ready maternal and childcare ecosystems
• Support collaborative knowledge generation and ecosystem strengthening initiatives

Desired Qualifications

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in one or more of the following fields:

• Public Health
• Social Work
• Development Studies
• Community Health
• Health Systems
• Sociology
• Nutrition
• Anthropology
• Or related disciplines

Experience Requirements

• Minimum 8 years of professional experience
• Prior experience in maternal health, child health, adolescent health, public health systems, or community health programs is strongly preferred
• Experience conducting research, evaluations, assessments, or implementation studies
• Experience working with NGOs, research institutions, public systems, healthcare ecosystems, or development organizations preferred
• Familiarity with childcare/daycare ecosystems and early childhood development is an added advantage
• Experience engaging with multi-stakeholder platforms and facilitating knowledge exchanges preferred

Required Skills and Competencies

• Strong qualitative and quantitative research skills
• Experience in baseline studies and program evaluations
• Systems thinking and analytical capability
• Ability to synthesize complex field insights into actionable recommendations
• Strong report writing and documentation skills
• Familiarity with public health and healthcare delivery systems in India
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills
• Ability to work independently in a remote work environment
• Comfort working across interdisciplinary domains including health, climate resilience, infrastructure, energy, and technology

Nature of Engagement

• Full-time contractual position for 1 year
• Remote working arrangement permitted
• Travel may be required occasionally based on program needs