National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, popularly known as NIPCCD, is a premier organisation devoted to promotion of voluntary action research, training and documentation in the overall domain of women and child development. The Institute was established in the year 1966 under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, and it functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. In order to cater to the region-specific requirements of the country, the Institute, over a period of time, has established four Regional Centres at Guwahati (1978), Bengaluru (1980), Lucknow (1982) and Indore (2001).
The Institute functions as an apex institution for training functionaries of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. As a nodal resource agency, it has also been entrusted with the responsibility of training and capacity building of functionaries at the national and regional level, under the new scheme of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). It has also been designated, by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the nodal institution for imparting training on two important issues of Child Rights and Prevention of trafficking of women & children for SAARC countries The Institute`s expertise and performance was recognized by UNICEF in 1985 when it awarded the Maurice Pate Award for its outstanding contribution in the field of Child Development.
The various areas of activity of the Society include Early childhood care and development, Health and nutrition of the young child and mothers, Infant and Young Child Feeding, Prevention of micronutrient malnutrition, Adolescent health, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, Growth monitoring, Nutrition and Health Education, Child guidance and counselling, Early detection and prevention of childhood disabilities, Learning and behavioural problems of children and parent education, Child rights and Child Protection, Juvenile justice, Women`s empowerment and Gender mainstreaming, Holistic development of adolescent girls and family life education, Prevention of child marriage, female foeticide and female infanticide, Counselling and support services for women in distress, Formation and management of self help groups, Prevention of trafficking of women and children, Prevention of Gender Based Violence, Gender Budgeting, Gender sensitisation of law enforcement agencies, Partnership initiatives of Government/social organisations in the area of child development, Manpower Development in Social Development sector, Capacity Building of civil society organizations.