The CINI was founded by a Pediatrician, Samir Chaudhuri in 1974 and is involved in many community development-focused projects in India, addressing the underlying social causes of poverty, and collaborates with the Indian government and other local and international NGOs.

CINI shares its approaches with other organisations working in related fields, especially smaller, locally based, community NGOs.

[1] CINI cooperates with Save the Children, UNICEF, CARE, the UK Department for International Development, the World Bank, the Indian government, and private corporations such as KPMG.

His professional collaboration with Sister Pauline Prince, an Australian Loreto nun and nutritionist, and Rev Fr J. Henrichs S. J.,[4] led to the Child In Need Institute's foundation in 1974.

[10] CINI recently formed a partnership with Resource Group For Education And Advocacy For Community Health, a non-profit organisation founded in 1999, to eliminate tuberculosis and make Odisha and Jharkhand TB-free by 2025 under National Strategic Plan (NSP).