Position: Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Specialist (Premium Job)

Job Description

Provide technical support and oversight to countries on designing, planning, and implementing SBC activities that are backed by social and behavioural evidence and strong engagement and participation mechanisms.

• Provide advice to UNICEF senior managers, country offices, government counterparts, and partners on SBC, risk communication, social mobilization, and community engagement interventions in line with global standards and UNICEF’s organizational priorities and approaches.
• Provide technical support to country offices in formulating, implementing, and evaluating quality and appropriate SBC initiatives for both development and humanitarian contexts by facilitating efficient programme delivery, guiding on the quality of materials/activities, and supporting appropriate research and implementation.
• Bring insights from the latest developments and best practices in the social and behavioural sciences and participatory approaches to community engagement to improve SBC program outcomes in both humanitarian and development contexts.
• Provide technical inputs on accountability to affected people (AAP), risk communication, and community engagement to countries that are actively responding to humanitarian and or health emergencies and support preparedness activities across all countries in the region.

Enhance effective generation and utilization of research, data, and evidence to inform the design, measurement, and monitoring of SBC programs and outcomes and to build the evidence base for SBC:

• Support country teams in developing terms of reference, research tools, frameworks, and protocols for generating evidence to inform SBC initiatives.
• Strengthen the office’s capacity to research, analyse and equitably address trends that drive social and individual behaviours and norms, using a wide range of approaches including, behavioural analysis, human-centered design, social listening, behavioural insights, participatory research, RCT, and other quantitative and qualitative approaches
• Provide technical support to countries in establishing monitoring mechanisms to collect, analyse and report on SBC indicators
• Provide advice and technical support in the development and implementation of tools (quantitative and qualitative) for the monitoring, evaluation, and documentation of SBC activities.
• Disseminate SBC research findings and best practices and support the exchange of experiences and uptake of new methods among government officials, programme staff, UNICEF partners, and/or the wider SBC field.
• Support countries in organizing and managing formative research, development, pretesting, and production of country culturally relevant materials and activities to support SBC

Ensure smooth SBC programme delivery by providing technical and operational support to UNICEF offices and partners

• Establish regional SBC work plans (within sectoral work plans as appropriate), including allocation of resources, monitoring or progress, etc. Provide support to sectoral programs to ensure SBC objectives are met.
• Participate in budget planning and management of programme funds and support country offices in budget planning
• Make operational decisions on appropriate materials and media to reach target audiences, technical resources required, allocation of financial resources, as well as the time frame for various activities in support of the achievement of country programme and organizational goals.

Strengthen the SBC function by advocating for SBC, coordinating across offices, networking, and partnership building

• Develop, build and maintain partnerships at the regional level with UN agencies, research and implementing organizations, academia, media, INGOs, and other relevant organizations to promote SBC programs and assist in developing the same at the country level Participate in strategic regional conversations and support COs in discussions on policy and agenda setting for SBC advocacy and investments, and related external relations and resource mobilization initiatives.
• Support offices in ensuring adequate human and financial resources to deliver on SBC work plans, and advocate for and mobilize resources to support them.
• Participate in inter-agency groups and/or civil society networks to scale-up SBC programs and enhance results.

Promote continuous learning, strengthening, and scaling up in SBC through capacity building for UNICEF staff and partners

• In collaboration with HQ and relevant sections, develop tools, guidelines, and training materials and facilitate capacity building on SBC, risk communication, community engagement, and other related topics for staff and partners who are involved in planning, implementation, and evaluation of SBC interventions.
• Identify and plan training and learning opportunities for staff and partners on new approaches, including BI, HCD, social listening, behavioural analysis, and so on.
• Plan and lead regional-level SBC capacity assessments and support country offices in conducting national capacity assessments.
• Institutionalize/share best practices and knowledge learned on SBC in UNICEF and externally to build the capacity of staff and partners.

Job Specification

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social and behavioral science, including sociology, anthropology, communication studies/communication for development, psychology, and/or a related field is required.*A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of relevant progressively responsible professional experience at the national and international levels in developing, implementing, evaluating, and managing social and behavioral change strategies and content is required.
• Experience in developing or supporting community engagement interventions.
• Demonstrated expertise in the application of social and behavior change science, theories, research, and analysis, to all stages of the program cycle.
• Proven ability to manage social research, including quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methods for formative assessments, identifying behavioral drivers, and tracking, measurement, and evaluation of social change is desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to stay current with new developments in the SBC field is required.
• Familiarity with new and emerging approaches such as behavioral insights, human-centered design, and social listening, among others is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience in the execution of complex priorities, processes, and projects in office work plans.
• At least four years of country programme experience in with a multilateral development agency or national NGO in a low- or middle-income setting is an asset.

Apply Instruction

To apply for this job please visit jobs.unicef.org.