Associate Director Social and Behavior Change (SBC), D-1, New York, USA (Post# 117477)

Contract

This is a D-1 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 15 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 242,484 USD and 305,990 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a champion

Under the general guidance of the Director, Programme Group, working within the Programme Group Leadership Team and in close coordination with the other Programme Teams, Global Leads and other divisions - particularly UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS), Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring (DAPM) and Division of Global Advocacy and Communication (DGAC) – as well as through a network of Regional Advisors and other experts, the Associate Director for Social and Behavior Change (SBC) will provide overall leadership to advance the SBC function and agenda within UNICEF. This includes providing strategic direction, policy recommendation and advice to senior leadership across the organization; overseeing the implementation of the vision for renewed corporate influence, technical authority and quality programming, developed by the SBC Global Technical Team; ensuring thought leadership and external influence, alliance building and partners engagement; representing UNICEF's interests on SBC-related matters in the international and inter-agency fora; convening the various UNICEF governance bodies and matrixed teams for the SBC function; and expanding the scope of operational resources to be leveraged by UNICEF offices and their partners to design and implement impactful science-driven change programmes.

How can you make a difference?

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

A- Internal leadership and strategic direction

• Guide UNICEF's global policies and strategies as they relate to Social and Behavior Change, in the context of the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Advocate for UNICEF’s prioritization of socially transformative, people-centered and community-led development both as a good in itself and as an accelerator of sectoral results.

• Elevate the SBC practice in UNICEF, including the repositioning and progressive transition of the existing Communication for Development (C4D) network towards increased expertise and practice in community engagement, behavioral and social sciences.

• Provide strategic advice to global, regional and country management to ensure impactful SBC programmes and sustained efforts for the agenda.

• Support the adoption of tailored and efficient SBC operational models in offices across the organization in all country contexts.

• Bring coherence, complementarity and synergies between UNICEF’s sectoral and cross-cutting areas, promoting alignment of resources and uptake of quality programming standards.

• Create new cross-sectoral collaborations to accelerate UNICEF’s goals, convening focal points across the Programme Group and other Divisions, the SBC Global Team, contributors to the ‘’Community Engagement, Social & Behavior Change‘’ Strategy, and matrixed teams (e.g. community engagement in emergencies).

• Ensure a field-oriented, participatory and bottom-up governance of the SBC function, leveraging the best experts in regions and countries for critical organization-wide decisions, strengthening regional leadership and developing policies aligned with field needs.

• Anticipate changing of priorities and trends in the industry, explore new/emerging areas and identify opportunities, and ensure the SBC HQ team is the custodian of the latest science and innovations in the field.

B- External influence and partnerships

• Spearhead the efforts for UNICEF’s renewed corporate influence and technical authority in the field of SBC.

• Ensure external-facing representation and act as a spokesperson and negotiator for UNICEF on SBC.

• Advocate and influence the setting of agendas and strategic priorities in global forums and partnerships (e.g. development and humanitarian forums, international events, interagency coalitions and coordination mechanisms, multilateral and public-private partnerships, investment mechanisms).

• Build alliances around SBC, engage and develop high level relationships with UNICEF Executive Board, Member States, UN agencies, donor organizations, civil society organizations and global initiatives.

• Create new opportunities for and support global resource mobilization, increase donors’ interest in quality SBC programmes and confidence in UNICEF’s ability to deliver them.

• Strengthen UNICEF’s leadership in community and behavioral aspects of humanitarian action, through interagency humanitarian mechanisms.

• Increase global public-private sector partnerships to leverage private sector resources for SBC (including the entertainment, marketing and communication industries).

• Co-lead inter-agency initiatives such as the SBC International Summit and SBC Global Alliance.

• Support UNICEF-led publications on Social and Behavior Change in academic and scientific journals.

C- Operational and programmatic resources

• Make necessary guidance and tools available for UNICEF offices, governments and partners to be able to design, budget, staff, finance and operationalize Social and Behavior Change, creating teams and mechanisms specific to their needs.

• Support the internal push for programme excellence, ensuring the insights from the best and latest Social and Behavioral Science are captured and converted into knowledge, skills, strategies and approaches applied to UNICEF’s work across sectors and levels.

• Ensure quality capacity building opportunities are available across the organization for any staff, including for the specific roles played by sectoral and management staff.

• Oversee SBC HR and Talent Management for UNICEF.

• Oversee the development of operational resources such as Long-Term Agreement for Services, Stand-By Partners, Rosters of consultants, Memorandum of Understanding and other mechanisms made available to UNICEF offices.

• Foster the development of SBC communities of practice within and outside of UNICEF, with a focus on sharing of technical knowledge, lessons learned and ideas.

• Ensure clear and pragmatic programme guidance and tools are available to support UNICEF staff at all levels for sector-specific priorities and strategies in particular focusing on: o behavioral diagnosis, research and analysis o social listening, collection and analysis of community insights, public perceptions and needs o social research on key programmatic questions o design and implementation of civil society and community engagement, participation, mobilization, governance and accountability mechanisms o adoption of practices, uptake of services, norms-shifting programming o sectoral systems strengthening D- Team management

• Ensure the overall functioning of the PGLT SBC team at NYHQ. Establish the team staffing and structure, work plans, allocation of resources, monitor progress and compliance.

• Supervise direct reports, take action to improve work efficiency. Regularly discuss performance, giving timely, constructive feedback.

• Identify learning goals for team members ensuring a supportive environment for development.

• Promote the importance of demonstrating self-awareness in driving change to culture and preventing the abuse of authority. Role model appropriate behaviours in alignment with UNICEF’s core values (care, respect, integrity, trust, accountability). Create and promote a culture that establishes zero-tolerance for discriminatory (sexist, racist, xenophobic and homophobic, etc.) language and behaviours.

• Participate in UNICEF HQ’s planning, budgeting and review processes, ensure optimal resource allocation, deployment of allocated funds and compliance with rules and regulations.

• Advise on the recruitment and selection of candidates for senior-level, international SBC staff positions including conducting technical assessments and participating in interviews.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education: An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: social and behavioral science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, communication, public relations or another relevant technical field.

Experience:

• At least 13 years responsible work experience at the national and international levels in the design and management of SBC programmes, or social development programmes with strong SBC components, including at least 6 years in developing countries.

• Proven track record in the management of teams and development of large networks.

• Demonstrated collaboration with senior leaders to identify, create and implement strategic visions and plans.

• Proven experience with high-level interagency initiatives, partners coordination and external advocacy.

• Familiarity with the SBC industry.

• Proven experience in development of SBC policies and standards.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

Core competencies:

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (3)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (3)
• Works Collaboratively with others (3)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (3)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (3)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (3)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (3)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (3)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.