Communication Officer( Social and Behaviour Change - Immunization), NO-B, Maseru, Lesotho, Open for nationals of Lesotho only

Contract

This is a NO-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-2 contracts.

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, Education

Social and Behaviour Change in UNICEF is a cross-cutting programme strategy that analyses and addresses the cognitive, social and structural determinants of individual practices and societal changes in both development and humanitarian contexts. SBC usesthe latest in social and behavioural sciences to understand people, their beliefs, their values, the socio-cultural norms and the economic and institutional contexts that shape their lives, with the aim of engaging them and increasing their influence in the design of solutions for

change. SBC brings social and behavioural evidence generation together with participation in community-led and human-centred processes.

Lesotho surpassed WHO COVID19 vaccination targets with over 50% of the eligible population fully vaccinated, according to the National Development Vaccination Plan (NDVP). Despite the initial success, Lesotho witnessed a slowdown in the uptake of not only COVID-19 vaccination but also a decline in child-hood vaccination due to limited knowledge about benefits of vaccines amongst parents/caregivers as well as Covid-19 vaccination hesitancy among adolescents and males. An integrated SBC approach that prioritises systematic, institutionalised engagement of multiple stakeholders, community groups and leaders is considered a critical component to scale up coverage of Routine immunisation and uptake of recommended health practices. Consolidation of ownership by community led platforms will also strengthen the health outreaches especially the systems is overburdened by multiple priorities. The need to pick up and accelerate the capacity building of front-line workers to engage with communities during outreach and community-based services in the altered COVID sensitive scenario is deemed critical for SBC. There is therefore an urgent need to strategically approach communication, aiming at social and behaviour change both at the service delivery level and to generate demand among the caregivers for both childhood and adult vaccination.

How can you make a difference?

Through social mobilization and engagement, as well as the empowerment and participation of stakeholders, communities, children, civil society partners, and government counterparts,s/he promotes measurable behavioral and social change/mobilization for routine as well ascampaign-based immunization and uptake.

The SBC Immunization Officer reports to the SBC Specialist for general guidance and supervision. The Officer provides support the implementation of the SBC Immunization Strategy and monitoring of the results with focus on low performing districts.The Officer will work with the CSD and SBC teams and contribute to the capacity building of the programme partners, implementation of the community platforms initiatives, designing of communication materials and report on the programme progress.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities

1. Lead the Coordination of RCCE teams and ensure integration of other health interventions
2. Assist in the implementation of all the community engagement, social mobilization and campaign activities.
3. Provide technical and operational support IEC Development
4. Lead community feedback mechanisms and digital RCCE actions
5. Support the capacity building of community networks and partners

1.Coordination of RCCE teams at National and District

• Coordinate with the Ministry of Health in rollout of differentiated strategy for including contextualisation of SBCC prototypes and packages.
• Coordinate Monthly RCCE meetings, produce reports and reporting

2.Assist in the implementation of all the community engagement, social

mobilization campaign activities.

• In close collaboration with the RCCE teams, review and provide quality assurance of SBC immunization materials and community platforms activities to ensure optimum impact within politically and culturally sensitive context.
• Identify right holders’ barriers, enablers and good practices pertaining to routine immunization and health and document 10 stories of change including documentation and knowledge sharing on SBC efforts in health, as required.
• In coordination with the RCCE teams contribute to situation analysis of social, influencers groups, to develop social mobilization to support the immunization campaigns and collect feedback about the campaign coverage and gaps.
• Working closely RCCE teams to facilitate relevant social data and survey conduct to ensure the quality of the programme and achieve its result.
• Facilitate development of comprehensive engagement activities ensuring that they are gender transformative and contributing to improving the community knowledge and address immunization barriers.
• Provide technical support for effective social mobilization ensuring materials and activities are planned a head of the campaign.
• Produce monthly analytical reports and draft annual report inputs based on M&E indicators and highlight, promote the impact of community engagement intervention.

3. Provide technical and operational support IEC Development

• Provide guidance to the Health Education Department on dissemination and quality assurance of IEC activities intended for vaccine demand-generation.
• Support the UNICEF Health Section to coordinate and collaborate with Ministry of Education and other partner organizations in developing and testing SBC materials (print, visual, and audio) for wider dissemination.
• Support the development of evidence-based SBCC strategy and tool to address the challenges of zero-dose and under-Support for Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE)

4. Lead community feedback mechanisms and innovative actions

• Support the of SBC community feedback mechanisms orientation/trainings in focus districts including quality assurance.
• Lead and initiate Geo-referenced social mobilization.
• Produce quarterly reports utilizing results from the community feedback tools and Geo-Referenced mobilization tools.
• Support the Ministry of Health to initiate a functional community feedbackmechanism housed under DHIS2.
• Implement communication innovative practices, approaches and latest technology on multiple media and social/digital platforms and networks for community engagement that are appropriate/available for the target audience.
• Institutionalize /share communication best practices and knowledge learned/products with staff and stakeholders to build capacity of communication health workers in the field.

5. Support the capacity building of community networks and partners

• Mapp the training needs and facilitate the training activities for the frontline workers & partners in regular basis in coordination with the RCCE’s.
• Ensuring the training materials are available for different groups and collect back after each training activities at both national and district levels.
• Participate in the EPI Technical working group meetings and provide technical advice, updates on activities and results of the community engagement initiatives and capacity building.

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

Education

A university degree in one of the following fields is required: social and behavioural science, including sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, communication, international/development studies or other related field.

Experience

A minimum of two years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: communication for development, public relations, communication, advocacy.

Language

Fluency in English and Sesotho is required. Knowledge of another UN Language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Core Competencies

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People.
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness.
• Works Collaboratively with others.
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships.
• Innovates and Embraces Change.
• Thinks and Acts Strategically.
• Drive to achieve impactful results.

Functional Competencies:

• Leading and supervising (I)
• Formulating strategies/concepts (I)
• Relating and networking (I)
• Persuading and influencing (I)
• Applying technical expertise (I)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

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