Consultancy - Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) ECD Strategy development Consultant, Luanda, Angola (6 months)

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Application deadline 2 years ago: Monday 19 Jul 2021 at 22:55 UTC

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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 voice.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the development of a national Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) strategy for the promotion of positive practices in relation to early childhood development (ECD) in Angola.

The consultancy will look at evidence available on the underlying, intermediate and root causes of poor practice of nurturing care and build an evidence-based communication and community engagement strategy addressing the identified bottlenecks to behavior and social change.

The strategy development exercise will incorporate analysis and communication for development approaches addressing key areas of childhood development on opportunities for early learning, good health, adequate nutrition with consideration of breastfeeding, micronutrients deficiency and complementary feeding, responsive caregiving, positive parenting and security and safety of the child. The strategy will address the main periods of early childhood: (i) from conception to birth (ii) from birth to three years, with an emphasis on the first 1,000 days (iii) and the pre-school and pre-primary years (three to 5 years, or the age of entry into school).

The main objectives of the strategy will consider:

  • Promoting stimulation and responsive care by parents and caregivers, specifically in the first 1,000 days
  • Using Angolan or African models of good practices of nurturing care that demonstrated positive results on child stimulation and development for modelling and scale up
  • Influencing policies and enhancing social accountability at community level to contribute to better quality of social services such as early learning services, nutritional services, maternal, newborn and child health care services, birth registration services
  • Guiding the harmonized implementation of SBCC programs to prevent malnutrition at the level of households and the community, based on the most up-to-date evidence of nutrition and the best practices of SBCC
  • Identifying behavioural determinants and communication channels documented in the existing literature, to support the contextualization of communication messages and SBCC approaches
  • Providing guidelines for the development of contextualized communication messages following a systematic SBCC process
  • Establishing the SBCC principles that must be followed to promote best practices to prevent malnutrition
  • Protecting young children from harsh discipline and promoting positive parenting
  • Promoting improved hygiene practices and sanitation
  • Influencing social and gender norms for creating a conducive environment for nurturing care from both parents, families and communities during the early age of the child.

The objectives are subject to adjustment based on the review of evidence that will be conducted during the consultancy.

Approach

The consultant should use a participatory approach that involves all key players in the sector and develop a National Strategy that is appropriate and reflects the country's overall situation. For the purpose, the work will include consultations, interviews, and workshops with key stakeholders.

If the practice is to start from global knowledge and adapt it to the local context, the methodology of the current assignment is rather to start compiling and analyzing local good or promising practices and experiences, especially in terms of child stimulation and nurturing care and, taking into consideration the global knowledge, modeling the local experience for the final purpose of dissemination to reach more communities in Angola as positive models. The assignment starts from the assumption that Angola and other African countries in the region have nurturing practices that are specific to the local context and that have shown positive results in terms of child development. These practices have more chance to be accepted, adopted, internalized, and sustained. Therefore, the consultant will start by inventorying local and regional practices that can serve as models and be replicated, adapted, or encouraged, by making sure that local practices do not contradict to those promoted by UNICEF at the global level.

The KAP ECD strategy conducted in 2020 (UNICEF) should be one of the basis for developing the SBCC strategy by tackling the Angolan specific challenges in relation to nurturing care at early age. The strategy should be in line with the capacity of communities and the education, health, nutrition and child protection sectors, in general, to guarantee their sustainability in the medium and long term. The SBCC strategy should have a holistic approach addressing the various spheres of the Angolan society: starting from the communication actions at the individual level but also, addressing social and gender norms at community level with the involvement of community leaders and social networks. The role of community engagement to provide feedback for contributing to a better access to social services is also critical and should be properly analyzed in the strategy document with suggestions on social accountability approaches that can be implemented or reinforced in the context of Angola. Finally, the issue of advocacy for policy and norms change also needs to be adequately addressed for an effective impact.

Duties and responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Chief of C4D, and in close coordination with the Chief of Sections (Education, CSD/Nutrition, Child Protection, Wash), and the Governmental partners ie. Ministry of Education, the National Directorate of Public Health, the Ministry of Social Action, Families and Gender (MASFAMU), the National Children’s Institute (INAC), and the Ministry of Justice, the consultant will carry out the following activities:

  • Based on a ToR that will be developed by the consultant, create a Technical Working Group (TWG) to contribute to the preparation and review of the process and support the approval of the intermediate documents produced during the consultancy. Provincial representatives are to be included in the TWG.
  • Draw up a work schedule, including the level of stakeholder’s participation. The following validation process of the national strategy is proposed:
    1. At the onset of consultancy, the consultant meets with the TWG to validate key steps of the development of the strategy. Representatives from the TWG will propose mechanism for ensuring full involvement of senior personnel in the process
    2. The consultant provides the draft strategy to the TWG – maximum of 2 rounds of review by the consultant after TWG inputs
    3. The consultant presents the final strategy to the senior personnel for validation (share the strategy one week before a validation workshop to give participants time to review it)
  • Conduct documentary research on practices, guidelines, recommendations and other relevant national and international materials related to ECD, to serve as input in the development of the SBCC strategy.
  • Hold intersectoral consultation meetings (face-to-face and/or online) with the different Ministries, partners, NGOs and community leaders, to collectively contribute to the preparation of the SBCC Strategy. A visit is to be done to at least two provinces to collect perspectives outside of Luanda.
  • Identify and map all existing Organizations and partners, with advocacy and social mobilization actions underway in the communities and the promotion of acceptable practices in the areas of education, health, nutrition, child protection and hygiene and sanitation
  • Identify the main challenges that limit the practice of nurturing care in Angola as well as the dissemination and sharing of information related to ECD
  • List and analyze local good or promising practices in child stimulation and nurturing care in Angola and in Africa through desk review and consultations
  • Prepare and present the draft SBCC Strategy for review and approval of the working group, including the Operational Plan, advocacy folder , executive summary and PowerPoint . The Strategy must contain but not limited to the following information: Situation analysis
  • Context: ECD in Angola, demographic and other data; existing policies, strategies, systems and structures, partnership landscape, available resources, coordination between sectors and implementation levels (national, provincial, municipal, communal, community)
    1. Audience analysis: primary, secondary and tertiary participants with analysis of bottlenecks to nurturing care and opportunities for each audience
    2. Communication landscape : by desk review, define which communication channels are the most effective for which audience and issues in Angola
    3. Previous actions conducted by the Government and partners in the area of ECD and any change observed, and lessons learned
    4. Global, regional, national lessons learned on SBCC strategies for enhancing nurturing care

SBCC theoretical model adapted to the area of intervention (ECD) and types of determinants influencing nurturing care practices Strategy design

  • Objectives for behavior and social change
  • Priority audiences
  • SBCC strategies and approaches – including models of approaches taken from the analysis of local good or promising practices in terms of child stimulation and nurturing care in Angola and in Africa for dissemination and scale up
  • Communication channels: characteristics, mix and match of channels, channels and target audience match
  • Messages and communication channels

    Operational Plan with activities, responsible body, detailed schedule of activities and resources needed

Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

Estimative budget

  • Organize and facilitate a workshop with key partners to present and validate the National SBCC strategy for ECD. The workshop is to be done online ensuring full participation of provincial representatives unless there is a strong recommendation from the TWG for holding the meeting in presential or in a mixed approach.

Geographic Scope

The majority of the consultancy will take place remotely; especially the individual activities such as desk review and the development of the draft strategy. The meetings and workshop involving mainly the TWG members and UNICEF staff will be done remotely. Furthermore, the interviews of stakeholders or intersectoral consultations might be done remotely or in-person depending on the agreement with the key informants. It is estimated that a visit of at least 5 working days to two provinces that will be chosen by the TWG will be required to get insights on the situation related to the ECD outside of Luanda, to have closer interaction with the provincial stakeholders and to make a direct observation of the situation.

Estimated Time Required in Angola:

  • Visit in two Provinces - 10 working days
  • Luanda / intersectoral consultations – at least 10 working days

Please note that all of the costs to support this field work should be included in the financial proposal

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

Estimate Budget

Create a Technical Group to contribute to the elaboration, review of the strategy, and to support the approval of the intermediate documents produced during the consultancy.

Technical Group’s ToR with responsibilities, expected number of hours of work, expected profile

List of technical group members, with meeting schedule

15 Sept

20%

Develop a work schedule including the level of stakeholder’s participation

Work plan prepared and approved by UNICEF

15 Sept

Conduct desk/ literature review on practices, guidelines, recommendations and other relevant national and international materials related to ECD, to serve as input in the development of the SBCC strategy.

Summary of information from desk review and existing bottlenecks to and opportunities for behavior and social change for enhanced nurturing care

30 Sept

Stakeholders analysis for identification of potential implementers of the SBCC ECD strategy: Identify and map all existing Organizations and partners, with advocacy and social mobilization actions underway in the communities and the promotion of acceptable practices in the areas of education, health, nutrition, child protection and hygiene and sanitation

List of Institutions, Organizations and Mobilization interventions in the areas of education, health, nutrition, child protection and hygiene and sanitation

30 Nov

30%

Based on existing studies, summarize the main challenges that limit the practice of nurturing care in Angola through desk review and consultations

Challenges and opportunities for social behaviour change in ECD in Angola analysed and recommendations formulated

30 Nov

List and analyze, using a clear methodology for data analysis, local good or promising practices in child stimulation and nurturing care in Angola and in Africa through desk review and consultations

An inventory and analysis of good or promising practices in child stimulation and nurturing care in Angola and in Africa with recommendations for modelling

30 Nov

Hold intersectoral consultation meetings with the technical group, different Ministries, partners, NGOs and community leaders, to collectively contribute to the preparation of the SBCC Strategy

Minutes of all meetings with the recommendations of the consulted stakeholders

1 Oct 2021 – 30 Jan 2022

30%

Prepare and present the draft Strategy for review and approval of the WG , including the Operational Plan, advocacy folder and PowerPoint , executive summary in Portuguese and English versions – with a maximum of two rounds of review

Draft of the strategy reviewed by the Technical Group, presented to the Technical Group with list of recommendations for adjustment

30 Jan 2022

Organize a workshop with key partners to present and validate the National SBCC strategy for ECD

SBCC strategy validated through a workshop

15 February 2022

20%

Deliver final products in digital format to UNICEF in Portuguese and English versions

National SBCC strategy including the Operational Plan, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan and budget

28 February 2022

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

  • An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Social Sciences, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Communication, or other related fields
  • A minimum of five years of professional experience in communication and social mobilization, advocacy and related areas in an international organization will be considered an added value
  • Proven expertise in developing Strategies to change social behaviour in the areas of Education, Health, Nutrition, Child protection or environment, hygiene and sanitation, with experience in Angola strongly preferred
  • Experience in conducting consultations, facilitating workshops and presenting data to audiences from a variety of technical backgrounds (both in-person and on-line workshops)
  • Familiarity with the policies and work of the Ministry of Education, Health, Justice, or Social Action and Family in Angola will be an advantage, as well as familiarity with civil society organizations (CSOs) working on ECD in Angola
  • Fluency in English and Portuguese is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language 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:

  • Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness
  • Works Collaboratively with others
  • Builds and Maintains Partnerships
  • Innovates and Embraces Change
  • Thinks and Acts Strategically
  • Drives to achieve impactful results
  • Manages ambiguity and complexity

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:

Duty Station: Home Based

Terms of Payment: The consultant will be paid an all-inclusive fee (transportation costs, stationary, communication and other miscellaneous expenses) as per the stipulated deliverable and payment schedule.

Contract Duration****: 6 months

How to apply: Interested candidates are requested to create their profile on UNICEF career portal at https://www.unicef.org/careers/, including cover letter and CV. Candidates should indicate ability, availability and all-inclusive financial proposal to undertake the terms of reference.

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org