External Outreach: Social & Behavior Change Officer/Specialist-(P2-P3/NOB-NOC), Rapid Response Rosters, Eastern and Southern Africa Region

Mid Senior Crisis & Emergency Response Programme & Policy

Overview

Provide technical and operational support for SBC in emergencies.

You have:

• Master's degree in social and behavioral science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, or communication 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.
• 3 to 5 years of professional experience in social development program planning, communication for development, public advocacy or a related area is required.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in verbal and written English and/or French.
• Knowledge of another UN language or a local language is an asset.

Contract

This is a P-3 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 5 years of experience, depending on education. More about P-3 contracts and their salaries.

Seeking external candidates only

Contract Type: Temporary Appointment (TA) or Consultancy

Duration: 3 months to 364 days

Location: Countries based in Eastern and Southern Africa

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, hope

Since two years, countries in the ESA region have experienced an alarming increase in the number of new, or re-emerging humanitarian emergencies, including public health (including Ebola, Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, wild poliovirus, and Cholera), armed conflicts and natural disasters emergencies.

UNICEF ESAR has prioritized the critical need to support countries to rapidly scale up capacity to prevent, mitigate, and manage ongoing and anticipated emergencies as well as to enhance capacity for preparedness and response to these emergencies.

Purpose

The purpose of this external announcement is to attract suitable Social & Behavior Change officer/Specialist candidates interested in working in any of the countries within UNICEF's East and Southern Africa region to respond to emergencies for the next 36 months.

The countries within each region are listed on the following website: Where we work | UNICEF

How can you make a difference?

Key activities & duties

The Social & Behavior Change (SBC) Officer provides technical and operational support to the SBC in Emergencies Specialist and internal colleagues by administering, implementing, monitoring and/or evaluating a variety of SBC/Risk Communication and Commmunity Engagment (RCCE) initiatives and activities to promote community-centred, data-driven approaches in emergency preparedness and response.

1. Support to design of SBC/RCCE activities in emergency preparedness and response

• Support comprehensive situation analysis of social, communication, cultural, economic and political dimensions in the affected areas.
• Collect and synthesize qualitative and quantitative SBC data, including community feedback, to support response activities.
• Support design and prepositioning of risk communications materials with MOH and partners through coordination mechanisms.
• Support development of UNICEF’s RCCE strategy/plan in line with government response plans
• Monitor and contribute to assessing the impact of SBC/RCCE strategies and activities on the CO and UNICEF goals for emergency response.

2. Support to the implementation of SBC activities

• Collaborate and/or consult with internal and external partners to provide operational and technical support to research, develop, and produce evidence-based strategies and test, produce and use quality risk communications materials, organize events and activities to maximise community engagement and participation, and maximum outreach and impact for commu
• Provide technical, administrative and logistical support and background materials to for implementation of SBC strategies and activities by UNICEF and partners and recommend operational strategies, approaches, plans, methods and procedures to ensure community engagement and participation, and optimum outreach and impact.

• Assess and recommend potential contacts, networks, resources and tools to support maximum impact and outreach of SBC initiatives.

• Follow up and monitor the production of SBC materials to ensure technical quality, consistency and relevancy of communications materials that are developed, produced and disseminated to target audience (e.g., individuals, communities, government officials, partners, media etc.).

• Provide frequent reports as requested by the supervisor on the situation, RCCE activities, partners, challenges and opportunities.
• Collect, assess and organize information for budget planning and management of programme funds and prepare documentations and related materials for financial planning for SBC initiatives. Monitor/track the use of resources as planned and verify compliance with organizational guidelines, rules and regulations and standards of ethics and transparency.

3. Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Build and maintain partnerships through networking and proactive collaboration with national and international civil society organizations, community groups, leaders and other critical partners in the community and civil society to reinforce cooperation through engagement, empowerment and self-determination and to pursue opportunities for greater advocacy to promote UNICEF mission and goals for child rights, social equity and inclusiveness.
• Collaborate with internal global/regional communication partners to harmonize, link and/or coordinate messaging to enhance SBC outreach and contribution to programmatic outcomes

4. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Institutionalize/share best practices and knowledge learned/products with global/local partners and stakeholders to build capacity of practitioners/users and disseminate products to key audiences including partners and donors.

• Support the organization, administration and implementation of capacity building initiatives, including partnerships with training and academic institutions, to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders/partners across programme sectors in S&BC planning, implementation and evaluation in support of programmes/projects.

• Develop training materials for training activities, and revise and update them as necessary

  Key Expected Results

The efficient and effective technical, administrative and operational support provided to the development and implementation of S&BC advocacy initiatives and products directly impact on the ability of UNICEF to promote social, political and economic action and changes in behaviors, social attitudes, beliefs and actions by communities, individuals and societies on children’s rights survival and wellbeing. This in turn contributes to enhancing the ability of UNICEF to fulfill its mission to achieve sustainable, locally owned and concrete results in improving the survival, development and wellbeing of children in the country

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

Education-

• A Master's 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.
• *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.

Work Experience-

• A minimum 3 to 5 years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: social development programme planning, communication for development, public advocacy or another related area. Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Specialized training/experience in Social and Behavior Change highly desirable.

Language Requirement:-

• Fluency in verbal and written English and/or French (depending on the country office's official language). Knowledge of another UN language or a local 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: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Drive to achieve impactful results (1)

Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

Works Collaboratively with others (1)

Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)

Innovates and Embraces Change (1)

Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)

Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)

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.

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:

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

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. 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 a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org