Home-based Consultancy: Social and Behaviour Change - Behavioural Science Specialist (303 working days with travel as needed) - Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

Consultant Programme & Policy

Overview

Support UNICEF ECARO with social and behaviour change interventions for vaccination.

You have:

• A PhD in social sciences, preferably on social and behaviour change, behaviour sciences and social psychology, is required.
• At least seven (7) years of experience in planning, designing and assessing SBC interventions and strategies, preferably for public health and immunization.
• Experience in designing and delivering BI and HCD capacity building sessions.
• Experience in designing evaluation protocols and evaluating BI solutions through randomized controlled trials and other methodologies.
• Experience in analyzing and synthesizing socio-behavioural or public health research for policy and programme recommendations.
• Strong written and spoken English ability.
• Previous experience in working in Europe and Central Asia region.
• Proven familiarity and experience working with the UN (ideally with UNICEF).

Contract

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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, hope

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

To support UNICEF ECARO with evidence generation, planning, rollout and assessment of social and behaviour change interventions aiming at increasing confidence and uptake of childhood vaccines and other health-related behaviours.

Scope of Work

The consultant is expected to support the Social and Behaviour Change section by:

1. Revising and providing inputs into Behaviour Insights (BI) research methodologies and reports. The consultant will provide direct support to UNICEF country offices in the ECA region and will be required to engage with institutional contractors through online calls. He/She will support to provide quality assurance of methodologies, reports, and research tools.
2. Supporting the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions aiming at increasing vaccine uptake and the adoption of other health-related behaviours. The consultant will develop solutions that can be applied across the region, provide direct support to country offices and will also work with institutional contractors.
3. Supporting the conceptualization and rollout of capacity building sessions on BI and Human centred design. The consultant will support multi-country and country-specific capacity building sessions.
4. Developing an M&E guide for BI solutions aiming at increasing vaccine uptake and the adoption of other healthy behaviours. The guide should encompass relevant indicators and a detailed description of evaluation approaches to track progress against each indicator.
5. Supporting the documentation of effective SBC strategies aiming at increasing vaccine uptake and the adoption of other health-related behaviours.
6. Supporting the development of a resource pack with recommendations, tools and resources aiming at addressing vaccine misinformation. In this regard, the consultant will work closely with an institutional contractor to define the most common vaccine myths around Europe and Central Asia, develop messages and solutions to counter the myths and develop a resource pack that will gather recommendations, messages and solutions to address vaccine misinformation in the region.
7. Supporting countries in the region to mainstream IPC training into national training curricula. In close collaboration with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and country offices, the consultant will revise and provide inputs into research tools, draft curricula, training resources, project’s updates and reports, and attend relevant meetings.
8. Supporting the development of a package with recommendations, tools and resources aiming at addressing vaccine hesitancy among health workers and their capacities to identify and address vaccine hesitancy among caregivers and vaccine beneficiaries. The consultant will carry out consultations with country offices and carry out a desk review to identify evidence-based approaches to address health workers’ vaccine hesitancy and increase their engagement and motivation in promoting childhood vaccination. Based on the insights gathered through the consultations and desk review, the consultant will develop a package with recommendations and solutions that consider psychological, societal and environmental factors preventing health workers from promoting childhood immunization. He/She will also support countries to rollout and evaluate the package recommendations and solutions.
9. Supporting the development/revision of SBC and demand promotion strategies and action plans aiming at increasing vaccine uptake and the adoption of other healthy behaviours. Develop a template with relevant sections and guiding questions to help countries in the development of their strategy.
10. Supporting the development of a resource pack with recommendations, tools and resources aiming at supporting countries to increase vaccine uptake among relevant religious groups and marginalized communities. The consultant will attend calls with identified/relevant countries, revise and provide into research tools, support the conceptualization, development, rollout and evaluation of solutions aiming at increasing vaccine uptake among relevant religious groups and marginalized communities.
11. Supporting the multi-country evaluation of the immunization programme. In collaboration with an institutional contractor, the evaluation and Health teams at UNICEF ECARO, the consultant will revise and provide inputs into the evaluation methodology, tools and reports.
12. Supporting the rollout and evaluation of a chatbot with questions and answers on immunization. The consultant will support the enhancement of the chatbot by developing messages and strategies aiming at increasing users’ engagement with the solution. He/She will support the development of surveys to understand users’ experience and needs, and will support to evaluate the effectiveness of the chatbot in addressing caregivers’ concerns and questions around childhood immunization.
13. Supporting COs and the RO to revise TORs, concept notes, strategies and reports regarding BI research.
14. Update country immunization profiles on SBC/demand promotion activities and insights and contribute to the development of concept notes, funding proposals and donor reports.
15. Conduct desk review/literature review to identify effective approaches and practices to influence health-related practices.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone******Deliverables / Outputs******Timeline / Deadline• Scope: 1, 7, 9, 13, and 11 • Support the development of the regional SBC strategy for immunization and health

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (2 days) • support provided to mainstream IPC training into national training curricula (2 days) • draft national demand promotion strategy template (10 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes and SBC reports (2 days) • support provided to the multi-country evaluation of the immunization programme. (4 days) • support provided to the development of the regional SBC strategy for immunization and health (3 days)Total of 23 working days;

By 31 October 2023

• Scope: 1, 2, 7, 9, 13, and 11 • Support the development of the regional SBC strategy for immunization and health

Progress monthly report on: • support provided around BI research (3 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • Final demand promotion strategy template (5 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, strategies and SBC reports (2 days) • support provided to the multi-country evaluation of the immunization programme. (3 days) • support provided to the development of the regional SBC strategy for immunization and health (5 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 30 November 2023

• Scope: 1, 2, 7, 13, and 11 • Support the development of the regional SBC strategy for immunization and health

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (5 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • support provided to mainstream IPC training into national training curricula (3 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, strategies and SBC reports (5 days) • support provided to the multi-country evaluation of the immunization programme. (2 days) • Final regional SBC strategy for immunization and health (3 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 31 December 2023

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 11, and 4

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (4 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes and SBC reports (4 days) • support provided to the multi-country evaluation of the immunization programme. (5 days) • Draft M&E guidance (5 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 31 January 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 11, 4, 5, and 8

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (2 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, strategies and SBC reports (2 days) • support provided to the multi-country evaluation of the immunization programme. (2 days) • Final M&E guidance (2 days) • development of the solutions guidance (6 days) • development of the health workers (HW) package (4 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 29 February 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 5, and 8

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (2 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • the development of the solutions guidance (10 days) • the development of the HW package (4 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 31 March 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 5, 8, and 6

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (2 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • Final solutions guidance (6 days) • Final HW package (3 days) • the development of the misinformation management package (5 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 30 April 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 6, 5, 8, and 10

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (4 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (4 days) • support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • support provided to develop the vaccine misinformation package (3 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (7 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 31 May 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 6, and 10

Monthly progress report on: • support provided around BI research (4 days) • support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (4 days) • the support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • the support provided to develop the vaccine misinformation package (3 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (7 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 30 June 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 6, 10, and 3

Monthly Progress report on: • the support provided around BI research (2 days) • the support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • the support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • the support provided to develop the vaccine misinformation package (3 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (5 days) • the capacity building sessions (6 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 31 July 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 6, 10, and 3

Monthly Progress report on: • the support provided around BI research (2 days) • the support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • the support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • the support provided to develop the vaccine misinformation package (3 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (5 days) • the development of capacity building sessions (6 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 31 August 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 6, 10, and 3

Monthly progress report on: • the support provided around BI research (2 days) • the support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • the support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • Final vaccine misinformation package (3 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (5 days) • Final package for capacity building sessions on BI with session outline, agenda, and presentations (6 days)Total of 20 working days;

By 30 September 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 10, and 12

Monthly progress report on: • the support provided around BI research (2 days) • the support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • the support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (4 days) • the support provided to rollout and evaluate the immunization chatbot (10 days)Total of 20 working days;

By October 2024

• Scope: 1, 2, 13, 10, 12 and 15

Monthly progress report on: • the support provided around BI research (2 days) • the support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • the support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (4 days) • the support provided to rollout and evaluate the immunization chatbot (5 days) • Desk review report (5 days)Total of 20 working days;

By November 2024

• Scope: 2, 13, 10, 12, and 15

Monthly progress report on: • the support provided around BI research (2 days) • the support provided around the conceptualization, development and evaluation of BI solutions (2 days) • the support provided to enhance TORs, concept notes, and SBC strategies and reports (2 days) • the development of the pack to increase vaccine uptake among religious communities (4 days) • the support provided to rollout and evaluate the immunization chatbot (5 days) • Desk review report (5 days)Total of 20 working days;

By December 2024

Estimated Duration of the Contract

303 working days (between September 2023 and December 2024)

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The assignment will be home-based.

As part of this assignment, some travel to specific countries in Europe and Central Asia is expected. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a financial proposal (in USD) in your application based on 303 working days to undertake this assignment. Please do not include travel fees as this will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• A PhD in social sciences, preferably on social and behaviour change, behaviour sciences and social psychology, is required.
• At least seven (7) years of experience in planning, designing and assessing SBC interventions and strategies, preferably for public health and immunization.
• Experience in designing and delivering BI and HCD capacity building sessions.
• Experience in designing evaluation protocols and evaluating BI solutions through randomized controlled trials and other methodologies.
• Experience in analyzing and synthesizing socio-behavioural or public health research for policy and programme recommendations.
• Strong written and spoken English ability.

Desirable:

• Previous experience in working in Europe and Central Asia region.
• Proven familiarity and experience working with the UN (ideally with UNICEF).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family 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:

Please include a full CV in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 2 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org