Individual Consultancy to Review and Develop a Comprehensive Cross-Sectoral Social and Behaviour Change Strategy

Contract

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UNICEF is a UN organization mandated by the UN General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. In Lao PDR, UNICEF is working with its partners to support the Government to realize children’s rights on survival, development, protection and participation.

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, support

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UNICEF in Vientiane, Lao PDR is looking for an Individual Consultancy to Review and Develop a Comprehensive Cross-Sectoral Social and Behaviour Change Strategy. The duration of this assignment is 3 months, starting from 1 September 2022– 30 November 2022 and the consultant will be based in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Under the supervision of the UNICEF Lao PDR Social and Behavior Specialist, the Consultant will be tasked to conduct a desk review existing Communication for Development (C4D) strategies and formative research and use the findings to develop a comprehensive cross-Sectoral Social and Behaviour Change Strategy in consultation with governmental and non-governmental partners to guide a shift in behaviour, attitude, social norms and practices in the country.

The Strategy will include a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework to ensure measurability and ongoing evidence and feedback mechanisms to inform and improve its implementation.

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

Qualifications and Experience

• Advanced degree in Communications, International Relations, Public Relations, Social/Human Sciences or other related field.
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in the field of communication for development, including humanitarian settings, and in the development of C4D strategies.

Knowledge and Skills

• Experience of working at national and sub-national level and with non-governmental, community-based organizations and ministries of health.
• Proven track record in designing SBCC strategies, conceptual frameworks and develop messages on parenting, child protection and other related topics, while showing measurable impact and behavior change.
• Demonstrated familiarity with SBC approaches, especially those relates to nutrition, parenting, WASH, education, and health
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Excellent presentation and stakeholder coordination skills.
• Ability to work independently as well as with a team in an international, multicultural and interdisciplinary environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships both within and outside the organization.

Competencies

• Ability to analyse and present findings in appropriate formats for results to feed into future actions.
• In depth knowledge and experience of tailor-made tool kit design in low resource settings.
• Experience in building capacity of government national statistics lead staff to enable them to replicate the method with minimal technical support in the future.
• Experience in setting up efficient data collection and management systems. experience in training data collection and analysis teams to ensure robust data sets.

Languages

Fluency in English (writing and speaking) is essential. Knowledge of the Lao language is an asset.

Submission of applications:

Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents:

• Letter of interest (cover letter)
• CV or resume
• Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available)
• Samples of previous similar work
• Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including breakdown by consultancy fee, medical insurance covering medical evacuation for the whole duration of the assignment, travel and living allowance for this assignment.

The deadline for applications: 18 August 2022

Assessment criteria

A two-stage procedure will be used in evaluating proposals: the technical proposal will be assessed before the financial proposal. Applications must contain the following:

1. Technical proposal including up-to-date CVs of the team members, a cover letter and work samples of previous social listening platforms developed
2. Financial Proposal: lump-sum offer with cost breakdown of consultancy fees, communication fees, living allowance, and in-country travel costs. The travel shall be based on the most direct and economy fare. No financial information should be included in the technical proposal.

For the evaluation and selection method, the following Cumulative Analysis Method will be used for this recruitment:

1. Technical Proposal (max. 100 points): weight 70%

• Degree in communication, public relations or social sciences (20 points)
• Knowledge of advocacy and communication tactics, social media management and SBC research and strategies for which a test might be conducted (30 points)
• Experience in research, workshop facilitation, community engagement (30 points)
• Samples of past similar work conducted (20 points)

2. Financial Proposal (max. 100 points) weight 30%

The maximum number of points will be awarded to the lowest Financial Proposal. This will then be compared with the Financial Proposals of other service providers who have scored a minimum of 70 points on their Technical Proposals.

The applicants should provide medical insurance covering medical evacuation for the whole duration of the assignment -as part of the financial proposal submission.

The contract will be awarded to the consultant that has scored the highest in their technical and financial proposals, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview (if needed).

TOR International Consultancy SBCC shift for VA.pdf

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.

View our competency framework at here

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:

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