International Social Behavior Change (Health) Consultant, Honiara, Solomon Islands, 6 Months

Consultant Medical & Health Programme & Policy

Overview

Support in institutionalizing SBC and RCCE in health systems in Solomon Islands.

You have:

• Advanced degree (Masters) in a relevant field.
• At least 5 years’ experience in Social Behavior Change (SBC), preferably in vaccine demand and emergencies with either the UN and/or NGOs, including 2 years in research, monitoring and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and disseminating monitoring and reporting tools, products, good practices, lessons learned, success stories.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergencies is considered an asset.
• Excellent written and spoken skills in the language of the humanitarian operation with knowledge of another UN language an asset; Fluency in English (verbal and written) is a must.
• Experience of working with the Pacific Island Countries is a plus.

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, support.

In the Pacific we work in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu: These 14 Pacific island countries are home to 2.3 million people, including 1.2 million children and youth, living on more than 660 islands and atolls stretching across 17.2 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean, an area comparable to the combined size of the United States of America and Canada. Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu are classified as Fragile States according to World Bank/OECD criteria.

All 14 Pacific Island countries and territories have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but only a third are on track with reporting obligations. Explore the different areas of our work in the link provided here www.unicef.org/pacificislands.

Background of Assignment:

Solomon Islands consists of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania and covers a land area of 28,400 square kilometers. The population of Solomon Islands is approximately 700,000 people. Honiara is the capital city of Solomon Islands located on the largest and populated island, Guadalcanal.

Solomon Islands was able to maintain COVID-19 free status by enforcing measures such as border closures and strict Standard Operating Procedures that were put in place until the beginning of October 2020. The situation was to evolve fatally after the identification of community transmission cases starting from the capital Honiara in Jan 2022 and reaching all the provinces. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) provided support through the Health Promotion Unit (HPU) to sustain the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and vaccine demand creation activities in Solomon Islands. RCCE played a key role in providing real-time lifesaving information ensuring that people know what to do to protect themselves and others against various diseases. The RCCE strategy was developed, and several community committees created to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak through establishing and adhering to village protocols, disseminating information and messages to the communities, supporting the referral mechanism for effective infection prevention and outbreak control, and establishing the RCCE TWG for better coordination among stakeholders and implementing partners. The other interventions included supporting the HPU’s capacity to roll out activities at scale to sustain the momentum for the 2nd dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters, reach the high risk and remote populations, and address declining routine immunization rates.

Routine childhood immunization coverage decreased over the last two years largely attributed to the onset of COVID-19 and reprioritization of resources to the response. As the response to COVID-19 remains a priority, the MHMS is reviving efforts to sustain routine immunization coverage from both operational and demand perspectives. To support demand generation activities for COVID-19 vaccination and immunization, it is important to put measures in place to support the HPU in the areas of capacity strengthening, advocacy and community engagement. Renewed efforts to actively promote vaccine uptake and strengthen service delivery are required, particularly in provinces and communities where the coverage remains low.

How can you make a difference?

The consultant will be required to support in institutionalizing SBC and RCCE in health systems in Solomon Islands. This entails systematic monitoring and reporting of health promotion activities (timely data generation), use of data for activity adaptation, capacity building of HPU national and sub-national team members, collection and dissemination of SBC/RCCE good practices, and lessons learned from UNICEF, MHMS and other organizations demand generation interventions, and support for strengthening linkage between SBC activities and health / immunization service delivery. The Consultant will work closely with Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS), especially the Health Promotion Unit (HPU), in close collaboration with EPI manager to support the core objectives which contribute towards overall objectives:

• Acceleration of routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination among high & highest risk populations
• Rapid delivery scale-up to reach country targets for adult COVID-19 vaccination

• Integration of Covid-19 into routine immunization and essential health services to achieve sustainable benefits

  Please refer to the TOR for further information on the deliverables and the timelines

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

• Advanced degree (Masters) in the required field
• At least 5 years’ experience in SBC, preferably in vaccine demand, and emergencies with either the UN and/or NGOs with at least two years practical experience in the areas of research, monitoring and reporting.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and disseminating monitoring and reporting tools, products, good practices, lesson learned, success stories.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Excellent written and spoken skills in the language of the humanitarian operation and knowledge of another UN language an asset. Fluency in English (verbal and written) is a must.
• Experience of working with the Pacific Island Countries a plus.

Please submit a separate financial offer along with your proposal. The financial proposal should be a lump sum amount for all the deliverables but should show a break down for the following:

• Fees– based on the deliverables in the Terms of Reference
• Travel (economy air ticket to take up assignment in Solomon Islands)
• In-country travel expenses to field locations will be agreed once on board, added to the contract and settled as per receipts and invoices.
• Living allowance for international consultants
• Miscellaneous- to cover visa, health insurance (including medical evacuation for international consultants), communications, and other costs.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here

Remarks:

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 offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors 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.

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.

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.

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

Apply now

Potential interview questions

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