Regional Adviser Social & Behavior Change, Fixed Term, P-5, Nairobi, Kenya, Eastern & Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO)

Contract

This is a P-5 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 10 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 165,084 USD and 206,888 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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.

Social and Behavior Change is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate. Most of what UNICEF does comes down to supporting, promoting and improving healthy and protective behaviors for children, with corporate results across sectors revolving around practices such as immunization, breastfeeding, hygiene and positive discipline. Children’s wellbeing depends on the uptake of these practices which is driven by the choices made by their parents, guardians, peers, communities, influencers, service providers and authorities. This calls for UNICEF to design effective change programmes approaching all these decisions as the complex result of the influence of multiple determinants, cognitive, social, cultural, economic and structural.

To fulfil the rights of all children, UNICEF also needs to support positive social transformation and deliberately address major challenges which cut across and go beyond sectoral areas of programming, reduce access to basic services and resources, maintain inter-generational poverty and fuel tension lines affecting resilience and social cohesion. These include declining levels of trust in public institutions and growing disconnect between the state, civil society and communities; a shrinking civic space with limited access to decision-making and influence; weak and unaccountable governance systems; growing mis/disinformation, hate speech and intolerance; entrenched gender inequalities; discriminatory power relationships, stigma and lack of inclusion of vulnerable groups.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direct supervision and general guidance of the Deputy Regional Director and in close collaboration with Regional Advisers, the incumbent will be responsible for the design, management, execution, monitoring and evaluation of regional strategies related to the program Social and Behavior Change (SBC) and for providing expert advice, technical support and quality assurance to country offices in ESAR on policies, operational strategies and M&E tools related to SBC in view to accelerate and sustain results in gender equality, social inclusion, child survival, development, learning achievements and protection.

Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

Policy Direction:

• Guide UNICEF's regional strategies as they relate to Social and Behavior Change, in the context of the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Advocate for ESAR (RO and COs) prioritization of socially transformative, people-centered and community-led development both as a good in itself and as an accelerator of sectoral results.
• Assist the global efforts to elevate the SBC practice in UNICEF, including the repositioning and progressive transition of the existing Communication for Development (C4D) network towards increased expertise and practice in community engagement, behavioral and social sciences.
• Provide strategic advice to regional and country management to ensure impactful SBC programmes and sustained efforts for the agenda

Support to Regional and Country Offices on Program Design, Implementation, and provide oversight:

• Support the adoption of tailored and efficient SBC operational models in offices across the region in all country contexts.
• Bring coherence, complementarity and synergies between UNICEF’s sectoral and cross-cutting areas, promoting alignment of resources and uptake of quality programming standards.
• Ensure clear and pragmatic programme guidance is available and followed (where required through ESAR’s specific interpretation of global guidance/tools) to support UNICEF staff at all levels in particular focusing on:
• Behavioral diagnosis, research and analysis
• Accountability to Affected Populations
• Social listening, collection and analysis of community insights, public perceptions and needs
• Social research on key programmatic questions
• Design and implementation of civil society and community engagement, participation, mobilization, governance and accountability mechanisms
• Adoption of practices, uptake of services, norms-shifting programming

Partnerships and inter-sectoral alliances

• Build network of academic/research institutions in the region to strengthen to the knowledge base while contributing to innovation and capacity building.
• Ensure the SBC team is contributing to the thought leadership in SBC across the different sectors, with UN at large and as part of the social mobilization and community empowerment for social development and behavior and social change in the region
• Create new opportunities for and support regional resource mobilization, increase donors’ interest in quality SBC programmes and confidence in UNICEF’s ability to deliver them.
• Create opportunities for collaboration with civil society at large, especially community youth and women’s lead groups and religious leaders
• Strengthen UNICEF’s leadership in community and behavioral aspects of humanitarian action, through interagency humanitarian mechanisms

Management and Leadership Responsibilities:

• Provide direction and managerial support to the ESA Regional Office SBC team.
• Manage the sustainability of the RO SBC team and meet timely budgetary requirements
• Oversee and manage performance of direct report and ensure capacity development of the team to team to fulfill its roles and responsibilities.
• Ensure inclusive management and well-being of the SBC team
• Participate in the RO leadership team and contribute to CRITAS in the RO as in COs
• Support the wider Regional SBC network through capacity building and other support

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in the social/behavioral sciences (Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, health Education), with emphasis on participatory communication, communication planning, social mobilization, participatory research, training and impact evaluation of communication interventions.
• A minimum of twelve of relevant professional experience in the planning and management of social development programmes, including eight years in developing countries, with practical experience in the adaptation and application of communication planning processes to specific programmes.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English 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 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: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.(8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

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. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female programme country nationals are encouraged to apply.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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

Nationals of Kenya can be considered for regional posts in Nairobi with two years of international experience outside the country.

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.