Risk Communication and Community Engagement Consultant(RCCE)

Job Description

CONTEXT OF THE CONSULTANCY

- Acknowledging the importance of non-pharmacological measures against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the role of social norms in shaping access to health services, IRC is actively engaged in health promotion and prevention of COVID-19 infections in the community. In this field, social-behavioral change communication is widely used but often misinterpreted as simple awareness. As a result of the ongoing pandemic, many activities on Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) have reignited the interest in social behavioral change communication to provide inclusive, adaptive, and effective prevention interventions.

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

- This consultancy aims to undertake COVID-19 related risk assessment, prevention measures gaps analysis, designing of context-based tools and materials for Integrated RCCE approaches implementation, training of community health workers on the appropriate RCCE approaches, and guiding the implementation for a period of one month.

- The focus of deliverables is intended broad and different health issues can be used as study-cases (like the adoption of safe behaviors for prevention of COVID-19, promotion of vaccine acceptance, social distancing, promotion of healthy lifestyles, voluntary isolation, and testing, etc.).

PROJECT LOCATIONS: Al Hassakeh, Al Raqqa, and Deir Ez-Zor Governorates.

TARGET AUDIENCES: IRC staff in all sectors across the three governorates and KRC (implementing partner) staff, community leaders, and the general public in the project catchment areas.

DESCRIPTION OF TASKS:

- Conduct desk /secondary data review to establish what information already exists. - Facilitating a workshop with key informants among technical teams from selected IRC programs in NES and Regional health specialists to co-create a shared vision and theoretical framework in line with IRC principles, mandate, and approach. - Design guidelines for field programs as detailed below and submit according to the schedule. - Design the RCCE material for field programs, based on the guidelines as detailed below and submitting according to the schedule. - Consulting with selected IRC field operations and IRC partners to ensure that the approach and the material are inclusive. - Conduct training for the RCCE Community Health Workers, their supervisors, and other relevant staff within IRC. - Facilitate one Virtual workshop to present the deliverables to the IRC staff. - Develop a Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation Plan for the SBCC/RCCE activities.

METHODOLOGY and TIME FRAME

- This consultancy is a field-based position; the technical training and workshops are preferably organized in the IRC offices in NES or any other appropriate venue. - To complete the proposed tasks, the consultancy is estimated to take up to 53 days spread over a maximum of 2 and a half months period (starting 3rd April 2022) as outlined below: - Briefing / coordination meetings / debriefing – 2 days - Designing of data collection tools and guidelines-5 days - Technical workshop on data collection and tool testing – 2 days - RCCE Assessment: Data collection through FGDs, KI interviews, Study-cases, etc. – 14 days - RCCE Assessment Report writing- 5 days - Dissemination workshop (including preparation and follow-up) – 1 day - Designing of the RCCE awareness materials and guidelines- 5 days - Training of Snr. CHWs and CHWs and other relevant IRC staff on RCCE awareness materials and guidelines-5 days - Follow up on the implementation of RCCE activities and plan for corrective measure-14 days.

DELIVERABLES

- Briefing and coordination meetings minutes. - List of selected relevant documents for RCCE activities. - Tools and guidelines for data collection. - Report on the technical workshop on data collection and tool testing. - Findings report on RCCE assessment (maximum 15 pages) - Dissemination workshop minutes.

RCCE Guidelines: with the following structure:

- Part I: How to design an RCCE plan from designing messages in an inclusive manner, selecting the right target and channels, to monitoring and evaluating the activity; The goal is to indicate to Technical Advisors/Project Managers of IRC programs clear goals, steps, potential barriers, risks (with potential solutions to overcome such challenges), and indicators of RCCE intervention within an IRC program. - Part II: How to carry out key RCCE activities (mainly in presence as group communication or one-to-one communication within current health services), ensuring cultural adaptations, participation, and empowerment of the audience. A “Do’s and Don’ts” sheet in the annex is required. The goal is to offer to IRC staff on the field with no technical background on RCCE a tool to design and carry out the activity. IEC materials for easy communication should be included in this part.

Training material on PowerPoint (maximum 30 slides) with notes for facilitators and participants on the two parts of the guidelines and training manual and corresponding toolbox format for future reference and use. The goal is to train IRC staff on the field on a basic understanding of RCCE, using this tool and guidelines.

- Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation Plan for the SBCC/RCCE activities - Follow-up report and corrective plan.

- All deliverables should be submitted in academic English except the guidelines and tools that should be in Arabic. Reasonable use of figures, tables, and other graphic visualization are encouraged.

Qualifications

The consultant should possess relevant experience in undertaking a task of similar nature and magnitude, and shall have the following qualifications and experience:

- Advanced university degree in social sciences, or public health. - At least 5 years of health communication experience; promotion of Heath information, such as, in public Heath Campaign, Heath Education, and General Heath Awareness - Experience working in humanitarian and development settings, at the field level. - Previous experience with IRC is an asset. - Demonstrable knowledge and previous experience on SBCC and/or RCCE programs are an asset - Proved experience on publish research and/or writing technical guidelines. - Commitment and knowledge of health equity, inclusion, and participation under disability, gender, and age lens. - Demonstrate clarity, accuracy, and an ability to summarize. - Strong interpersonal and intercultural skills. - At ease with distance work with teams, good communication skills. - Rigorous, organized, pragmatic. - Excellent written and spoken English, Arabic, and Kurdish.

- Only candidates who meet all qualifications and experience will be contacted for further consideration. - IRC is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behavior at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of men and women with and without disabilities with whom IRC engages. IRC expects all staff and partners to share this commitment through our IRC Way and other Institutional policies.