Social and Behavior Change Officer

Volunteering

Overview

Strengthen Social Behavior Change programming in Afghanistan.

You have:

• Bachelor's degree in social and behavioral science, communication, public relations, international development or any other relevant field.
• At least 3 years of professional work experience at the national and/or international level in Social Engagement or Social & Behavior Change (SBC) or other relevant programmes; experience with U-Report is an asset.
• Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills.
• Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.) and email/internet; familiarity with database management.
• Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners.
• Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines.
• Desirable: valid national driver's license and proven ability to drive manual gear 4x4 over rough terrain.

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

The Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) is a set of approaches that promotes positive and measurable changes toward the fulfilment of children’s rights. SBC works with communities and authorities to understand and influence the cognitive, social, and structural drivers of change. It relies on social and behavioral evidence and a collaborative approach to addressing development and humanitarian challenges. SBC’s vision is to enable people to build a better future for themselves, their children, and their community’s is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate, with corporate results revolving around behaviors like immunization, feeding practices, learning, hygiene, and positive discipline, as well as transformations needed to make societies more inclusive, equitable and peaceful.

SBC program in Afghanistan is unique, works amidst challenges, and supports a wide range of priorities and results. It works around four major pillars: 1) Community Systems Strengthening (CSS), 2) SBC support to program priorities, 3) Accountability to Affected People (AAP), and 4) Youth and Adolescents in addition to emergency response. The SBC UNV will extend support to the implementation and monitoring of UNICEF’s ongoing programmed interventions.

• Working for UNICEF: https://youtu.be/43aiG4w2q_M?t=2 • UNICEF in Afghanistan: https://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/ • U-Report Afghanistan: U-Report Afghanistan (ureport.in)

Purpose of The Job: The SBC UNV – under the supervision and guidance of the respective SBC professional and/or Chief of field office and in close collaboration with SBC team at the country office level, colleagues from sectoral, cross-sectoral and zonal field teams, will work to strengthen Social Behavior Change programming in Afghanistan. The UNV will be based in one of the priority locations, being the Country office or the Northern and Western Regional offices. The UNV will be responsible for providing technical and operational support in the planning, coordination and implementation of SBC interventions.

Travel: Flexibility, adaptability, and ability and willingness for possible extensive travel within the area of operations is required.

Under the direct supervision of the respective SBC professional and/or Chief of the field office, the UNV-SBC will perform the following responsibilities in collaboration and coordination with relevant sections and staff from sectoral, cross-sectoral and zonal field teams.

1. Implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SBC activities: • Collaborate with internal and external partners to provide operational and technical support to implement SBC interventions.
   • Support/ensure quality assurance of UNICEF supported SBC projects and activities.
   • Conduct routine field visits to monitor quality of SBC activities and advise and support course corrections. • Recommend timely action to ensure the achievement of SBC results as planned and allocated.
   • Participate in workplans development and budget planning and management of programme funds. • Provide administrative and logistical support and background materials to carry out SBC activities and recommend operational strategies, approaches, plans, methods and procedures.

2. Evidence generation, knowledge management and monitoring for SBC: • Assist in evidence generation for SBC. Support/contribute to development and review of data collection approaches and tools. • Ensure aggregation of analysed and reported complaints and feedback of affected people through deployment of standard tools and SBC focused questions in the humanitarian data gathering processes (information needs assessments, perception surveys, third-party monitoring, evaluation, etc.) to inform design and implementation of SBC interventions.
   • Provide inputs on SBC results into SitReps and other reports as needed. Develop case studies. Lead/support documentation of results in provinces.

3. Assist in advocacy, networking and capacity building for adoption and scale up of SBC principles and approaches: • Assist in efforts on SBC, including orientation of diverse stakeholders. • Assist in capacity building needs assessments on SBC and community engagement and facilitate/recommend training and other capacity building efforts for staff and partners.
   • Organize and facilitate SBC-specific training and or integrate SBC in relevant learning and other capacity-building sessions for frontline workers and decision makers. • Explore, initiate, and maintain partnerships for SBC development and implementation. Facilitate national and local contracts for SBC partnerships and stakeholder engagement through networking and proactive collaboration with partners. • Perform other related duties and activities upon instructions from SBC section.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:  Strengthen knowledge and understanding of SBC (taking the relevant courses provided in Agora) as well as the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);  Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;  Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;  Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;  Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers;  Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

4. Results/expected outputs:

As an active SBC team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly, and high-quality support is rendered to UNICEF and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:

• SBC interventions in targeted areas are planned, implemented, and monitored.
• Social mobilizers and community-based volunteers are monitored and supervised on the planned activities and technical support and supervision provided as necessary. • Regular monthly, quarterly and bi-annual reports submitted with analysis of local findings, observations, good practices and lesson learnt.
• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with national staff or (non-) governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs). • Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment. • A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in, and capacities developed. • SBC materials and products are reviewed and documented.

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organising • Professionalism • Self-management

• Bachelor’s degree in social and behavioral science, communication, public relations, international development and any other relevant field. • At least 3 years of professional work experience at the national and/or international level in Social Engagement or Social & Behavior Change (SBC), or other relevant programmes; experience with U-Report 2 is an asset, as is experience working in the UN or other international development organization. • Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills. • Accuracy and professionalism in document production and editing. • Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development. • Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel. • Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.) and email/internet; familiarity with database management; and office technology equipment. • Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines. • Desirable: valid national driver’s license and proven ability to drive manual gear 4x4 over rough terrain; (if not applicable, delete) • Sound security awareness. • Have affinity with or interest in U-Report Afghanistan, volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 11 months ago - Updated 10 months ago - Source: unv.org