Social Behavior Change National Consultant for Maternal and Child Cash Transfers, UNICEF, Myanmar (Open to Myanmar National Applicants Only)

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, Make a Difference

Purpose of Assignment:

The consultant will provide technical and coordination support to implement social and behaviour change (SBC) interventions in the maternal and child cash transfer (MCCT) scheme in peri-urban Yangon. The assignment entails the development of an SBC implementation plan, capacity building of community mobilisers and mother support groups, and advice on formative research and monitoring in close coordination with UNICEF and relevant partners.

Scope of work:

In close collaboration with UNICEF’s Social Policy and SBC teams and partners involved in the MCCT in peri-urban Yangon, the consultant will provide technical and coordination support for the introduction of the new SBC materials into the programme and related capacity-building activities, as well as monitoring and learning to better understand their effectiveness and the uptake of key behaviours among the target populations.

Main Tasks and Expected Results:

Inception report: Based on currently available materials created by the World Bank “Development of an implementation plan for the Smart Start Curriculum”, The consultant will develop a detailed implementation plan for 2023 to integrate the Smart Start Curriculum into the peri-urban MCCT programme and ensure its uptake by mother support groups and beneficiaries. The implementation plan should include: A list of specific activities that need to be carried out, broken down into manageable tasks assigned to specific team members or partners; A schedule of when each activity will take place, including start and end dates and milestones; A description of the resources required to carry out the activities, including personnel, equipment, and estimated budget; A list of potential risks that could impact the implementation of the plan and mitigation measures; and a monitoring plan for measuring the effectiveness of the activities with tool to collect user feedback on the curriculum.

To develop the plan, the consultant is expected to:

Conduct a desk review of existing programme documents; Consult with UNICEF, WFP, World Bank, TdH, and World Vision on the MCCT’s delivery structures and the curriculum; Draft the implementation plan; Co-facilitate a workshop with partners to review it; Address feedback and comments and finalise the plan.

Training materials: i) As the materials are finished, a detailed discussion will take place with the social policy and social behavior change teams. ii) Pretesting and finalization of training materials

Progress monitoring: i) Working closely with the Social Policy team to discuss the initiative for capacity-building workshops for Community Mobilizers and Mother Support Groups; ii) Dialogue with UNICEF and implementing partners to finalize the indicators for social behavior change and the monitoring plan. iii) Plans call for on-site visits as Community Mobilizers lead Mother Support Group multiplier workshops.

Impact monitoring: i) Create a plan for communicating with beneficiaries that include actively listening to their comments to guarantee that messages are delivered on time, in partnership with the implementing partners. ii) Carry out monitoring to ascertain the degree to which recipients are adhering to behavior change strategies.

Duty Station: Yangon (or) Home-based/ remote

Duration of Assignment: 120 working days spread across 10 months

How can you make a difference?

Description of Assignment:

Tasks 1:

Development of an implementation plan for the Smart Start Curriculum with below tasks:

Draft implementation plan, PowerPoint presentation to co-facilitate a workshop, and Final implementation plan.

Deliverables 1:

Inception Report

February 2023, 20 working days in total

Tasks 2:

Finalizing the training materials will be discussed with UNICEF teams. Pre-testing will be completed with beneficiaries.

Deliverables 2:

Training materials

30 April 2023, 30 working days

Tasks 3:

Discuss the initiative to hold capacity-building workshops for Community Mobilizers and Mother Support Groups

Complete the indicators for social behavior change and the monitoring plan.

Plans call for on-site visits as Community Mobilizers lead Mother Support Group multiplier workshops.

Deliverables 3:

Progress monitoring plan and report

15 September 2023, 30 working days

Tasks 4:

A communication schedule with beneficiaries,

A plan or system for gathering input from beneficiaries, and a commitment to timely message delivery to beneficiaries.

Monitor recipients to ascertain how closely they adhere to behavior modification strategies.

Deliverables 4:

Impact Monitoring Plan. Final SBC/MCCT Report

30 November 2023, 40 working days

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

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences, Nutrition/Health related Social Behavior Change, Public relations, Psychology or another relevant technical field
• 3-5 years of experience working in UN/INGO in related fields.
• A thorough grasp of social behavior change and practical training experience, particularly with children, mothers, and pregnant women.
• Demonstrate past experience of SBC goal setting, action planning and self-monitoring
• Experience on conduct of formative behavior change assessments and development
• Experience working in an emergency context is an asset

Please complete the following "Expression of Interest" form and ensure to attach in the application: 31012023 SBC MCCT EOI.doc

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.

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.

Remarks:

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

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.