Social & Behavior Change Specialist (Nutrition and ECD), P3, TA, Ankara Turkiye, Non-Turkish Nationals Only, 6 months

Contract

This is a P-3 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 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 103,090 USD and 134,989 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, Future.

On 6 February 2023, two devastating earthquakes, measuring 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude on the Richter Scale, struck Pazarcık and Elbistan in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye. The initial earthquake was followed by over 9,136 aftershocks, have been reported by Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD). The earthquake heavily affected the neighboring provinces of Adıyaman, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, Elazığ as well as Şanlıurfa, Adana, Diyarbakır and Hatay, where around 13.5 million people reside including around 2 million Syrian refugees. Impacts have been felt across the 10 provinces in which a state of emergency has been declared (Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Kilis, Hatay, Malatya, Diyarbakır, Adana, Osmaniye, Kahramanmaraş and Şanlıurfa) and Elazığ. These earthquakes are the largest to hit Türkiye in the last century, and the most significant to strike the country’s south-east region in hundreds of years. The earthquakes and aftershocks have caused catastrophic devastation, with at least 9.1 million people in the 11 hardest-hit provinces likely to have been directly impacted. On the evening of 20 February, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Hatay, with epicenter in Defne district. Several damaged buildings in the province collapsed, adding to the death toll. According to the latest statement, 44,375 people lost their lives, and 108,368 people were injured. In total, 2.2 million people have left the disaster zone. It is estimated that 528,146 of them were evacuated by official institutions.

UNICEF Turkiye FO has been supporting a modest programming in the areas of health and nutrition, and has currently limited technical expertise/capacity (in time/manpower) to engage and navigate the rapid increase in number of actors. The health and nutrition intervention, led by Government, is being supported by WHO and is anticipated to have a merger of health and many nutrition services to assess. UNICEF contribution in nutrition is likely to become greater over time, due to the scale of the crisis.

How can you make a difference?

To enable UNICEF to address social and behavioral practices that nutrition and parenting practices including in emergencies, UNICEF Turkiye is seeking an SBC Nutrition Specialist. The SBC Nutrition Specialist reports to Chief of SBC, Türkiye Country Office. Coordinating with the SBC section, the incumbent provides technical and operational support to the supervisor, programmes, and partners by administering, executing and implementing a variety of tasks to promote and support community engagement and behaviour and social change interventions, requiring the application of technical skills in alignment with UNICEF organizational goals, rules, regulations, policies and procedures. The incumbent's work will be reflected in strengthened rights and evidence-based SBC and Community Engagement (CE) interventions to understand and address knowledge, attitudes, norms and practices of individuals and social groups that contribute improved nutriotin, parenting and child care practices, community resilience and empowerment during the humanitarian response to Turkey earthquake.

Key functions/accountabilities:

Support to programme development and planning

• Support and contribute to the preparation, design and updating of the situation analysis for the sector(s) to establish a strategic plan for development, design and management of nutrition related programmes. Keep abreast of development trends to enhance programme management, efficiency and delivery.
• Support/ lead social and behaviour data generation to inform programme development.
• Participate in strategic programme discussions on the planning of nutrition response/programmes. Formulate, design and prepare a sector of the health and nutriton programme proposal, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, the Country Programme, as well as coherence/integration with the UN Sustanaible Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), regional strategies, and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Establish specific programme goals, objectives, strategies, and implementation plans based on results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare required documentations for programme review and approval.
• Engage with stakeholders (internal and external) to support the government and partners to develop and implement SBC stretegies and activites on nutrition. Support UNICEF Field Office to develop/adapt strategies and plans to local realisites and needs and based on social and behavioural data.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programmes/projects with other UNICEF sectors and achievement of results as planned and allocated.
• Formulate, design, and prepare high-quality concept notes and proposals to mobilize resources and document results for impact.

Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

• Plan and/or collaborate with internal and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators, and other UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurements to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results on nutrition.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and sectoral reviews with the government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Develop milestones to track the execution and performance of SBC strategies and interventions, enable mid-course corrections, and achieve results.
• Contribute to reporting on high-frequency indicators and other indicators, as relevant. Support partners in trachking and reporting on relevant SBC indicators/results.
• Prepare and assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and/or weaknesses in programme management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals as well as the preparation of regular and mandated programme/project reports for the management, donors and partners.
• Actively monitor programmes/projects through field visits, surveys and/or exchange of information with partners/stakeholders to assess progress, identify bottlenecks, potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Monitor and verify the optimum and appropriate use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity, ensuring timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Prepare regular and reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

Technical and operational support to programme implementation

• Provide technical guidance and operational support to government counterparts at national and local levels, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the interpretation, application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices and approaches on social behaviour change for nutrition to support programme development planning, management, implementation and delivery of results.

• Participate in discussions with national partners, clients and stakeholders to promote nutrition and early childhood development issues.

• This will include the provision of technical guidance to government and others on the best practices and approaches to develop systematic, planned and evidence-based and theory driven SBC strategies aiming at increasing sustainable demand and uptake of essential nutrition services and practices, nurturing care and parenting practices.

• Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and consideration.
• Participate in emergency preparedness initiatives for programme development, contingency planning and/or to respond to emergencies in country or where designated.

Networking and partnership building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with ECD networks, health and nutrition sector government counterparts, national stakeholders, allies, donors, and academia. Through active networking, advocacy and effective communication, build capacity and exchange knowledge and expertise to facilitate the achievement of programme goals on child rights, social justice and equity.

• Prepare communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships/alliances, and support fund raising for nutrition and early childhood development programmes.

• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on social behaviour change, risk communication and community engagement on nutrition to collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues on UNSDCF planning and preparation of health and nutrition programmes/projects, ensuring organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the USDCF process in development, planning, agenda setting and monitoring.

• Support the operationalization of social behaviour change by advocating and mobilizing resources, coordinating across stakeholders, sectors and teams, and building alliances and partnerships in the country.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Conduct capacity needs assessments and develop and implement strategies and activities to strengthe the capacities of government, civil society and ohter partners on SBC for nutrition and ECD.

• Apply and introduce innovative approaches and good practices to build the capacity of partners and stakeholders, and to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.

• Keep abreast and conduct research to provide evidence for implementation of best and cutting edge practices in social behaviour change for nutrition and early childhood development. This will include the introduction of innovative approaches and good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable results for health and nutrition care practices, both with respect to social behaviour change and the delivery of interventions across both health and the non-health systems.

• Assess, institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.

• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.

• Support capacity building of UNICEF staff and partners on social behaviour change for health, nutrition and early childhood development, with particular emphasis on research and analysis (including human-centered design), evidence-based integrated planning (with emphasis on micro-planning), implementation of demand promotion interventions (including behavioural insights), preparedness and response to vaccine-related events, community engagement, capacity development on front line workers, and monitoring and evaluation of social behavior change interventions.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields is required: public health, nutrition, social and behavioral science, anthropology, psychology, early childhood development, education, communication, public relations or another relevant technical field.

• A minimum of five years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: public health and nutrition, social behaviour change, early childhood and/or adolescent development programme, communication for development, public advocacy, communication and partnerships.

  Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.

  Experience of how the Governance structures work in Turkiye across different sectors and how they can be influenced is an added advantage. Experiences managing complex projects including donor engagement and reporting.

  Experience working at sub-national level is considered as additional advantage.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Turkish or another official UN language such as Arabic is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, 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.

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.

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

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.

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

Eligible UNICEF International Professional (IP) Staff Members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to a Temporary Appointment, which is dedicated to L3 (or L2) Response, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and their current tour of duty, and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.