Social Science and Research Specialist

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.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children's lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfil their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Communication for Development Specialist, or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Social Science and Research Specialist will: Provide the following key functions/accountabilities: 1. Technical expertise and operational support to identify needs for social evidence and design effective social research in support of SBC. 2. Technical expertise and operational support to foster high quality implementation of priority SBC research. 3. Foster Knowledge Management (KM) and learning through broad dissemination of research findings to inform the design, measurement and monitoring of programs and outcomes. Detailed tasks: 1. Technical expertise and operational support to identify needs for social evidence and design effective social research in support of SBC.  Contribute to developing Terms of Reference, research tools, frameworks, and protocols for generating evidence to inform both development and emergency initiatives.  Identify social data and research gaps, provide recommendations for deepening the data collection to support the achievement of programmatic and social and behaviour change objectives set by the office.  Revise existing SBC data collection tools, formulate recommendations for areas of improvement.  Support further development of the Community Feedback and Social Listening mechanism by identifying and including new sources of feedback, structuring the analysis, further improving the reports and briefs.  Monitor and assess the impact of social and behavior change initiatives and activities on the CO and UNICEF goals and their contribution to achieve measurable behavioral and social change results for the improvement of children’s rights and wellbeing. Provide technical support in establishing monitoring mechanisms to collect, analyze and report on social and behaviour change indicators. 2. Technical expertise and operational support to foster high quality implementation of priority SBC research.  Participate in conducting comprehensive analysis of evidence on social, communication, behavioural and other issues. Analyze and triangulate the data collected by the office, the partners and from different other sources, report on comparable social data sets and on identified trends and inconsistencies.  Strengthen C4D and programme teams’ capacity to research, analyze and equitably address trends that drive social and individual behaviours and norms, using a wide range of approaches including, behavioural analysis, human centered design, social listening, behavioural insights, participatory research, and other quantitative and qualitative approaches.  Identify and adapt innovative research and data collection methodologies and tools, to generate new and comprehensive data and knowledge tailored to the SBC and programmatic needs.  Provide regular updates on progress and challenges in SBC research. 3. Foster Knowledge Management (KM) and learning through broad dissemination of research findings to inform the design, measurement and monitoring of programs and outcomes.  Guide the development of research reports to present main findings in a clear and actionable way.  Disseminate research findings and best practices and support exchange of experiences and uptake of new methods among government officials, programme staff and UNICEF partners.  Propose and develop innovative presentation and dissemination formats, channels, and events, more appropriate for the specific SBC and programmatic and advocacy needs. Develop advocacy briefs, social data briefs, power point presentations on the main findings for sectors, partners, and general public.  Through networking and proactive collaboration, build and maintain partnerships with national and international research agencies, academia, community groups to harmonize, link and/or coordinate evidence generation to enhance SBCC attribution and contribution to programmatic outcomes  Assess and recommend potential contacts, networks, resources and multiple/social/digital media and tools to support maximum impact and outreach of UNICEF-supported research and SBCC initiatives.  Support the development and implementation of capacity building initiatives, to enhance the research and use of data competencies of stakeholders/partners in SBC and across programme sectors.  Support the establishment of behavioral insights lab in close collaboration with SBC partners, academia and government counterparts. Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

• Professionalism • Integrity • Teamwork and respect for diversity: • Commitment to continuous learning: • Communication: • Planning and organizing: • Flexibility: • Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance; and commitment towards UNICEF ROSA ‘s mission and vision, as well as to the UN Core Values.

Required Education Level: Master's degree Required Experience: 3 years a) Education, qualifications, skills, experience, areas of expertise  Master’s Degree in social and behavioral sciences, including anthropology, sociology, social studies, research methodology, communication studies/communication for development, psychology and/or related field is required.  At least 3 years of professional work experience at the national and/or international level in qualitative and quantitative research and data collection, social development program planning, monitoring and evaluation, social and behaviour change or related areas at the national and/or large organization., or other relevant programmes;  Experience working in the UN or other international development organization is an asset; Specific Technical Knowledge Required  Knowledge of research and analytical methodologies.  Experience of practical application of both qualitative and quantitative approaches and using different research techniques.  Able to design research projects, defining research questions and writing draft specifications. Working knowledge of a range of research methods and an awareness of new innovative methods, including within the SBC field.  Working knowledge of relevant data analysis packages, particularly SPSS and Excel, and qualitative packages.  Working knowledge of ethical issues in research and of legal requirements surrounding research, particularly data protection. b) Common Technical Knowledge Required  Confidence in using Microsoft Office software.  Accuracy and attention to detail for handling and analysing data and reporting research findings.  Clear knowledge of the format and style required to report research results; able to report research information clearly in writing  Report writing skills. c) Technical Knowledge to be Acquired/Enhanced  Understand the role and social research needs in support of the UNICEF-Government of Nepal Country Programme.  Tailor approach and frames research output in a way that is directly relevant to the UNICEF and its partners needs

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan.