Social & Behavior Change Officer at UNICEF

Background and purpose

The Social & Behavior Change Officer, emergencies reports to the S&BC manager for supervision and guidance. The Officer provides technical and operational support to the S&BC Specialist and internal colleagues by administering, implementing, monitoring and/or evaluating a variety of S&BC initiatives and activities to promote community engagement and participation, and measureable behavioral and social change/mobilization, requiring the application of technical and theoretical skills and thorough knowledge of organizational goals, rules, regulations, policies and procedures to complete tasks.

The primary purpose of the position is to support S&BC emergency preparedness and response, including the disease outbreaks and Accountability to Affected Populations.

Justification

Kenya is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years with five consecutive failed rainy seasons. This water and nutrition crisis is also undermining capacity of the community to maintain adequate hygine and sanitation and increasing migration across and within the borders, leading to multiple disease outbreaks of measles, polio and cholera among others. UNICEF declared Level 3 corporate emergency in September 2023 to strengthen the humanitarian response. Accordingly, S&BC needs a dedicated human resource to provide timely and systematic response to alleviate the suffering of affected communities, including the underserved population.

Scope of Work

• Support to strategy design and development of S&BC activities for emergency preparedness and responses
• Support to implementation of S&BC activities in humanitarian and disease outbreaks including Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP)
• Advocacy, networking and partnership building
• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

Expected Deliverables

Support to strategy design and development of S&BC activities for emergency preparedness and responses

• Research and/or participate in conducting comprehensive S&BC situation analysis of social, communication, cultural, economic and political issues in the country/region. Collect and synthesize qualitative and quantitative information and data to support the establishment of comprehensive and evidence-based information for developing and planning the S&BC component of the Country Programme of Cooperation (and UNDAF).
• Collect, synthesize, draft and/or organize materials and related documentations for evidence-based S&BC strategies and plans (as a component of the CO and/or UNDAF Programmes) to ensure optimum impact, scale and sustainability of achievements/results.
• Assess, select and/or recommend appropriate information and materials for S&BC initiatives verifying accuracy and quality for dissemination.
• Monitor and assess the impact of S&BC strategies and activities on the CO and UNICEF goals to achieve measureable behavioral and social change resulting in the improvement of children’s rights and wellbeing. Submit qualitative report/synthesis of results for development planning and improvement.

Support to the implementation of S&BC activities in humanitarian and disease outbreaks including Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP)

• Collaborate and/or consult with internal and external partners to provide operational and technical support to research, develop, and produce evidence-based strategies and test, produce and use quality S&BC materials, organize events and activities to ensure community engagement and participation, and maximum outreach and impact on behavioral and social change.
• Provide technical, administrative and logistical support and background materials to carry out S&BC strategies and activities and recommend operational strategies, approaches, plans, methods and procedures to ensure community engagement and participation, and optimum outreach and impact.
• Assess and recommend potential contacts, networks, resources and tools to support maximum impact and outreach of S&BC initiatives.
• Follow up and monitor the production of S&BC materials to ensure technical quality, consistency and relevancy of communications materials that are developed, produced and disseminated to target audience (e.g. individuals, communities, government officials, partners, media etc).
• Collect, assess and organize information for budget planning and management of programme funds and prepare documentations and related materials for financial planning for S&BC initiatives. Monitor/track the use of resources as planned and verify compliance with organizational guidelines, rules and regulations and standards of ethics and transparency.

Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Build and maintain partnerships through networking and proactive collaboration with national and international civil society organizations, community groups, leaders and other critical partners in the community and civil society to reinforce cooperation through engagement, empowerment and self determination and to pursue opportunities for greater advocacy to promote UNICEF mission and goals for child rights, social equity and inclusiveness.
• Collaborate with internal global/regional communication partners to harmonize, link and/or coordinate messaging to enhance S&BC outreach and contribution to programmatic outcomes

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Institutionalize/share best practices and knowledge learned/products with global/local partners and stakeholders to build capacity of practitioners/users, and disseminate products to key audiences including partners and donors.
• Support the organization, administration and implementation of capacity building initiatives, including partnerships with training and academic institutions, to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders/partners across programme sectors in S&BC planning, implementation and evaluation in support of programmes/projects. Develop training materials for training activities, and revise and update them as necessary.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: social and behavioral science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, public health or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required:  community engagement, drought response, public health emergencies, social development programme planning, communication for development, public advocacy or another related area.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.