Social Behaviour Change (SBC) Advisor at Save the Children

Role Purpose 

The SBC Advisor provides strategic direction and technical management for the planning and implementation of cross cutting SBC strategies and interventions in the NAWIRI project. The position will lead all adolescent sexual reproductive health (ASRH) SBC related interventions in both Turkana and Samburu. The SBC Advisor will design the overall SBC strategy and integrated umbrella campaign. S/he will ensure that all SBC activities support the achievement of health & nutrition targets in the project sites. The position will be responsible for the timely delivery of all SBC related activities based on state of the art SBC practices and capture lessons learned. The SBC Advisor will also take a technical leadership role in coordination with all project staff and partners in the consortium to adhere to the SBC strategy and approach.  S/he will work closely with project technical and management staff to generate stakeholder inputs, develop implementation plans and suitable knowledge management and measurement.

NAWIRI is a 5 year U.S. Government (USAID and Food For Peace) funded project designed to tackle persistent acute malnutrition rates in northern Kenya. The project is co-created, co-implemented, and co-measured to address problems and solve them at the county level. Save the Children is a member of the Mercy Corps-led consortium and will be implementing in Samburu and Turkana counties.

Key Areas of Accountability

Technical assistance and capacity building

• This staff will be the primary driver of developing the SBC approach, branding campaign platforms and working with all purpose leaders (Governances, health & nutrition, WASH and Livelihoods) to ensure they are using state-of-the-art SBC approaches linked to the overall strategy and work with them on the development of SBC content (i.e. trigger videos, forum theatre, experiential fairs, radio diaries) as appropriate. 
• Provide state of the art and evidence based technical inputs and programmatic leadership; guide priority setting for the research agenda and activities in collaboration with other technical teams and project management.
• Design strategy and umbrella campaign with stakeholder input and audience testing
• Actively identify direct technical inputs from all technical areas to ensure effective support for their targets; coordinate project SBC activities and provide direct technical support to other technical counterparts as needed.
• Cultivate strategic relationships with government ministries, and other stakeholders for the smooth implementation of program activities.
• Support MEAL advisor with specific SBC learning agenda, SBC indicators; ideas for suitable real-time monitoring and audience feedback loops as well as M&E designs; coordinate monitoring of SBC activities with other staff according to the M&E framework and assess if targets are achieved and document results.
• Ensure the timeliness and quality of all SBC content for reports and meet all reporting requirements.

Representation and advocacy

• Represent NAWIRI in relevant internal and external forums including donor meetings (as appropriate)
• Represent Save the Children in relevant internal and external fora including donor meetings (as appropriate)
• Work closely with the Head of Health and Nutrition, Head of Advocacy and Campaigns, PDQ and operations teams to develop policy research and advocacy strategy in child survival and nutrition in line with the Country Strategic Plan and global strategy of Save the Children
• Work with consortium members to further Save the Children’s mission for children

People management, mentoring and development

• Have overall management responsibility for the direct reports. Lead and motivate the team to ensure effective project implementation. 
• Manage the direct reports; define expectations, provide leadership and support as needed, and evaluate performance regularly
• Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate; ensure availability of and support appropriate professional development opportunities for staff in NAWIRI
• Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process. 

Assessment, monitoring, evaluation and documentation

• Participate in the annual work planning process in close collaboration with USAID & FFP, MOH and County health teams and the project staff
• Prepare narrative reports for the donor(s) and Save the Children as required, ensuring these are of a high quality and submitted for review in a timely manner. This will involve compilation of information from a range of project staff and MoH partners
• Monitor program outputs and results and work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research team to ensure that results are documented and reported accurately and in a timely manner
• Work closely with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Research team and take a lead in ensuring that all HSS components have robust monitoring plans, baselines, reviews and evaluations in line with the project design and donor guidelines
• Facilitate appropriate dissemination of research findings and good practices documentations in the project internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key actors strategic for immediate and sustainable development of children in Kenya
• Escalate complaints and feedback of a serious nature to field manager/Technical Head and child safeguarding focal point.
• Support MEAL staff to ensure that an accountability status report is developed and shared with all project staff at least twice a year
• Ensure that all project-learning meetings have as a standing agenda, review of the project accountability mechanisms and trends analysis of complaints and feedback.
• Ensure that all staff within the project are collecting feedback/complaints.

Knowledge management

• Serve as a technical knowledge, skills and experience hub for the sector in NAWIRI in documenting and sharing best practices and innovations for replication and advocacy together with quality programme team.
• Work with technical resources among Save the Children members to facilitate sharing and learning in child survival and nutrition  good practices and leverage their support for strengthening HSS related studies, assessments, innovations, advocacy and capacity building in favour of children in Kenya   

Contract Duration: 1 year with possibility of extension

Number of Vacancies: 1

Work Location: Turkana

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree required. Post-graduate education (master’s or higher) preferred.
• Minimum of 7-10 years of experience required in health communication, public health promotion, health or behavioral sciences, or related field and demonstrated experience in management of large, community-based and inter-disciplinary teams.
• Extensive experience implementing SBC, ASRH, health promotion, social marketing, child health, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene or similar programs in Kenya.
• Demonstrated ability to design effective behavior change campaigns, including community engagement and experiential activities in Kenya; prior experience working in Northern Kenya highly desired.
• Demonstrated abilities and experience in SBC strategy and materials development (a minimum of 7 years), implementation and monitoring and evaluation of SBC interventions; (innovative radio and experiential program design preferred, e.g. trained in radio diaries production).
• Experience of working with local/national governments and capacity building of systems, partners and staff.
• Demonstrated problem solving skills, collaboration experience, creativity and willingness to innovate.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations.
• Familiarity and understanding of USAID & FFP policies and procedures, or those of other donors, or those of donor-funded projects or community-based projects.
• Fluent oral and strong analytical, written English communication skills is required.
• Willingness to be based in the Turkana for months at a time, with frequent travel to project offices and field sites within the county.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching.
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international and matrix management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mind-sets.
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in.
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
• Demonstrates Save the Children’s core values of accountability, collaboration, integrity, ambition, and creativity.
• County natives encouraged to apply.

The Organization

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. 

 We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated