Social & Behavior Change Specialist (RCCE), P3 Job Vacancy at UNICEF

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, safety.

UNICEF collaborates with governments, civil society bodies, and other international entities to champion the rights of children to survival, safeguarding, health, growth, and engagement, steered by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF is committed to safeguarding children’s rights, enhancing their health, and fostering their growth through strategic planning and oversight.

The purpose of Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) is to reinforce sector-specific and cross-sectoral initiatives in both development and humanitarian settings to secure sustainable behavior and societal transformation. To enhance humanitarian response capacity, we are seeking a dedicated SBC/RCCE Specialist to join our Tanzania Country Office. The ideal candidate will have a background in social science data generation, behavioural sciences, strategic communication, a deep understanding of community engagement practices, and the ability to navigate the complexities of emergency response in a sensitive, culturally aware manner.

How can you make a difference?

The SBC-RCCE Specialist is responsible to coordinate and manage UNICEF CO SBC/Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) preparedness and response to strengthen and sustain national RCCE interventions, processes, and capacities, with a specific focus on participatory community engagement and mainstreaming of AAP principles and processes.

Under the general guidance and supervision of the SBC Manager, the incumbent has the following key functions/accountabilities:

A. FACILITATION AND COORDINATION

• Support government in national SBC coordination mechanism – SBC- RCCE Pillar(s) and sub-working groups (WG).
• Provide technical support to the RCCE pillar(s) on the adaptation, update, review, and monitoring of national strategies, standards, protocols, guidelines, training manuals, and communication materials for RCCE.
• Facilitate RCCE Pillar and sub-group activities, initiating them when necessary, including needs assessments, multi-agency/sector information campaigns, and collective advocacy, to build a coherent multi-sector strategy and network of partners working in this area .
• Maintain the profile of the RCCE pillar and ensure a strong representation of risk communication and community engagement needs and priorities in inter-pillar emergency meetings as necessary.
• Coordinate identification, inclusion, collection, monitoring, and analysis of appropriate RCCE indicators, as well as the response monitoring framework.
• Coordinate RCCE Rumors and Data Management working group, including ensuring that partners are familiar with and use reporting format.
• Serve as a primary focal point on RCCE-related issues for UNICEF CO and advocate, educate, and forge consensus among all those involved in the emergency response, on RCCE tools and approaches for establishing effective community engagement.
• Work on the design of appropriate transition strategies for the SBC-RCCE pillar, in partnership with the government, including how coordination mechanisms and membership will change during the transition from the emergency to recovery and develop an ‘exit strategy’.

B. RCCE PROGRAMMING AND PARTNERSHIP MANAGEMENT

• Contribute to UNICEF’s response strategy, work planning, and contingency planning processes and with other sectors to ensure cross-sectoral response programming (Health, WASH, Nutrition, Protection, Education).
• Develop integrated Health, Nutrition, WASH, Child Protection, and other sectors culturally relevant key messages and IEC materials as necessary, for printing, TV, radio spots, and social media messaging.
• Liaise with and support field offices, RCCE focal persons, and sub-groups in designing and implementing risk communication activities.
• Identify, mobilize, and maintain partnerships for involvement and contribution to the RCCE response to the outbreak, including strong partnerships with community groups, leaders, and other partners in the community and civil society for the promotion of participation in social and behavioral changes supportive of UNICEF’s response. Support the development of Partnership Agreements as required.
• Build the capacity of partners in RCCE with emphasis on participatory approaches and tools, including community dialogues, mediating meetings, co-creation of key messages, and whenever possible developing practical exercises at the community level.
• Contribute to program cycle and funding processes including participation appeals, and Humanitarian Fund allocations, or equivalents.

C. STRENGTHEN EVIDENCE-BASED RESPONSE THROUGH ENHANCED DATA AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS:

• Provide technical supervision and guidance to improve evidence-based response, using behavioral sciences including  social diagnostics, socio-anthropological, ethnographic, formative research, audience research and monitoring and evaluation of SBC/ RCCE activities.
• Support and coordinate rapid polling and qualitative research to understand community information needs, communications preferences, community dynamics, social norms, cultural beliefs, and other anthropological factors that could impact programs.
• Provide advice and support to enable a predictable approach to how RCCE partners are collecting, protecting, analyzing, sharing, and aggregating data about risk communication and community preferences priorities, feedback, and participation.
• Design and produce an engaging reporting product that can be shared within coordination to regularly update them as to the priority concerns and issues of the community.
• Support CO in the documentation of the RCCE interventions, and response to other emergencies as needed, including innovative practices, approaches, and latest technologies (e.g. U-Report)
• Leverage the use of digital platforms to scale-up the community-outreach including the use of Internet of Good Things.
• Organize sharing of experiences among UNICEF staff and partners on SBC lessons learned, strategies, and tools to prevent and mitigate the impact of emergencies.

D. FEEDBACK MECHANISMS / COMMUNITY PERCEPTION AND FEEDBACK:

• Map existing complaint and feedback channels and support organizations to establish additional channels based on identified gaps and community preferences.
• Identify community preferences for feedback channels, including for sensitive issues (conducting risk assessments where necessary).
• Develop a process of aggregating the analysis of community feedback provided by organizations to deliver an overview of priority concerns and issues of the community. Seek inputs from cluster/sector leads and other decision-makers to ensure the output reflects their information needs.
• Undertake community-based monitoring of feedback mechanisms to ensure that they accurately reflect community preferences and the changing context.
• Provide analysis of trends in community feedback and propose program recommendations to resolve issues .
• Leverage the use of social listening platforms (E.g. Talk walker) to inform RCCE emergency response.

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

• An advanced university degree in communication for social and behavior change, political science, social science, international studies, or a related field (Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, community-based development, Health Education, etc.).
• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible work experience in planning and managing communication for development programs, with practical experience in adapting and applying communication planning processes to specific programs.
• Substantive, relevant experience in emergency countries with proven background/experience in Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) in areas of humanitarian and/or health emergencies.
• Demonstrable experience coordinating multi-stakeholder working groups to achieve common goals in humanitarian settings and developing and implementing community engagement strategies.
• Experience in building consensus and brokering partnerships.
• A good understanding of information management (including data flows, protection, and analysis) and qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.
• Strong analytical skills and a keen interest and motivation for inter-agency coordination.
• Experience facilitating participatory approaches is highly desirable.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team in a challenging and highly fluid environment, flexibility, and the ability to handle constant change.
• Experience in the field of SBC/SBC in an emergency/humanitarian context is an asset.
• Fluent in English (verbal and written)
• Fluency in Kiswahili is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and 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…

Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1),Works Collaboratively with others (1), Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1), Innovates and Embraces Change (1), Thinks and Acts Strategically (1), Drives to achieve impactful results (1), Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, are encouraged to apply.

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). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

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.