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United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Recruitment 2024

UNICEF Job Recruitment

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (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.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Social & Behavior Change Officer

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Location: Abuja
Level: NO-2
Employment Type: Full-time
Categories: Social and Behavior Change

Job Description

Under the general guidance of the Chief of the Social and Behavior Change Section and in close coordination with the Social and Behavior Change Specialist and Sectoral and Cross-Sectoral Specialists and Officers, contributes to/responsible for the design, management, monitoring and evaluation of evidence-based, inclusive and innovative SBC strategies in support of the country program.

Summary

Generate and utilize research, data, and evidence to inform the design, measurement, and monitoring of SBC programs and outcomes in both development and emergency contexts and to build the evidence base for SBC.
Design, plan and implement SBC activities that are backed by social and behavioral evidence and strong engagement and participation mechanisms in both development and humanitarian contexts.
Support the operationalization of SBC by advocating for SBC, mobilizing resources, coordinating across stakeholders, sectors and teams, and partnership building.
Promote continuous learning, strengthening and scaling up in SBC for both development and humanitarian contexts through capacity building for UNICEF staff and partners.

Main Responsibilities

Generate and utilize research, data, and evidence to inform the design, measurement, and monitoring of SBC programs and outcomes in both development and emergency contexts and to build the evidence base for SBC:

In collaboration with sectoral and cross-sectoral specialists, relevant government officers and other UN/NGO partners, design, implement, and/or participate in SBC situation analyses and formative research that identify social and behavioral drivers.
Assist in establishment of community feedback mechanisms and use feedback to inform community engagement and SBC actions for disaster preparedness, response, recovery and resilience. Generate and use SBC evidence, data, and assessments for disaster preparedness, response, recovery and resilience.
Contribute to terms of reference, research tools, frameworks and protocols for generating evidence to inform SBC initiatives and apply tools, methodologies and frameworks for data collection, tracking, monitoring and reporting and disseminating SBC results.
Conduct and/or participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises and make recommendations on workplan revisions based on the results.
Initiate, commission, manage and/or utilize qualitative and quantitative research on social and behavioral drivers that include behavioral analysis, human-centered design, social listening, behavioral insights, participatory research and/or RCT.
Support data collection, tracking, monitoring and reporting SBC results and prepare syntheses of results.
Collate and summarize data, evidence and trends for social and behavioral issues to inform evidence-based SBC strategies, plans and activities

Design, plan and implement SBC activities that are backed by social and behavioural evidence and strong engagement and participation mechanisms in both development and humanitarian contexts:

In collaboration/consultation with UNICEF sectoral and cross-sectoral specialists, relevant government officers and other UN/NGO partners, provide technical and administrative support for the development, implementation and monitoring of evidence-based SBC strategies and activities, including SBC’s 1000 Days of Child’s Life’s strategy, in line with global standards and UNICEF priorities and approaches.
In collaboration/consultation with UNICEF sectoral and cross-sectoral colleagues and implementing partners, select appropriate SBC activities and platforms for engagement, ensuring quality and integration of the latest evidence and science-backed approaches. In this process, oversee coordination with SBC stakeholders and partners to align plans and activities.
Identify/propose actional evidence-based programme/strategy recommendations from current data, evidence and trends for priority social and behavioral issues and ensure the integration of latest innovative approaches and technology in SBC in programme approaches and advocate for their adoption among internal and external stakeholders.
Apply the above skills of designing, planning, implementing and monitoring of community engagement and SBC interventions in all contexts, including emergency and humanitarian contexts.

Key Responsibilities

Represent UNICEF’s interests in partnerships and manage development of and progress against joint project agreements with relevant partners; represent the UNICEF Sokoto Field Office and SBC Section in national and international level fora and among partners as relevant and necessary.
Collaborate with national, regional and/or global partners to link and coordinate SBC approaches.
Advocate for the inclusion of community engagement and social and behavioral approaches in sectoral workplans based on active participation in sectoral programme planning and reviews and viable recommendations for the integration of SBC. Advocate internally and externally for integration of SBC in state systems, in the country programme, and in sectoral plans.
Identify, disseminate, and adopt best practices and innovative approaches and technology in SBC, integrate them in programme approaches and support SBC and sectoral teams in implementing them.
Provide support to stakeholders and partners for the implementation of community engagement and SBC in emergency and humanitarian actions.
Cultivate resource mobilization opportunities and contribute to proposals, reports and other materials to support resources mobilization. Contribute to mobilizing human resources for SBC, including staff, consultants and external vendors.
Identify, recruit and collaborate with consultants, vendors and other technical expertise to support delivery of SBC activities. Plan, use and track the use of resources and verify compliance with organizational guidelines and standards.
Contribute to financial planning, budget planning and tracking and financial management for SBC.
Identify, design, and/or organize SBC training materials and opportunities for staff and partners, including on new approaches such as behavioural analysis, behavioural insights, human-centered design, social listening, and social accountability mechanisms. Use and adapt existing UNICEF learning resources, guidelines and training materials to build SBC capacity among staff, implementing partners and relevant government and non-government counterparts.
Coordinate and provide inputs into SBC capacity assessments
Identify and mobilize resources to support capacity development internally and externally and provide SBC technical support and capacity building to government counterparts.
Identify and contribute to the development of mechanisms to strengthen systems for community engagement in emergencies and humanitarian contexts.
Develop and/or adapt capacity development tools and activities for emergencies and humanitarian programming with a focus on preparedness, response and recovery
Contribute to the development and institutionalization of best practices, facilitate the exchange of experiences and provide technical assistance for the uptake of new SBC methods and knowledge internally and externally.

Qualifications and Requirements

Education:

A University Degree (Bachelor’s or higher) in Social and Behavioral Science, including Sociology, Anthropology, Communication Studies / Communication for Development, Psychology, and/or a related field is required.

Experience:

A minimum of two years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: social development programme planning, communication for development or social and behavior change, public advocacy or another related area. Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset..