SBC Officer - UNICEF Vacancy Announcement (Gambella)

UNICEF Ethiopia is implementing a 5-year country programme 2020-2025 which is fully aligned with the UNSDCF. UNICEF will work collaboratively within the UNSDCF on a joint strategy to strengthen national systems for data collection, analysis, monitoring and applying adjustments to promote equity. Evidence will be used to monitor the situation of children, tracking progress towards equity and scale, and to inform advocacy to adjust policies, strategies and budgets. Monitoring and corrective actions will be undertaken through UNICEF staff, partners and third-party monitoring, and through mechanisms for community feedback and accountability to affected populations.

Context

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence and exploitation. UNICEF supports the Federal Government of Ethiopia to accelerate progress for children, work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and help children realize their rights under the Convention on the Rights of Children. This will be made through, among other things, strong partnerships with regional governments, health professionals, teachers, frontline workers, religious and community leaders, social mobilisers, communities and families, and the children and adolescents themselves. UNICEF will work so that:

• Every child survives and thrives — being in good health, immunized, and accessing nutritious food.

• Every child learns.

• Every child is protected from violence and exploitation and registered at birth.

• Every child lives in a safe and clean environment, with access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. The SBC Officer, under direct supervision of Chief of Field Office, and as guided by the SBC Manager in Addis will provide technical support for UNICEF SBC interventions, including emergency operations in the region. The SBC Officer spearheads multi-level strategic SBC interventions that are relevant and context specific to community-based interventions in the region. The SBC Officer will support in identifying strategic opportunities among key stakeholders including partners, government sector bureaus and CSO/CBOs for planning and initiating multi-channel SBC interventions, monitoring of on-going interventions, and reporting, participating in different sectorial coordination forums and following up on tasks related to cross sectorial SBC interventions in development and emergency contexts. The SBC Officer is also required to provide cross sectorial technical support to ensure coherence of sector wide SBC activities in the field in line with the country programme SBC strategy.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Chief of Field Office or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV SBC Officer will:

1.Support to strategy design and development of SBC activities

• Research and/or participate in conducting comprehensive SBC situation analysis of social, cultural, economic, communication and political issues in the region. Collect and synthesize qualitative and quantitative information and data to support the establishment of comprehensive and evidence-based information for developing and planning SBC strategy and interventions in the region.

• Collect, draft and/or organize materials and related documentations for SBC strategies and plans to ensure optimum impact, scale, and sustainability of achievements/results.

• Assess the impact of SBC activities on the CO and UNICEF goals to achieve measurable 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 contextualize the development, pretesting, translation and repackaging of existing as well as new Behavior Change and Communication (BCC) materials in consultation with relevant Regional Bureaus, Programme Officers, the SBC unit, and other relevant stakeholders

• In collaboration with UNICEF Programme staff and relevant government sector staff, participates in the development of evidence-based sectoral strategies and workplans (both development and emergency-related) to ensure the design and incorporation of specific Communication for Development components with objectives and activities aimed at different levels:

(a) behavior development/change individual/household/facility levels;

(b) community participation, social change and collective action at community level; and © social mobilization of community-based organizations and advocacy for decision makers;

2. Support to the implementation of SBC activities

•Collaborate with internal and external partners to provide operational and technical support to the design of SBC strategies, and research, develop, test, produce and use quality SBC materials and/or organize events and activities to ensure maximum outreach and impact on behavioral and social change of target audience.

•Assess and recommend potential contacts, networks, resources, and tools to support the maximum impact and outreach of SBC initiatives.

•Follow up on the production of SBC 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).

3. 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’s 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 SBC outreach and contribution to programmatic outcomes.

• Provide technical support to UNICEF, regional sector bureaus and partners including contributing to the adapting of or sharing relevant standards, protocols, guidelines and training materials for SBC.

4. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Institutionalize/share best practices and knowledge learned/products with national/local partners and stakeholders to build capacity of practitioners/users, and disseminate lessons learned to key audiences including donors and partners.

•Support the organization, administration, and implementation of capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients /stakeholders/partners across programme sectors in SBC planning, implementation, and evaluation in support of programmes/projects. Develop training materials for training activities and revise them periodically for improvements and updates.

• Provide technical and coordination support to SBC trainings at regional, Zonal, and Woreda levels for Government counterparts, partner organizations, and their volunteer networks.

• Build the capacity of a social mobilization multi-sectoral regional platform (Health, Education, Religious groups, CSOs, medias, etc.) in terms of coordination, planning, monitoring of SBC interventions including use of emergency communication materials for creating a strategic network of social mobilization trainers.

5. Monitoring and Reporting

• Undertake regular field monitoring and report based on agreed SBC indicators

• Contribute to the regular monitoring of SBC actors’ capacity according to the needs raised during rapid assessments / KAP surveys

• Compile regional SBC reports, emergency and development, from the field and update progress on key results

• Ensure multi-media materials are distributed to the intended target groups and monitor and address gaps

• Participates in regional and Zonal coordination mechanisms and follow up on SBC tasks

• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

Job requirements

Eligibility criteria

Age

27 – 80

Nationality

Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.

Requirements

Required experience

3 years of experience in planning and implementing SBC programmes

• Previous experience in working/living in communities is an added advantage.

• Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills;

• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development.

Fluency in spoken and written in Anuak and/or Nuer local languages is mandatory requirment.

Area(s) of expertise

Communication, Community development, Crisis and emergency response

Driving license

–

Languages

English, Level: Fluent, Required

Required education level

Bachelor degree or equivalent in social/behavioral sciences, (Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Communication, Public Relations and Health Promotion and Education) with emphasis on communication planning for behavior development, social mobilization, participatory communication and research training and impact evaluation of communication interventions.

Competencies and values

• Professionalism:

• Integrity

• Teamwork and respect for diversity

• Planning and organising

• Commitment to continuous learning:

• Communication

• Flexibility

• Genuine commitment

Other information

Living conditions and remarks

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator.

The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos.”

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Reasonable accommodation

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.