Home-based: Social and Behaviour Change Consultant for Outbreak Preparedness and Response (96 working days; with travel as needed) – ECARO

UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) is looking for a qualified Social and Behaviour Change Consultant for Outbreak Preparedness and Response to provide social and behaviour change (SBC) related technical support to increase demand for measles vaccination in priority countries in Europe and Central Asia (ECA).

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, access.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

Provide social and behaviour change (SBC) related technical support to increase demand for measles vaccination in priority countries in Europe and Central Asia (ECA).

Scope of Work

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide SBC-related technical support to priority countries – (preliminary Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Azerbaijan, Armenia; the exact countries will be decided at the beginning of the consultancy) – in the ECA region facing measles outbreaks. The consultant will play a critical role in identifying and prioritizing barriers preventing measles vaccination in the countries, revising existing demand promotion plans and interventions aiming at increasing the uptake of MMR/MCV1/MCV2 vaccines and providing recommendations and support to address identified gaps and strengthen outbreak preparedness and response in focus countries. In close coordination with the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) and relevant country offices (COs), the consultant will propose revisions/improvements in key interventions being rolled out by the countries and support countries in their implementation, while also identifying implementation barriers and enablers. Using the COM-B model, the consultant will prepare a detailed report with the identified barriers and enablers influencing vaccine uptake, the changes suggested to the plans and solutions, and additional recommendations with a focus on improving the health system’s capacities to prevent future measles outbreaks.

Travels to all the relevant countries are expected to occur to support the assessment phase of this assignment.

In priority countries, the consultant will:

Inception phase:

• Carry out desk review (e.g., BI research reports, communication/demand promotion plans, etc.) and key informant interviews to identify barriers and enablers to measles vaccine uptake as well as existing interventions being rolled out in the countries and consultation with relevant COs.
• Prepare an inception report with desk review and consultation findings including knowledge gaps that should be further investigated, methods and approaches to carry out the different phases of the assignment, frameworks proposed to identify barriers to vaccine uptake and recommendations for changing / improving / developing behaviourally-informed solutions and strengthening countries’ preparedness and response capacities, criteria for prioritizing identified barriers, timelines.

Assessment phase:

• In coordination with UNICEF COs, identify and revise existing solutions/interventions aiming at increasing vaccine uptake. Identify barriers and enablers at system, institutional and community levels influencing the implementation of solutions aiming at increasing vaccine uptake.
• Develop interview/FGD guides and carry out consultations with relevant stakeholders identified in collaboration with UNICEF COs. Translators or in-country partners may be identified to support to support this activity. The consultations aim to identify solution implementation challenges as well as identification/prioritization of barriers influencing vaccine uptake, and formulate recommendations for strengthening outbreak preparedness and response.
• Develop brief country reports with the findings from the assessment phase.

Improvement phase:

• Based on the findings from the previous phases, prepare country reports with actionable recommendations for improving/changing existing communication/demand promotion plans for outbreak response as well as solutions and their implementation modalities considering a pre-defined criteria (e.g., APEASE criteria for designing and evaluating interventions). In this regard, the consultant is expected to propose detailed changes to existing solutions (e.g., messaging, delivery mode/platform, etc.) and revisions to existing outbreak response plans, including the M&E plan/framework related to demand promotion activities. All the proposed changes/revisions should be based on evidence and the consultant is expected to refer to existing articles/studies/consultations findings for the changes proposed. The report should be structured in a way which readers identify the barriers, the solution proposed to address the barriers, the revision proposed, the evidence supporting the revision, and the M&E indicators and assessment methods to monitor and evaluate the revised solutions. The consultant may be asked to provide individual support to countries to implement proposed solutions and recommendations.

Final report write-up phase and presentation of findings and recommendations

• Develop detailed country reports with barriers and enablers encountered and recommendations for increasing vaccine uptake in each of the relevant countries.
• Develop and deliver a power point presentation with the findings and recommendations for each of the relevant countries.
• Support the organization and delivery of a global webinar presenting the main findings and recommendations from all the assessed countries.

Throughout the assignment, the consultant will have weekly meetings with UNICEF ECARO to provide updates on the work in progress. Periodical meetings with relevant COs may also be arranged as appropriate.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks / Milestone	Deliverables / Outputs	Timeline / Deadline
Desk review and KIIs to identify barriers and enablers to measles vaccine uptake as well as existing interventions being rolled out in the countries and consultation with relevant COs.	Inception report	20 working days; By October 2024
Identify and prioritize barriers to vaccine uptake and revise existing solutions/interventions aiming at increasing vaccine uptake. Identify barriers and enablers at system, institutional and community levels influencing the implementation of solutions aiming at increasing vaccine uptake.	Interview/FGD guides	25 working days; Between November and December 2024
Assessment phase report
Prepare country reports with actionable recommendations for improving/changing existing communication/demand promotion plans for outbreak response as well as solutions and their implementation modalities considering a pre-defined criteria. Support countries as required to implement specific recommendations and solutions.	Country reports. Travel reports (if travel is conducted)	36 working days; Between January and February 2025
Final report write-up and presentation of findings and recommendations	Final country reports	15 working days; By March 2025
Country presentation
Regional webinar

Estimated Duration of the Contract

96 working days between September 2024 and April 2025.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based.

As part of this assignment, some international travels are foreseen. The consultant will arrange her/his travel as and when they take place, and related costs will be reimbursed per UNICEF travel policy.

Travel Clause

• All UNICEF rules and regulations related to travel of Consultants apply.
• All travels shall be undertaken only upon the prior written approval by UNICEF.
• The consultant must be fit to travel, be in a possession of the valid UN BSAFE certificate, obligatory inoculation(s) and have a valid own travel/medical insurance and an immunization/vaccination card.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 96 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as these will be reimbursed as and when they take place.

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

• Master’s degree in Social and behavioural science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, communication or another relevant technical field.
• At least 5 years of experience in planning, designing and assessing SBC interventions and strategies, preferably for public health and immunization.
• Experience in designing a variety of tools for qualitative data collection, preferably for identifying barriers to vaccine uptake.
• Experience in using behavioural science frameworks for designing behaviour insights solutions.
• Experience in designing social and behaviour change strategies/plans, preferably for increasing vaccination during outbreaks. Experience in supporting outbreak preparedness and response is an asset.
• Strong written and spoken English ability.
• Proven familiarity and experience working with the UN (ideally with UNICEF) desired.
• Previous experience working with measles outbreak response desired.
• Fluency in Russian desired.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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.

Remarks:

Please include a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates 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 assignment. It does not apply to consultants 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 consultancy contracts.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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 selection process and afterwards in your assignment.