Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Officer

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.

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.

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
(c) 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.