Jobs

Vacant Job at Malaria Consortium for a Social Behavioral Change Communications (SBCC) Specialist

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Malaria Consortium is one of the world’s leading non-profit organisations specialising in the comprehensive prevention, control and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases among vulnerable and under privileged populations. We increasingly find our work on malaria can be effectively integrated with other similar public health interventions for greater impact and therefore expanded our remit to include child health and neglected tropical disease interventions. We are recruiting to fill the position below:       Job Title: Social Behavioral Change Communications (SBCC) Specialist Location: Abuja Donor Title: Social Behavioural Change Communications (SBCC) Expert Department: Technical Length of contract: 5-years Role type: National Grade: 10 Travel involved: In-country Child safeguarding level: TBC Reporting to: Senior Malaria Expert Country and Project Background

• Malaria is highly endemic in Nigeria and it remains one of the leading causes of childhood and maternal morbidity and mortality in the country. Nigeria is deeply committed to making progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and it recognizes the fact that, without firm efforts to control malaria, achievement of the targets related to child mortality, maternal mortality, and reducing the burden of communicable disease will not be possible. Malaria therefore constitutes a significant development challenge for Nigeria. Interventions for reducing malaria burden in the country are documented in the national malaria strategic plan with Government taking the lead in its implementation with the support of all the RBM partners.
• The DFID funded and Malaria Consortium led malaria programme, SUNMAP, provided technical assistance and other support to the Nigeria National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) covering the period 2008 to 2016. The anticipated follow on project, SUNMAP2 has been designed to strengthen the management and technical capacity of NMEP, State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP) and their stakeholders to drive the implementation of the National Malaria Strategic Plan, 2014 to 2020 and achieve its ambitious targets. This will include short term technical assistance and technical assistance embedded in NMEP in key areas of programme management, evidence generation and use, and capacity building across all project outputs and ultimately reducing Nigeria’s malaria burden and strengthening the Government of Nigeria’s health systems capacity to ensure long term programme and impact sustainability.

Job Purpose

• The SBCC Specialist will operate with a national scope as a member of the core team and will report to the Senior Malaria Expert. S/he will provide expertise (guidance and technical support, training, coaching and management) support to the programme team on social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) interventions, and other areas where the expertise in strategic communication is required on the SUNMAP2 programme.

Scope of Work:

• The SBCC Specialist will provide technical leadership and guidance to the SuNMaP 2 programme by supporting establishment of standards and quality of SBC activities.
• The position holder will lead the design and implement SBCC, identify innovative approaches including results measurements, to show achievement of programme targets.
• An important aspect of the role is to build the SuNMaP 2 programme capacity in social mobilisation and behaviour change communications and to advise the commercial market partners on the generic marketing and ensure synergy with the updated NMEP ACSM strategy.
• The position holder will lead, quality assure and contribute to development, roll-out, and evaluation of SBCC strategies and plan; including advocacy for resource mobilisation, programme communication, community dialogues, gender and equity.
• S/he will lead /coordinate formative research and other studies which are relevant for effective SBCC, will contribute to continuous programme improvement through experiential learning, contribute to the evidence base for SBCC, and support peer-reviewed publications, knowledge management products, technical reports, conferences and presentations.
• In addition, the SBCC Specialist will contribute to improvement of approaches, assure and document value for money (vfm) for SBCC component.
• He/she will work with partner to also initiate and carry out relevant capacity strengthening of our key stakeholders such as Ministries of Health, national partners in SuNMaP2, media and others related to SBCC. Institutional strengthening of the national and state malaria elimination programmes is of particular importance as part of SuNMaP2’s sustainability approach.

Key Working Relationships:

• The SBCC Specialist will work with members of SuNMaP2 team.
• He/she will work closely Malaria Consortium’s SBCC Specialist to develop a coherent and effective SBCC strategy and monitor results of its implementation.
• He/she will be a member of Malaria Consortium’s Public Health Communications Community of Practice, and collaborate with the External Relations team.
• Selective inputs will be sought from members of the Senior Technical Team in the Nigeria country team of the Malaria Consortium including harnessing experiences from SuNMaP1 which are relevant for an effective SBCC approach in SuNMaP2.
• He/she will need to have regular communications with state project teams and national implementation partners, FOMWAN and NIFA.
• In the implementation of work on social mobilisation and demand creation they will need to collaborate and communicate with stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health, FOMWAN, NIFA, other organisations and subcontractors.

Key Accountabilities Social and Behaviour Change Communications, SBCC (40%):

• Provide technical support, training and leadership in the development of social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) strategies and materials
• Advise the programme team, NMEP, & SMEP in adapting strategies, development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SBCC interventions, including the generic marketing activities.
• Facilitate the uptake of effective SBCC practices in malaria among the programme team at national level and in programme states
• Lead the design and coordinate implementation of formative research, other studies and assessments on SBCC for the programme.
• Advise and provide technical guidance on innovative SBCC approaches which can expand use of existing and /or proven interventions. Use experiential learning during the programme to improve the effectiveness of SBCC approaches.
• Lead in building capacity in SBCC approaches and support development of materials such as SBCC tools, training modules and work guidance documents.
• Identify SBCC capability gaps amongst key partners, such as Ministry of Health, journalists implementing partners, and initiate relevant and targeted capacity building activities.
• Work closely with the MEAL Specialist/Expert in the monitoring and evaluation of project SBC, advocacy and EGeM component activities

Advocacy for Domestic Funding (20%):

• Work with government partners and advise them on evidence-based tools/package in support of advocacy for domestic funding for malaria programme.
• Lead the documentation and sharing of ‘advocacy harvests’ and other outputs as evidence of advocacy initiatives attributable to SuNMaP 2

Equity and Gender Mainstreaming, EGeM (15%):

• Advise on the monitoring and results measurement framework for equity and gender mainstreaming to ensure gender, poverty and social development issues are incorporated and implemented in all the malaria programme Advise on the collection, analysis, sharing and application of relevant and current data on EGeM; in close coordination with M&E officer.
• Provide inputs regarding EGeM for all training programs, both at programme and community levels.
• Maintain regular communication on EGeM in relation to malaria with relevant partners and stakeholders document and share relevant reports/outputs.

Learning and Documentation (15%):

• Lead the design and ensure the implementation the effective documentation of SBCC exercises such as story collection, publications, video, testimonials, and audios.
• Work closely with the External Relations team in ensuring national and international compliance with external communication outputs from SuNMaP2 including donor branding.
• Ensure the quality of the data, testimonies and pictures collected in the field and their appropriate label
• Support learning across the programme through preparation of relevant technical publications which support knowledge management: approach papers, research briefs, policy briefs, learning briefs, and best practice documentation
• Support disseminate of results and lessons learned to wider audiences through conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and other opportunistic fora for dissemination.

External Relations, Networking and Representation (15%):

• Participate in national and regional working groups, and other national and regional communities of practice on SBCC and others as relevant.
• Actively participate in the ACSM working group of NMEP coordination platform, and provide regular updates on group activities. Use the platform to share experiences from SuNMaP2 and to garner relevant experiences from other members of the ACSM working group which help to improve the effectiveness of SuNMaP2’s SBCC approaches.
• Facilitate the relationship with media representatives, national partners, malaria advocates and stakeholders’ in accordance with guidelines regarding media, social and community engagement
• Ensure compliance with branding policies of Malaria Consortium, and UK Aid in production of print, electronic and other materials/tools
• Work with project teams in country and MC/UK to provide content for dissemination on digital platforms such as website and social media.
• Work closely with the SuNMaP2 Team leader and the Senior Malaria Expert to handle community and public relation requests sent to SuNMaP 2.

Person specification Qualifications and Experience: Essential

• Postgraduate degree or equivalent in Communication, Marketing, Public Health or related field
• A minimum of 7-years’ experience in SBC, health communication, health promotion, or related role in the health sector in Nigeria/ African Countries
• Good knowledge of public health principles in Nigeria and particularly in developing countries.
• Good Knowledge of ender and equity in public health programme
• Experience in advocacy for domestic funding
• Significant experience in applying a range of behaviour change theories in support of public health, the development and/ or private sector
• Experience measuring results of SBCC activities
• Demonstrable experience leading SBCC component of programmes in the health sector
• Demonstrable familiarity with socio- cultural and economic context of the different regions of Nigeria.

Desirable:

• Demonstrable experience in the use of new and emerging information and communication technologies to reach audiences effectively and at scale
• Experience providing technical support to project teams remotely and physically, while meeting high standards
• Knowledge in communicable disease control and in particular malaria
• Experience planning, facilitating and managing stakeholder engagement and consultation workshops

Work-based Skills Essential:

• Excellent interpersonal, team building, problem solving skills
• Excellent intercultural skills
• Excellent writing and oral presentation skills
• Fluent in English Language
• Familiar with qualitative research methods
• Capacity building skills
• Capable of materials pretesting
• Ability to organise focus group discussions
• Results-oriented attitude to work
• Ability to work independently with little support
• Ability to manage a fluctuating workload, prioritise and re-prioritise when necessary and meet tight deadlines
• Able to travel to SuNMaP2-supported states for up to one week at a time (sometimes at short notice)

Desirable:

• Comfortable working with National and State Malaria Elimination Programmes
• Familiar with key actors in the private health care sector

Core competencies Delivering Results: LEVEL C - Supports others to achieve results:

• Displays a positive and enthusiastic approach and is not deterred by setbacks, finding alternative ways to reach goals or targets.
• Supports others to plan and deliver results
• Supports others to manage and cope with setbacks

Analysis and use of information: LEVEL C - Works confidently with complex data to support work:

• Interprets complex written information
• Works confidently with data before making decisions: for example, interpreting trends, issues and risks
• Acquainted with the validity, relevance and limitations of different sources of evidence

Interpersonal and Communications: LEVEL D - Communicates complex technical and/ or sensitive/ high risk information effectively:

• Communicates complex operational, technical and strategic issues clearly and credibly with widely varied audiences
• Uses varied communication to promote dialogue and shared understanding and consensus across a variety of audiences
• Influences internal and external audiences on specific issues
• Scans the internal and external environment for key information and messages to support communications strategies

Collaboration and Partnering: LEVEL C - Builds strong networks internally and participates actively in external networks and think tanks:

• Builds strong networks internally
• Participates actively in external networks and/or think tanks.
• Engages with relevant experts to gather and evaluate evidence
• Shares and implements good practice with internal and external peers

Leading and Motivating People: LEVEL C - Effectively leads and motivates others or direct reports:

• Gives regular, timely and appropriate feedback
• Acknowledges good performance and deals with issues concerning poor performance
• Carries out staff assessment and development activities conscientiously and effectively
• Develop the skills and competence of others through the development and application of skills
• Coaches and supports team members when they have difficulties

Flexibility/ Adaptability: LEVEL C - Supports others to cope with pressure:

• Responds positively to change, embracing and using new practices or values to accomplish goals and solve problems and supports others to do the same
• Adapts team approach, goals and methods to achieve solutions and results in dynamic situations
• Sets realistic deadlines and goals for self or team

Living the values: LEVEL D – Acts as a role model in promoting Malaria Consortium’s values:

• Champions and takes ownership of corporate decisions, values and standards and ensures team members implement them in a positive manner
• Acts as role model internally and externally in promoting Malaria Consortium’s values
• Is accountable for ensuring that cultural awareness is demonstrated across the area (s) they manage

Strategic planning and thinking and sector awareness: LEVEL C – Keeps up to date with the internal and external environment:

• Takes into account economic, political and other business factors when drawing up medium and long-term plans, covering both public and private sectors
• Looks beyond the immediate operations to prospects for new business
• Engages with appropriate internal and external sources to establish major influences on future plans.

Salary Competitive.   How to Apply Interested and qualified candidates should: Click here to apply Click Here for More Information (PDF)   Application Deadline: 29th March, 2019.

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