Senior Technical Adviser- Social Behavior Change At Save the Children

The Opportunity

Driving positive change for children in Malawi hinge on a number of factors, including on shifting norms and behaviours that have high impact on child wellbeing, across a number of thematic areas, including in health and nutrition, education, protection and livelihoods. Senior Technical Adviser (STA) Social Behaviour Change will be a key member of SC Malawi’s programme development and quality team, supporting the design of new programmes, as well as the quality of implementation of our main programmes aiming to drive changes in harmful social norms and behaviours impacting the wellbeing of children. S/he will oversee the design, planning, and implementation of SBC strategies and activities particularly in our Abwenzi A Ana, MAZIKO and other key programmes focusing on addressing sexual violence and exploitation against children, including ending child marriage and improving nutritional status of children under 2 years.

S/he will be responsible for supporting SBC interventions by playing a lead role in guiding formative research; developing SBC strategy and implementation plans; supporting the development, testing and production of tools and job aids; and monitoring the progress of activities to ensure a consistent and coherent execution of interventions. The position will support the sound integration of SBC into the community-led action efforts and community capacity strengthening work. STA SBC will identify theory and evidence-based strategies to reduce social and behavioural risk factors that lead to adverse health, nutrition, livelihoods and resilience and child protection outcomes. S/he will support the sound application of community-led action efforts and plans through close collaboration with technical and implementation colleagues. S/he will provide capacity strengthening in SBC approaches as they pertain to nutrition, health, livelihoods, gender norm-change, and resilience-building objectives at the individual, household, community and system levels; and ensure institutionalization and sustainability of the SBC strategy and approaches employed by our programmes.

In the event of humanitarian emergencies, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly and provide support to the delivery of humanitarian response.

In order to be successful you will bring/have:

QUALIFICATIONS:

A master’s degree or equivalent in education, health, behavioral, life/social sciences, human development, international development, knowledge/information services, communications or a related field.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS:

• A minimum of seven years of progressively increasing technical responsibility leading to a senior level of expertise in SBC.
• Strong technical and/ or managerial knowledge, skills, and experience to direct the operational activities of a unit or team, or provide technical advice, guidance, and management related to various size programs, grants, or projects.
• Demonstrated skills in SBC strategy development, preferably for integrated programming across several health and development areas
• Experience in applying a range of SBC approaches that address change in social and gender norms and structures as well as individual behaviours, and that go beyond messaging to catalysing community action.
• Conceptual and research skills, with ability to think strategically.
• Proven ability to develop effective working relationships with all levels of internal and external clients, government counterparts at all levels, local organizations, private sector counterparts, and program partners.
• Management, communication and organizational skills (attention to detail is required); flexibility and capacity to multi-task.
• Excellent written communication, knowledge management and documentation skills required.
• Professional level proficiency in spoken and written English is required;

Desirable:

• Knowledge of innovative SBC approaches, including effective use of digital and mHealth approaches for SBC preferred.
• Participatory facilitation skills for group discussions and (community) dialogue preferred.
• Experience designing, conducting or collaborating with formative research, as it pertains to developing SBC strategies, approaches and materials preferred.

We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector.

The Organisation

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information:

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/careers

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.