Social & Behavior Change (SBC) Consultant At CTG

CTG Overview

CTG staff and support humanitarian projects in fragile and conflict-affected countries around the world, providing a rapid and cost-effective service for development and humanitarian missions. With past performance in 17 countries – from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia, we have placed more than 20,000 staff all over the world since operations began in 2006.
CTG recruits, deploys and manages the right people with the right skills to implement humanitarian and development projects, from cleaners to obstetricians, and mechanics to infection specialists, we’re skilled in emergency response to crises such as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Key to successful project delivery is the ability to mobilise at speed; CTG can source and deploy anyone, anywhere, in less than 2 weeks and have done so in 48 hours on a number of occasions.
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Overview of Position

Purpose of activity / assignment:
To support Risk Communication & Community Engagement (RCCE) activities for increased demand & uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine.
To coordinate the design & implementation of cross cutting Social & Behavior Change (SBC) interventions as part of the our clients country program 2023 – 2025 in support to the Government (Govt.) of South Sudan in the assigned state.

Background & rationale:

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Since then, a few candidate vaccines have been developed & has already been deployed in several countries worldwide & in South Sudan (SS), the vaccine was introduced on the 6th of April 2021. It is always challenging to introduce a new vaccine, the process can have a significant impact both positive & negative. The country’s health system, the general public & the new target populations e.g., front line service providers must be well prepared to ensure the desired acceptance & uptake of the vaccine. The introduction of the new COVID-19 vaccine came with similar challenges, but it is key to the successful reduction of transmission & containment of the pandemic. There is also the need to respond to the recurring challenge of rumours & misinformation about vaccines among the community & in this regard, the COVID-19 vaccine. SBC is a critical component of this endeavour, aiming to inform the SS population about risks & prevention measures to ensure their support & acceptance of the vaccinations.

Furthermore, the population of SS face significant challenges in access to health care, nutrition & food security, education & protection from violence & harmful practices, which is exacerbated by conflict, insecurity & other shocks. 1 in 10 children is not expected to reach their 5th birthday, with rates higher among boys than girls.1 The country has 1 of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, at more than 1,150 per 100,000 live births. About 1/3rd of children under the age of 5 years are estimated to be stunted.3 From the education perspective, limited progress has been made in ensuring access to education. An estimated 59% (2.8 million) children aged 3 – 17 years were out of school in 2020, of whom 53% were girls. Only 25% of girls receive secondary level education. Half of all girls are married or promised in marriage before the age of 18. Conflict related sexual violence & other forms of GBV against women & girls remains widespread, systematic & ongoing conflict has created a situation of great insecurity for women & girls.

Our clients SS country program 2023 – 2025 addresses theses issues related to child rights by ensuring that “all children including children with disabilities, adolescents & women, particularly the most vulnerable, are safer & enjoy their rights, with systems strengthened to ensure that they have access to high quality, resilient services & that humanitarian assistance & development cooperation address the structural causes of fragility & vulnerability”. SBC & related community engagement strategies are central to achieving our clients SS country program. SBC is a cross cutting, evidence based process that uses a mix of communication tools, channels & approaches to facilitate participation & engagement with children, families, communities & networks, for positive SBC in both development & humanitarian contexts. Consultants will be hired to support the design and implementation of our clients SBC activities in the assigned states.

Scope of work:

Personnel will work under the technical supervision of the SBC Specialist & the Chief of the Field Office, the SBC personnel will provide technical support in the implementation of evidence based SBC – Community Engagement (CE). This includes the development, implementation, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) of SBC interventions aimed to promote the Extended Program on Immunization (EPI) & COVAX rollout in the country, under the Ministry of Health & Sanitation (MOH&S). Adapt capacity development materials & develop a training plan for relevant state stakeholders on EPI & COVAX with focus on interpersonal communication skills, CE & other SBC approaches. As cross cutting, the SBC Consultant will also provide support to the broader Maternal & Child Health (MNCH) program, nutrition, hygiene & sanitation, education & learning & child protection programs for increasing demand for social services, adoption of positive practices & for influencing social norms that can lead to a better well being of the population, especially the children & their families.

Role Objectives

Support the state level RCCE group in the local contextualization of national RCCE or SBC strategies & plans (COVID-19, immunization, etc.), SBC tools, guidelines, communication materials & key messages.
Support rollout of training packages on interpersonal communication & CE for the social service workforce, community leaders & community networks.
Engage with field offices & state stakeholders to support training rollout and integration into our clients thematic areas.
Develop a Behaviour change community engagement and social mobilization strategy for girl education.
Support the implementation of MOH RCCE action plan on COVID-19 vaccine & routine immunisation rollout, public acceptance & social mobilization, including risk communication at state level.
Plan & implement SBC strategy for increased utilization of MNCH services especially antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, post natal care, early care seeking & routine immunization.
Provide SBC support to nutrition, child protection, education & WASH programs.
Where relevant, support the implementation & documentation of the results of World Bank (WB), KfW & global fund supported projects in coordination with the implementing partners & relevant line ministries.
Support the State in the local adjustment & implementation of community feedback mechanisms, ensuring the voices of children with disabilities, adolescent & young girls, women & other vulnerable groups are reflected & addressed.
Identify, build & maintain partnerships through networking & proactive collaboration with strategic partners at state level to reinforce cooperation to strengthen SBC to support our clients mission & goals for child rights, social equity & inclusiveness.
Support State & county level RCCE / SBC coordination platforms to harmonize, link & coordinate interventions, resource mobilization, messaging & use of multiple media & communication platforms to enhance SBC outreach including in humanitarian contexts.
Participate & provide SBC inputs into sectoral coordination platforms (clusters, regular programmes coordination meetings, etc.).
Support the state in designing & implementing contextually relevant & consistent SBC approaches, mixing different approaches predominantly comprised of community engagement interventions such as community dialogues, radio engagement through call in, community radio listener groups’ activities & other 2 way communication interventions.
Technically monitor implementing partners & provide feedback on the quality of the SBC programs.
Develop Programmatic Visits’ (PVs) reports & submit to the supervisor for upload on e-tools.
Co facilitate training of Program Officers & partners on the RCCE / SBC component.
Develop dissemination plan for SBC materials for the state & ensure delivery of materials to final users.
Conduct end user monitoring to ensure proper utilization of the delivered materials.
Support our clients field office to monitor state level implementing partners in the timely liquidation of Direct Cash Transfers (DCT) used for the implementation of the SBC activities.
Monitor the implementation of behavioural surveys & studies commissioned at national level by ensuring the involvement of state level govt. stakeholders are involved & through data collection monitoring.
Ensure documentation of good SBC practices on COVID-19 vaccination & other supported program under different formats (human interest stories, technical report, etc.).
Contribute to the development of donor reports by providing quality & timely inputs to the Chief of Field Office or the SBC section.
Ensure support to contextualized roll out & monitoring of any central level initiative such as the future integration & harmonization of community networks, mosquito nets distribution campaign, etc.
Perform any required task as per the guidance from the supervisor but to remain in the scope of SBC.
Expected results / key function, accountabilities & related duties / tasks:
Contextualized COVID-19 RCCE plan available & implemented, activity reports made available by the state level RCCE group.
Community based catch up plan for under immunized children available.
Training of social service workforce, community leaders & community networks conducted, training reports available.
State level action plan for increasing demand for MNCH services & improving nutritional, hygiene & sanitation practices available & implemented.
WB, KfW & global fund supported projects timely implemented as per the planning, SBC data & information timely available to feed donor reports.
Contextualized community feedback mechanism available & generating information to inform programming & decision making.
Functioning RCCE & any other SBC coordination platform with meeting minutes & activity reports available.
Programmatic visits reports available within a week after the trip with recommendations for improvement of RCCE / SBC activities for reaching results.
Dissemination plan for SBC communication materials available & executed.
DCT more than 6 months from SBC activities for the field office.
Human interest stories & documentaries on SBC activities are available & disseminated at the state level & shared with the country office.

Project Reporting

This role will work under the technical supervision of the SBC Specialist & the Chief of the Field Office.

Key Competencies

Bachelors Degree in any of the following fields is required: Social & Behavioral Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Education, Communication, Public Relations, or another relevant technical field.
A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in 1 or more of the following areas is required namely social development program planning, SBC, public advocacy, or another related area.
Experience in working on immunization, preferably prior experience in new vaccine introduction.
Strong networking capacities & collaboration with a large range of stakeholders.
Solid verbal & written communication skills.
Willingness to travel & work in field environments.
Knowledge of the local language in the applied state is a requirement.
Excellent written & spoken English is required.
Knowledge of Arabic is considered as an asset.
Quality SBC contributions to donor reports from the state timely submitted to the country office.

Team Management

This role has no team management responsibility.

Further Information

The position is open for the following state: one personnel Jonglei (Bor).
The personnel will have close interactions with our clients field office program colleagues & frequent travel to the field for supporting coordination and planning at county level & monitoring the implementation of SBC activities in the ground.
An average 10 – 15 day trip per month can be expected, depending on the needs.
Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply for this role.