How can you make a difference?
UNICEF’s work relies on putting children, young people, their families and communities at the center of its actions. UNICEF promotes evidence-based, people-centered and locally owned development and humanitarian initiatives. This is especially important in settings affected by climate shocks, environmental degradation and persistent gender inequalities, which shape behaviours, access to services and community resilience. Through its Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) programming, UNICEF helps ensure that programmes and services are more responsive, inclusive and sustainable. This approach also makes public action more inclusive and strengthens relationships between communities, public authorities, and service providers. By building trust, it supports greater uptake of current programmes and services while also helping systems become more resilient to future shocks, including climate-related disasters, environmental crises and public health emergencies. It also strengthens social capital and collective efficacy, reinforcing community cohesion, and people’s ability to adapt and respond together.
In the education sector, SBC helps promote access and retention to school, gender transformative education; ending violence in schools; community participation; parenting practices; supporting learning outcomes and skills acquisition; inclusive education, social accountability and workforce motivation. SBC also supports education policy development and implementation by linking national regulations with community realities, informing implementation and driving systemic shifts.
This assignment aims to produce an SBC in Education Investment Case and a Compendium of best practices using Social and Behavioral Change in Education to inform programme design, fundraising, and advocacy opportunities. Both documents will be developed using a desk review based on academic and grey literature including GPE and ECW reports, and key stakeholders’ interviews in UNICEF Country Offices and COE
Scope of Work
The scope of the work is to produce
Work Assignment Overview | Deliverables/ Outputs (SMART)* | Delivery deadline
Exact date to complete* the deliverable | Input days**
- Desk Review to identify published evaluations measuring impact of SBC in Education programs over the past 10 years, including grey literature | Report summarizing results | 13th November | 5
- Writing and editing an investment case 4-6 pages based on examples provided and based on 1) Vision; 2) The Challenges; 3) UNICEF Response; 4) Results; 4) How public and private sectors can invest. | Investment Case | 27th November | 5
- Desk Review based on publications and grey literature to identify SBC in Education Best Practices based on 8 pillars (1. Policy Reform & Programme Design; 2. Financing for Scale; 3. Humanitarian Action & Resilience; 4. Equity & Demand Generation; 5. Digital & Infrastructure; 6. Workforce Development & Institution Building; 7. Skills & Secondary Education; 8. Strategic Engagement & Partnerships) | Report summarizing best practices | 13th November | 7
- Collecting examples from at least 20 UNICEF COs, including conducting interviews with CO to validate inputs received | At least 30 examples collected and clustered by pillars | 27th November | 10
- Writing and editing Compendium of Best Practices including proposing visuals | Compendium of Best Practices | 10th December | 10
Minimum requirements
- Masters: Social and Behavioral Science, Education, Communication, Journalism
Work Experience
Language Requirements
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills
Analytical, technical, and organizational competencies to conduct a desk review
Desirables
For every Child, you demonstrate...
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships
(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
(3) Drive to achieve results for impact
(4) Innovates and embraces change
(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity
(6) Thinks and acts strategically
(7) Works collaboratively with others
UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference, safeguarding and background verification checks. These checks may include verification of academic credentials and employment history, screening against relevant United Nations misconduct databases, and requests for misconduct disclosures from current and former employers, professional associations, other relevant organizations and participating organizations under inter-agency safeguarding initiatives, including the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme (MDS), where applicable.
Appointment, selection and continued engagement are subject to the satisfactory completion of all required checks. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information and consent to enable UNICEF to undertake these 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially
Failure to comply with such requirements, where applicable and without a duly approved medical exemption from the relevant UN authority, will result in the cancellation of the selection or may lead to other administrative measures, including separation from service
Remarks
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.
In this role, you will collaborate with colleagues across multiple locations. For effective collaboration, we encourage flexible working hours that accommodate different time zones while prioritizing staff wellbeing.
Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.