VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Position: Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Specialist

Organization: UNOPS (supporting UNICEF Malawi)

Reports to: SBC Manager

Job Highlight

The Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Specialist reports to the SBC Manager for general guidance and supervision. The Specialist provides technical and operational support for developing a systematic, planned and evidence-based strategy and process for SBC as an integral part of programme development, planning and implementation.

Through strategic communication and engagement, as well as the empowerment and participation of stakeholders, communities, children, civil society partners, and government counterparts, s/he leads efforts to address harmful social and gender norms that perpetuate child marriage and promotes social and behaviour change.

The role also includes generating and using social and behavioural evidence, strengthening community feedback mechanisms, building partner capacity, and ensuring that norms shift interventions are effectively coordinated, implemented, and monitored. The work contributes to achieving measurable results in reducing child marriage and improving protection, survival, and wellbeing of children and adolescents in Malawi.

Role Purpose

The Specialist will be responsible for the design and implementation of evidence-based, culturally appropriate, gender-sensitive, community-owned SBC interventions to address harmful social and gender norms, strengthen community engagement, and promote sustainable behaviour change to prevent child marriage.

This includes working with government, civil society organisations, community leaders, and adolescents to increase awareness, strengthen reporting and service uptake, support enforcement of by-laws and legal frameworks, and build community ownership to end child marriage.

The SBC Specialist will lead evidence generation, strengthening partner capacity, coordination, monitoring of the results, and strengthening community engagement to ensure effective implementation and measurable social and behavioural results for Ending Child Marriage (ECM).

Functions / Key Results Expected

Generate & Use Evidence

• Generate and utilize research, data, and evidence to inform the design, measurement, and monitoring of the End Child Marriage programme and link with the overall national level End Child Marriage strategy
• Lead the generation and use of social and behavioural community-based evidence to inform and adjust the design, implementation, and monitoring of planned End Child Marriage interventions
• Develop and adjust monitoring and measurement frameworks, including indicators, tools, and feedback mechanisms to track changes in social norms, behaviours, and service uptake
• Support integration of SBC indicators into programme monitoring systems and national data systems where possible
• Lead documentation of good practices, lessons learned, and evidence on what works in shifting harmful social norms and preventing child marriage
• Facilitate dissemination of evidence and learning through reports, briefs, presentations, and knowledge-sharing platforms at district, national, and global levels
• Build the capacity of government and partner organizations in rapid data collections, data analysis, use of behavioural insights, and evidence-based programming
• Promote the use of community feedback and participatory monitoring to inform adaptive programming and improve accountability to affected populations
• Contribute to evidence generation by documenting programme results, innovations, and learning related to social norms change and child marriage prevention

Design, Plan and Implement

• Design, plan and implement norm shift activities for the Ending Child Marriage programme that are backed by social and behavioural data and evidence and strong engagement and participation mechanisms based on cultural contexts
• Lead the design, planning, and implementation of integrated SBC interventions for ending child marriage, with a strong focus on shifting harmful social and gender norms at community and national levels
• Ensure all norm-shifting interventions are grounded in robust data and evidence, including research findings, community insights, and programme data
• Develop and implement community-led strategies that promote dialogue, reflection, and collective action to challenge and transform beliefs and practices that sustain child marriage
• Facilitate meaningful engagement and participation of key stakeholders – including adolescents, parents, traditional and religious leaders, community groups, and civil society partners – as agents of change
• Strengthen partnerships with government, NGOs, and community-based organizations to ensure coordinated, scalable, and sustainable implementation of norm-change interventions
• Integrate participatory approaches and community feedback mechanisms to enhance accountability, ownership, and responsiveness of programmes
• Ensure SBC interventions are inclusive, gender-responsive, and tailored to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized populations, particularly in high-prevalence settings
• Support alignment of community-level interventions with national policies, legal frameworks, and advocacy efforts to accelerate progress in ending child marriage
• Monitor implementation quality and support adaptive management to strengthen effectiveness and achieve measurable social and behavioural change outcomes

Advocate & Build Partnerships

• Support operationalization of norm shift interventions for ending child marriage by mobilizing local resources, coordinating across national and community level stakeholders, sectors and teams, and building partnerships
• Advocate for ending child marriage and addressing harmful social and gender norms with government counterparts, traditional leaders, civil society, and development partners to strengthen political and community commitment
• Coordinate with government ministries, district councils, community structures, and implementing partners to ensure harmonized planning, implementation, and monitoring of ECM interventions
• Strengthen partnerships with civil society organizations, youth networks, women's groups, and community-based organizations to expand outreach and community-led action
• Develop strong data collection and monitoring frameworks for awareness, engagements, and behaviour change data
• Facilitate coordination platforms, review meetings, and joint planning sessions among stakeholders at national and district levels
• Contribute to strengthening systems and structures that support prevention, reporting, referral, and response to child marriage cases
• Support documentation, reporting, and sharing of programme progress, lessons learned, and good practices with donors, government, and partners as agreed

Build Capacities

• Promote continuous learning, strengthening, and scaling up through capacity building for government, civil society partners, and other community-based structures
• Coordinate and develop and/or apply tools, guidelines, and training materials to build capacity among country office staff, implementing partners, and other relevant community-based structures
• Develop capacity development initiatives for partners, including new approaches such as behavioural analysis, behavioural insights, human-centered design, social listening, digital engagement, and social accountability mechanisms
• Plan and implement national capacity development activities for community, women, adolescents, and youth engagement and addressing harmful social norms and practices
• Identify and mobilize local resources to support capacity development across relevant and applicable modalities

Education Requirements

Required:

• A Master's degree in one of the following fields: Social and Behavioural Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Education, Development Communication, Public Relations, or another relevant field is required
• A combination of a Bachelor's degree with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above

Experience Requirements

Required:

• A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant work experience at the national level in developing, implementing, monitoring, and managing social and behavioural change strategies and contents is required with a Bachelor's degree, OR a minimum of five (5) years of work experience with a Master's degree
• Demonstrated expertise in the application of social and behavioural science, social norms programming, SBC theories, research, and analysis to all stages of programme cycles
• Familiarity with new and emerging approaches such as behavioural insights, human-centered design, social listening, and gender analysis
• Demonstrated experience in the execution of time-sensitive complex priorities, processes, and projects

Desired:

• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization
• Experience managing the analysis, synthesis, documentation, and dissemination of lessons for a range of stakeholders
• Strong organizational skills, analytical capabilities, and the ability to handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced emergency environment

How to Apply

To apply for this job please visit careers.unops.org.