Social and Behaviour Change Specialist - Harmful Norms and Practices

Organizational Context

UNOPS East and Southern Africa, based in Nairobi, supports development across 14 countries, including Malawi. The office implements diverse, partner-funded initiatives aligned with national priorities, focusing on areas like infrastructure, health, and peacebuilding. In Malawi, UNOPS supports Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centres. This role operates within the context of a UNICEF-led End Child Marriage programme in Malawi, supported by UNOPS for recruitment and administration.

Job Purpose

The Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) Specialist will provide technical leadership for the norm-shifting and community mobilization component of UNICEF's End Child Marriage (ECM) programme in Malawi. The primary purpose is to design and implement evidence-based, culturally appropriate, and gender-sensitive SBC interventions aimed at addressing harmful social and gender norms that perpetuate child marriage. This involves strengthening community engagement, promoting sustainable behaviour change, and increasing awareness and service uptake. The role is crucial for generating evidence, building partner capacity, coordinating efforts, and monitoring results to achieve measurable social and behavioural outcomes that contribute to ending child marriage and improving the well-being of children and adolescents.

Responsibilities

The Specialist will lead the generation and utilization of research, data, and evidence to inform the design, measurement, and monitoring of SBC interventions for ending child marriage, ensuring alignment with national strategies. This includes designing and implementing norm-shift activities grounded in social and behavioural data and participatory mechanisms. Key responsibilities involve advocating for and building partnerships with government, civil society, community leaders, and adolescents to mobilize resources and ensure coordinated implementation. The role also focuses on building the capacity of partners and community structures through training and promoting continuous learning. Furthermore, the Specialist will develop and adjust monitoring frameworks, document best practices, facilitate dissemination of learning, and promote the use of community feedback for adaptive programming and accountability.

Work Experience

A minimum of seven years of relevant work experience at the national level in developing, implementing, monitoring, and managing social and behavioural change strategies is required with a Bachelor's degree, or five years with a Master's degree. Demonstrated expertise in social and behavioural science application, social norms programming, and SBC theories is essential. Familiarity with emerging approaches like behavioural insights and human-centered design is desired.

Skills

Capacity Development, Child Advocacy, Community Engagement, Knowledge Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), Program Development, Reporting, Social Research, Social and Behavioural Science Application, Social Norms Programming, Behavioural Insights.

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