Name Save the Children Seek Consultant: Behaviour Change Communication for Myanmar

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organisation for children. It is a dual mandate organization and focuses on development and emergency response. We are currently working in 120 countries around the world touching the lives of 125 million children. Our mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Save the Children has been working in Myanmar since 1995. Our programmes include Maternal and Child Health, Nutrition, HIV/AIDS, WASH, Education, Food Security and Livelihoods, Child Protection and Child Rights Governance and Humanitarian Responses in across the country.

We are currently inviting motivated and talented individuals to apply for Consultant (Behaviour Change Communication) position based in Sittwe & Pauk Taw Township, Rakhine State. Please see the following detailed information.

Consultancy Role:
SCI are looking for a consultant to work for 3 months with the Nutrition teams to focus on Behaviour Change Communication. Within Nutrition, appropriate approaches for changing behaviour linked to Antenatal Care Services is an identified gap that needs focus.

Background:
The Myanmar country programme has been responding to inter-communal violence in Rakhine State since July 2012. Concentrated in the state capital of Sittwe and the surrounding townships, repeated occurrences of violence have left approximately 140,000 people displaced in what was already a marginalised and food insecure part of the country. Save the Children is currently implementing a five sector response (WASH, Education, Child Protection, Nutrition, Food distribution). The social and conflict dynamics demand a sensitive and considered response, with acceptance a key issue for all operating in the area.

The Nutrition program has been implementing Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) activities in Sittwe Township since September 2012. The nutrition programme has since expanded to include: 1) Prevention of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) through optimizing IYCF practices; 2) Treatment of SAM through an Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP); 3) Ante-Natal Care (ANC) services to optimize mother and infant health. Its main approach is to strengthen community-based activities, and to continue fostering acceptance by working with all communities. IYCF services target lactating women and children under two years of age. ANC services work with pregnant women/women of child-bearing age, and OTP services cover children of 6-59 months. All three sectors target the whole population with sensitisation/health education.

Key Accountability:
Tasks with the Nutrition team:

Assess context for the different behaviours amongst communities and groups in which Nutrition activities are being implemented. Identify any gaps in secondary data, and propose the collection of any needed primary data (for example through a Designing for Behaviour Change (DBC) Framework approach – identification of barriers and boosters).
Lead on the collection of primary data with the support of enumerators/Nutrition team (operational arrangements to be made by PM), providing training to the team as needed
Deliver analysis report which includes the Nutrition behaviour change strategy to be implemented over the long-term (up to 5 years). The behaviour change strategy will address all existing Nutrition activities that affect the audience targeted by IYCF and ANC programming, through suggesting additional activities and modifications of existing activities in line with identified barriers/boosters of behaviours. Strategy will be informed by psychosocial support and trauma-informed approaches, and will also be developed in coordination with the Child Protection programme
Assess Nutrition team capacity/habits from a behaviour change perspective and develop work plan for the next 6 months with PM in coordination with the Child Protection programme. Work plan will focus on realizing priorities or foundational aspects of the behaviour change strategy, according to the available timeframe and resources
Consultant may oversee the implementation of any IECs and visibility materials that may be needed. Creation of any such materials will be done with the support of a designer, to ensure all communications are aligned and that there are no contradictions
Consultant will work closely with the Nutrition team to test out priority or foundational behaviour change interventions for different communities. Interventions may be modifications of existing activities or new activities. PM will support the consultant in gathering regular feedback from communities/teams and making all operational arrangements
Interventions will be tested out/piloted in select areas/groups that are deemed representative of larger communities with a period of testing to be defined. Interventions will undergo modifications after each testing period until preliminary feedback of their impact meets a threshold of acceptability (threshold to be defined as part of the work plan)
Share training materials for finalized behavioural interventions calibrated for individual communities

SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Nutrition Programme Manager
Travel: Frequent (over 6 days per month)

Person specifications:

Extensive experience with community facilitation, training, participatory ways of working and the development of community-based structures using grassroots empowerment models
Thorough understanding of behaviour change models and experience with barrier analysis, conducting behavioural research, applied cognitive psychology, applied behavioural analysis and habit formation frameworks
Background in quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis
Extensive training in human-centered design with experience developing user-centered interventions from concept to prototyping
Experience implementing Nutrition programmes in challenging contexts
Experience in capacity building and training for national staff using Freirian pedagogical methods
Strong communication skills catering to different audiences, and sensitivity to special needs groups
Knowledge of trauma-informed ways of working and psychosocial components of behaviour change
Proven team working skills, adaptability and flexibility

SCI values are indicated below and we expect all candidates to align with such values.

Accountability:

Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving results together with children and role modelling Save the Children values
Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved
Creates a managerial environment in-country to lead, enable and maintain our culture of child safeguarding

Ambition:

Sets ambitious and challenging goals for self and team, takes responsibility for own personal development and encourages team to do the same
Widely shares personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
Future oriented, thinks strategically and on a global scale

Collaboration:

Builds and maintains effective relationships, with own team, colleagues, members, donors and partners
Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

Honest, encourages openness and transparency
Always acts in the best interests of children

Interested and qualified candidates are requested to send an Application Letter and Curriculum Vitae to:

Submission no later than 5 P.M., 16 September 2016 (Friday).

Note: The job vacancy can also be viewed in SCI website: http://myanmar.savethechildren.net/jobs.

Candidates are also requested to mention in the application if there is blood/marriage relationships with the existing Save the Children employees. No requirement of photo or copy of certificates and only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Remark: For those who fail to mention or incorrectly mention the position title, Programme/Sector name and location in their applications, we will consider those as disqualified and we will not consider for short list.