Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) Project Coordinator

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

Background & rationale:
According to the World Bank’s fragile situations list, South Sudan is classified as a medium intensity conflict zone, ranking 160 of 163 countries in the 2023 global peace index, indicating significant internal conflict & low peace levels.
Furthermore, the population of South Sudan faces significant challenges in access to healthcare, nutrition & food security, education & protection from violence & harmful practices, which is exacerbated by conflict, insecurity & other shocks. One in ten children is not expected to reach their fifth birthday, with rates higher among boys than girls. The country has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, at more than 1,150 per 100,000 live births. About one third of children under the age of 5 years are estimated to be stunted. 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 country program 2023 – 2025 for South Sudan addresses these 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”. Social & Behaviour Change (SBC) & related community engagement strategies are central to achieving our clients country program in South Sudan. 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 social & behaviour change in both development & humanitarian contexts. Consultants will be hired to support the design & implementation of our clients SBC activities in the assigned states.
SBC is a critical component of this endeavour, aiming to inform the South Sudan population about risks & prevention measures to ensure that newborn children are fully vaccinated, proper Infant & Young Child Feeding (IYCF), protection against gender base violence & enrol in schools, malaria control & response to emergencies including Sudan crisis response.

Scope of work:
The personnel will remain employees of CTG but under 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 Social & Behaviour Change – Community Engagement (SBC – CE) planning. This includes the development, implementation, monitoring & evaluation of SBC interventions aimed at promoting the Extended Program on Immunization (EPI) & COVAX rollout in the country (under the Ministry of Health & Sanitation). Adapt capacity development materials & develop a training plan for relevant state stakeholders on EPI & COVAX with focus on interpersonal communication skills, community engagement & other SBC approaches. As cross cutting, the SBC consultant will also provide support to the broader MNCH (Maternal & Child Health) 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 (Immunization, etc.), SBC tools, guidelines, communication materials & key messages.
Support rollout of training packages on interpersonal communication & community engagement for the social service workforce, community leaders & community networks.
Engage with field offices & state stakeholders to support training rollout & integration into our clients thematic areas.
Develop a behaviour change community engagement & social mobilization strategy for girl education.
Support the implementation of MOH RCCE action plan on 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, 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 programs 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 two 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 government stakeholders are involved & through data collection monitoring.
Ensure documentation of good SBC practices on 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 and 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.

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 one of the following fields is required namely social & behavioral science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, communication, public relations, or another relevant technical field with a minimum of two years of professional experience in one 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.

Team management:
This role has no team management responsibility.

Further information:
The personnel will have close interactions with our clients field office program colleagues & frequent travel to the field for supporting coordination & 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.