Social & Behavior Change Specialist, Polio Outbreak Response (NO-3) at UNICEF

As the Social and Behaviour Change Specialist, you will support planning, implementation, monitoring, quality improvement and coordination of SBC/ACSM interventions, with a focus on increasing caregiver acceptance of polio vaccination, reducing missed children, addressing refusals and hesitancy, countering misinformation, strengthening community engagement, and improving the performance of community-based mobilization structures.

Under the overall guidance of the UNICEF Polio Team Lead, you will work closely with key partners, including the NPHCDA, WHO, AFENET, Solina, Rotary and the Gates Foundation, to support polio eradication efforts at the national, state, and local levels.

As the SBC Specialist, you will provide national-level technical and operational support to the Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and the National Emergency Operations Centre, and work closely with State Emergency Operations Centres and partners to improve the quality of polio eradication activities and their linkages with routine immunization and primary health care.

Major responsibilities:


Strategic planning, programme development and outbreak response
Microplanning, operational readiness and campaign preparedness
Campaign implementation, field supervision and quality improvement
Community engagement, social mobilization and trust building
Refusal conversion, misinformation management and missed-children reduction
Data use, monitoring, reporting and knowledge management
Coordination, partnership building and advocacy
Capacity building, innovation and continuous improvement
Accountability and additional duties


Minimum requirements:


Education: Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in social and behavioural science, communication for development, public health, health promotion, sociology, anthropology, psychology, development studies or another relevant field is required.
Work Experience: At least 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in social and behaviour change, health communication, community engagement, immunization, public health, emergency response or related areas is required. Relevant experience should include:

Experience in SBC/ACSM planning, implementation, monitoring and coordination is required.
Experience supporting immunization, polio eradication, outbreak response or other public health campaigns is required.
Experience working with community mobilizers, civil society organizations, religious and traditional leaders, and local influencers is required.
Experience addressing vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, refusals, missed children or low service uptake is required.


Skills: Advocacy, interpersonal communication, campaign preparedness, monitoring, reporting and problem solving skills are required.
Language Requirements: Proficient/Fluent level of English is required.


Desirables:


Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish), or a local language (Hausa or another language spoken in polio priority states in Nigeria) is an asset.
Experience in social data, community feedback and monitoring findings for programme improvement, experience working with government counterparts, UN agencies, NGOs and development partners, experience in routine immunization, zero dose programming or integrated PHC services is an asset.
Relevant experience at country level, Northern Nigeria, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts is an asset.