UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, clean water

How can you make a difference?

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of this consultancy is to support UNICEF and country offices to strengthen the generation, triangulation, interpretation, and use of social and community insights to inform immunization demand efforts and broader programme adaptation.

This will include working in the design and operationalization of integrated Social and Community Listening (SCL) systems—combining community feedback, frontline health worker insights, and digital data sources—as well as strengthening the translation of insights into actionable programme decisions and interventions.

The consultancy will also contribute to the identification and engagement of strategic partnerships to enhance both the generation and use of insights, and to contribute to the implementation of response actions.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) Specialist based in the Panama Centre of Excellence (CoE), the consultant will support the following interrelated areas of work:

• Design and operationalization of Social & Community Listening systems o Support the design and/or strengthening of SCL systems combining:

• community listening (e.g. community feedback, qualitative insights, rapid assessments)
• health worker insights (e.g. perceptions, challenges, feedback from service delivery)
• digital and media listening, where relevant

The consultant will support countries to design, strengthen, and operationalize integrated SCL systems that go beyond digital listening and incorporate community-based feedback and frontline health worker perspectives.

The consultant will:

• Define fit-for-purpose methodologies, tools, and processes for data collection, ensuring feasibility and alignment with country capacity;

• Develop and/or adapt practical tools and templates to capture, organize, and synthesize insights from multiple sources;

• Support the triangulation of data across sources to generate a more comprehensive understanding of behavioral, social, and service delivery barriers;

• Ensure that SCL systems are embedded within existing programme structures and workflows, and linked to decision-making processes;

• Apply an iterative approach, refining tools and processes based on usability and country feedback.

• Apply people-centred and participatory approaches, as appropriate, to ensure SCL systems are grounded in community realities and user needs, and are feasible within existing programme contexts

• Analysis, triangulation and use of insights for adaptive programming

The consultant will support countries to move from data collection to action, ensuring that insights are systematically analysed, prioritized, and translated into programme improvements. The consultant will:

• Analyse and interpret SCL data from multiple sources (community, health workers, digital), identifying key behavioural, social, and structural barriers affecting vaccine uptake;

• Triangulate and prioritize insights based on relevance, risk, feasibility, and potential impact;

• Facilitate the translation of insights into concrete programmatic actions, including:

o SBC interventions

o service delivery adaptations

o community engagement approaches

• Design and support country set up of simple and practical feedback loops to ensure that insights are regularly

reviewed and inform decision-making;

• Promote adaptive programming by supporting iterative refinement of interventions based on emerging insights

and implementation experience;

• Facilitate integration of SCL insights into planning, implementation, and review cycles at national and/or

subnational levels.

• Facilitate participatory processes, as appropriate, to support the interpretation of insights and the co-creation of

context-appropriate responses with communities, health workers, and relevant stakeholders

• Partnerships to support insight generation, use, and implementation

The consultant will support the identification and engagement of partners to strengthen both the generation and use of

insights, as well as the implementation of response actions. The consultant will:

• Map and analyse existing partnerships and actors involved in community engagement, data generation, and

vaccine promotion;

• Identify and prioritize partners (e.g. academic institutions, civil society, media, fact-checking organizations,

private sector) with potential to contribute to:

- data collection and analysis

- community engagement

- dissemination of insights

- implementation of SBC interventions

• Facilitate engagement with selected partners to define clear and practical roles in supporting both SCL systems

and intervention implementation;

• Promote collaborative and participatory approaches with partners to support co-creation and implementation of

interventions informed by SCL insights;

• Support the development of coordination mechanisms and collaboration models at country and regional levels;

• Promote partnership approaches that enhance reach, trust, credibility, and effectiveness of interventions;

• Support alignment between partners, UNICEF, and country teams to ensure that insights are translated into

coordinated and actionable responses;

• Document partnership models and lessons learned to inform replication in other contexts.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the Terms of Reference here:   ToR SBC Consultant, SCL TMS.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Master’s degree in Social and Behaviour Change, Public Health, Social Sciences (e.g. Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology), Communication for Development, or other relevant fields.
• Work Experience: 
• At least 7–10 years of relevant professional experience in Social and Behaviour Change (SBC), public health, risk communication, or related fields
• Demonstrated experience in designing and/or implementing social and community listening (SCL), social listening, community feedback systems, or similar approaches
• Strong experience in analysing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative data to generate actionable insights
• Experience supporting countries in outbreak response and/or immunization programmes is highly desirable
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders, including government, civil society, and partners, and facilitating coordination processes.
• Experience working with UNICEF, WHO, or other international organizations is an asset.
• Strong analytical, writing and communication skills, with the ability to produce clear and actionable outputs
• Competencies:
• Proven ability to translate insights into programmatic action, including the design of SBC interventions and/or service delivery adaptations (beyond communication-focused approaches).
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Spanish is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate Care

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter 
• A separate financial proposal using this form  Financial Proposal SBC Consultant SCL TMS.docx
• Applicants are required to submit at least one sample of previous work demonstrating analytical and/or technical outputs (e.g. reports, briefs, dashboards), preferably related to social and community listening.

Remarks:  If the TOR or financial proposal documents are not visible on certain recruitment platforms, please visit our official page Vacancies | UNICEF Careers.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.