Social and Behaviour Change Consultant for Europe and Central Asia Regional Office. Home based.[...]

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a champion

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide SBC-related support to the Health section at UNICEF ECARO, particularly the nutrition and immunization teams, to identify psychological, social, and environmental factors influencing breastfeeding and vaccine promotion behaviours among health workers in maternity wards and breastfeeding counsellors.
Childhood vaccination remains a challenge across Europe and Central Asia (ECA), with over 200,000 children still not fully vaccinated, and measles coverage being particularly below the target of 95%. At the same time, breastfeeding rates in the region are the lowest globally.
Health workers (e.g., nurses, gynaecologists) at maternity wards and breastfeeding counsellors play a critical role in supporting new mothers to breastfeed. They discuss, among other issues, the importance of early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months, techniques for attachment and positioning for breastfeeding, and they play an important role in supporting mothers and the family to manage challenges and breastfeeding problems.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that health workers at maternity wards and breastfeeding counsellors are sceptical to discuss vaccination and, most often, are not at all involved in vaccine promotion. There is also significant evidence of how infant formula companies and representatives influence health providers in maternity wards to promote commercial formula feeding over breastfeeding.

How can you make a difference?

To better understand the drivers of breastfeeding and vaccine promotion behaviours among health providers in maternity wards and breastfeeding counsellors in the ECA region, UNICEF seeks the services of a consultant to conduct an assessment in three priority countries, that consists of the following phases:

Inception phase:
• Carry out consultations with representatives from 3 COs and desk review (e.g., documented evidence, BI research reports, communication/demand promotion plans, etc.) to get insights on barriers and enablers to breastfeeding and vaccine promotion behaviour among health workers in maternity wards and breastfeeding counsellors.
• Prepare an inception report with desk review and consultation findings including knowledge gaps that should be further investigated, methods and approaches to carry out the assessment phase of the assignment. The inception report should define a very clear methodology based on existing evidence and frameworks (e.g., COM-B, BDM, etc.) proposed to identify barriers and drivers to breastfeeding and vaccine promotion behaviours.

Assessment phase:
• Based on the findings from the inception phase, develop a research protocol, questionnaires, interview/FGD guides.
• Support the development of the sampling strategy for each country, considering the need for representativeness and compliance with the research objectives.
• Support countries with additional documents required for ethical clearance.
• Provide capacity building sessions and guidance to in-country NGOs/contractors carrying out the data collection and analysis on the ground. The in-country partner/contractor will be responsible to carry out data collection and analysis with the guidance from the consultant. The consultant will provide guidance to the coding strategy for qualitative research and statistical guidance for quantitative analysis and will provide guidance for data analysis and interpretation.
• Provide guidance to the piloting and finalization of the research tools prior to their implementation with a bigger sample size.
• Support in-country partners/contractor to develop brief country reports with the findings from the assessment.

Final report write-up phase and presentation of findings and recommendations
• Develop a final report with a summary of the identified barriers and enablers encountered and recommendations for increasing breastfeeding and vaccine promotion in each of the relevant countries.
• Develop and deliver a power point presentation with the findings and recommendations for each of the relevant countries.
• Support the organization and delivery of a regional webinar presenting the main findings and recommendations from all the assessed countries.
Throughout the assignment, the consultant will have weekly meetings with UNICEF ECARO to provide updates on the work in progress. Periodical meetings with relevant COs may also be arranged as appropriate.

Modality: Part time home based (80 working days within 7 months)

Work Assignments Overview

Deliverables/Outputs

Delivery deadline

Estimated number of working days

Inception phase

Inception report

April 2025

20

Assessment phase

Questionnaires/Interview/FGD guides

June 2025

45

Country reports

Final report write-up and presentation of findings and recommendations

Final report

September 2025

15

Country presentation

Regional webinar

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

Required Knowledge/Expertise/Skills

• Masters Degree in Social and behavioural science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, communication or another relevant technical field.
• A minimum of 7 years working experience in designing a variety of tools for mixed-methods data collection, preferably for identifying barriers to vaccine uptake and/or breastfeeding.
  • Proven experience in writing reports with research findings and actionable recommendations.
  • Proven experience in carrying out desk review.
  • Proven experience in carrying out key informant interviews.
  • Strong written and spoken English ability

Desirable Knowledge/Expertise/Skills

• Proven familiarity and experience working with the UN (ideally with UNICEF).
• Fluency in Russian.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here .

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce , and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF .

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.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

UNICEF/WHO (2022)

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