Communication and Social Behaviour Change Expert

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has been present in Brazil since 1950, supporting the most important changes in childhood and adolescence in the country. UNICEF participated in major immunization and breastfeeding campaigns; the mobilization that resulted in the approval of Article 227 of the Federal Constitution and the drafting of the Child and Adolescent Statute; the movement for universal access to education; programmes to combat child labour; among other great advances in guaranteeing the rights of Brazilian girls and boys. In recent decades, Brazil has promoted a strong process of inclusion of children and adolescents in public policies. However, a significant portion of the population remains excluded. Therefore, in its cooperation programme with the Brazilian Government for the period 2024-2028, UNICEF focuses its efforts on the most vulnerable and excluded girls and boys, with a special focus on children and adolescents who are victims of extreme forms of violence. These children and adolescents in situations of greater vulnerability are spread throughout Brazil, but they are more concentrated in the Amazon, in the Northeast and in large urban centers. Through the UNICEF Seal, UNICEF promotes commitments to guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in the Northeast and in the Amazon regions in Brazil. In large cities, UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities, through the #AgendaCidadeUNICEF.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is present with 10 offices across Brazil, including one national office in Brasília and 9 Field Offices. UNICEF is in process of implementing the Country Programme in Brazil for the period 2024- 2028 in cooperation with the Brazilian government, which focuses on the most vulnerable and excluded girls and boys, with a special focus on children and adolescents who are victims of extreme forms of violence. Through the UNICEF Seal programme, UNICEF promotes child and adolescents` rights through the commitment of over 2,000 municipalities in the Semi-arid and the Brazilian Legal Amazon, while in large capital cities UNICEF works with a focus on reducing intra-municipal inequalities through the Agenda Cidade

The Communication Section plays a crucial role by raising public awareness on child rights issues, creating visibility for UNICEF's initiatives, and collaborating with local communities to foster behavioural changes and advance children's rights. The Communication Team is distributed between Brasília and zone offices. Within the Northeast Region, the Recife Zone Office is responsible for the states of Pernambuco, Alagoas and Paraiba.

The UN Volunteer will support UNICEF in achieving outcomes not only related to communication and public advocacy, but also community-driven initiatives related to Social and Behaviour Change (SBC).

Under the direct supervision of the Chief of Field Office, in coordination with the Communication Specialist, the UN Volunteer will support the Communication Team in implementing communication, advocacy and SBC strategies, undertaking the following tasks:

Advocacy

• Support the regional Communication Specialist and the Chief of Field Office and other local colleagues in outlining and implementing local advocacy strategies.
• Map and identify strategic audiences and opportunities for local advocacy.
• Coordinate the development of key messages, presentations, briefings and other contents and materials for advocacy opportunities.
• Monitor the appropriate and timely dissemination of advocacy and communication materials to target audiences and participate in the evaluation of their impact.
• Ensure good quality data collection, analysis, evaluation and reporting to ensure effective advocacy strategies .

Social & Behaviour Change (SBC)

• Support the design and implementation of SBC strategy and participation mechanisms related to health, nutrition, education, WASH, child protection and social policy, in both development and humanitarian contexts (if applicable).
• Provide operational and technical support to the design of SBC strategies in liaise with programme colleagues, to ensure maximum outreach and impact on behaviour and social change of target audience, recommending operational strategies, approaches, plans, methods and procedures.
• Assess and recommend potential contacts, networks, resources and tools to support the maximum outreach of SBC initiatives.
• Collect and assess information for budget planning and management of programme funds, monitor/track and report the use of resources as planned and verify compliance with organisational guidelines.
• Build and maintain partnerships through networking and proactive collaboration with national and international civil society organisations, UN agencies and public authorities to reinforce cooperation through engagement, empowerment and self-determination of target vulnerable groups.
• Coordinate capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders/ partners across programme sectors in SBC.
• Develop training materials for training activities and revise them periodically for improvements and updates.

Content & Media Relations

• Ensure rapid and accurate information dissemination to the media.
• Develop and maintain close collaboration with media, as well as with groups and organizations whose support is essential to the achievement of advocacy and communication objectives.
• Monitor and evaluate the use and effectiveness of media materials.
• Maintain a library of coverage (clippings, coverage etc.)
• Draft and edit articles, press releases, human interest stories and other advocacy/information materials in all media formats, as appropriate.
• Prepare background communication and promotional materials for briefing and visits of media and other special interest groups.
• Collaborate with the media through activities such as organizing project site visits, facilitating photo coverage and TV footage and utilizing both web-based and traditional media as appropriate.
• Support the regional Communication Specialist and the Communication Section in Brasília in compiling a daily media monitoring report that analyses UNICEF’s presence and topics of interest for advocacy and fundraising in the media.
• Coordinate, review and ensure quality control of communication and visual materials prepared by the Recife Field Office, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s branding, visibility and advocacy guidelines.
• Support the development of content for media outlets such as videos, human interest stories, content for social media and products co-created with local partners as part of the implementation of the Communications Strategy in Recife Field Office.