The purpose of this consultancy is to ensure quality standards and consistency of community engagement and social behaviour change (CE-SBC) activities implementation in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions as per donor commitment after the field office closure, and that partners receive adequate technical support, monitoring, and guidance.
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For every child, inspiration
Background:
UNICEF Bangladesh works to protect the rights of children and adolescents by improving health, nutrition, education, protection, and resilience outcomes. Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) is a cross-cutting approach that supports these results by engaging families, communities, service providers, and local systems to adopt and sustain positive behaviours and social norms.
Under the Programme Budget Review (PBR), the Rangpur Field Office and the SBC Officer position were abolished effective 1 February 2026. However, SBC needs remain high in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions, where many children and adolescents continue to face risks related to child marriage, violence, poor nutrition, low service uptake, climate shocks, and hard-to-reach locations.
To ensure continuity of SBC and community engagement work during this transition, UNICEF will recruit an Individual SBC Consultant to support multisectoral SBC and community engagement activities in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions. The consultant will give special attention to ECM Programme Document (PD) activities implemented by a CSO partner in Kurigram and Chapainawabganj, MNCAH programme in Kurigram, Supported by Global Affairs of Canada (GAC), and will also provide technical support to the SBC Section at Country Office level in Dhaka.
Job organizational context: This is a consultant position. The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Specialist, Dhaka with technical guidance from the Chief of SBC Section.
Purpose for the job: The purpose of this consultancy is to ensure quality standards and consistency of community engagement and social behaviour change (CE-SBC) activities implementation in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions as per donor commitment after the field office closure, and that partners receive adequate technical support, monitoring, and guidance.
How can you make a difference?
Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
Under the supervision of the Social & Behaviour Change (SBC) Specialist and guidance of Chief, SBC of UNICEF Bangladesh, the consultant will carry out the following tasks to deliver against the CE-SBC results GPECM, routine Immunisation and MNCAH programme:
Key Output: SBC Planning, Evidence, and Integration
- Support context-specific divisional and district level SBC planning for Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions.
- Support integration of SBC into Health, Nutrition, Education, WASH, Child Protection, and emergency programmes.
- Support use of SBC evidence, including community feedback, CE learnings, and social norms insights.
- Prepare short SBC notes, briefs, and updates for the SBC Section and programme teams.
Support to Programme Document
- Provide technical SBC and community engagement support to ECM PD activities in Kurigram and Chapainawabganj, and MNCH activities in northern division
- Support quality implementation of community engagement activities such as: Community dialogues/ Courtyard meetings, engagement of adolescent and youth platforms, engagement of religious and community leaders, and relevant stakeholders
- Support programme monitoring, partner meetings, field visits, and documentation.
- Provide technical inputs for PD amendment and possible extension, subject to availability of funding.
- Ensure safeguarding, PSEA, and community feedback mechanisms are integrated in implementation.
Capacity Building and Partner Support
- Support capacity building of CSO partners, Local government institutions (LGIs), religious leaders, teachers, and community volunteers, adolescent and youth groups
- Provide technical guidance on community engagement quality standards, social norms change approaches, adolescent/youth engagement, Accountability to Affected People (AAP)
- Support mentoring and follow-up after trainings and orientations.
Multimedia, Communication, and RCCE
- Coordinate with Bangladesh Betar, community radio stations, and District Information Offices (DIOs).
- Support development, review, and dissemination of SBC and emergency communication content.
- Support Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) during disease outbreaks and climate-related emergencies.
- Support collection and use of community feedback to improve response.
Coordination and Reporting
- Maintain regular coordination with SBC Section (country office), Programme sections, CSO, Government and other relevant partners and District administrations.
- Submit regular progress updates and required reports to the SBC Section.
If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:
ToR for SBC Consultant for Rangpur and Rajshahi.pdf
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
- Education: Master's in social or Behavioural Science/ Public Health/ Communication
- Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in one or more of the following areas is required: social development programme planning, communication for development or social and behaviour change, public advocacy or another related area.
- Demonstrated technical expertise and hands-on experience supporting sub-national sectoral partners in the integration of Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) approaches into sectoral programmes, including health, education, WASH, or other relevant areas
- Proven ability to collaborate effectively with field office (FO) sectoral teams to mainstream SBC approaches across UNICEF FO programmes, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and results.
- Strong up-to-date knowledge of social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics of communities within the region/division, informing context sensitive SBC interventions.
- Demonstrated strong communication and analytical skills in the development and dissemination of key SBC messages e.g. UNICEF supported emergency preparedness and response initiatives.
- Prior experience working with UN agencies, NGOs, or international development organizations is an advantage.
- Familiarity with emergency SBC programming and humanitarian is desirable response is desirable.
- Language Requirements: Good skills in both oral and written in English and Bangla with strong interpersonal and presentation skills.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).
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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.
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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.