Behavioral Change and Social Norms Adviser at Palladium Group

Ref. ID: req7909
Location: Benin City, Edo
Job Type: Short Term Technical Assistance (5 to 8 days a month for 1 year)

Programme Overview

• SOTIN is a 4-year DFID funded Programme to address human trafficking in Edo. SOTIN aims to change or reduce the behaviours, attitudes, and social norms in Edo State that drive or enable human trafficking.
• The project seeks to achieve the impact that more effective Government and non-Government institutions reduce the drivers and enablers of unsafe migration and trafficking through three components:
  • Improved coordination, innovation and quality of NGO response to preventing unsafe migration and human trafficking: better coordinated and more effective civil society tackling the drivers and enablers of human trafficking;
  • Strengthened Edo State Government response to preventing unsafe migration and human trafficking: more effective and innovative use of resources – human, financial, physical, political and network assets – supports a ‘whole of government’ approach to preventing unsafe migration and human trafficking through social and attitudinal change;
  • A stronger evidence base for action in anti-slavery prevention, with learning platforms operating and informing policy and interventions: the use of evidence and sharing of best practices becomes embedded in ways of working, to deliver improved performance not only in Nigeria, but globally.

Role Overview

• The SoTiN Behavioural Change and Social Norms Strategy (BCSNS) Advisor will provide direction, communication technical expertise and oversight of all SoTiN BCSNS activities for the Programme.
• Behaviour change interventions can be defined as a coordinated set of activities designed to change specified behaviour pattern. These behaviour patterns are measured as terms of prevalence or incidence of a particular behaviour in a specified population. Evidence of intervention effectiveness serves to guide providers of intervention on what is considered best practice and value for money.

Primary Responsibilities

• For implementers of information campaigns, there is a crucial need for guidance on how to design such campaigns in order to achieve certain desired effect on the awareness, knowledge, perception, attitude, intended behaviour of a specific target group.
• The role of the Behavioural Change & Social Norms Strategy Advisor is to deliver technical leadership on developing sector strategies, implementation plans, knowledge, and products to bring about desired impact as listed in the project result through monitoring, evaluation, research and documentation of lessons learnt.
• He/She must identify the nature of behaviour to be changed, work with the communications person to design effective tools and mechanism to address it.
• He/She will also influence/change management methodologies, employ adherence while evolving standard practice for change management deployment.
• He/She will develop measurable tools for impact evaluation, answer cause and effect questions in campaign materials and programs
• He/She will provide technical guidance to SoTiN program staff and partners about effective campaigns and messaging on social norms change issues.
• He/She will be responsible for assignment of measure to the overall campaign scope and penetration: Facilitate, document and share evaluations with SoTiN staff and partners,  and ensuring the evaluations are publicly accessible
• Improve the evidence base of campaigns
• Define target behaviour for SoTiN programme and develop functional assessment tools for same
• Facilitate the adoption and testing of innovative approaches, strategies and tools for target groups as per need in changing social norms. and develop interventions designed to address their issues in a measurable manner, and monitor and document the success of the interventions.
• Work closely with MELR & Knowledge Manager to track acquired knowledge on social norm changes and for its wider documentation and the sharing of SoTiN's experiences with stakeholders.
• Facilitate / coordinate systematic integration of social norms objectives into policies and programs formulation, advocacy, knowledge management and monitoring and evaluation

Other Responsibilities:

• Lead the development, implementation and monitoring of the SoTiN Behavioural Change and Social Norms Strategy (BCSN);
• Develop/Review technical resource materials (e.g., training materials, strategy documents, job aids) and programming tools to support meeting project objectives. Lead the development, implementation and monitoring of the SoTiN BCSN Strategy;
• Conduct formative research and field testing for BCSN messaging and materials development as required;
• Strengthen the capacity of the SoTiN Core Team members, and especially of the Communications Coordinator, GESI and Safeguarding Lead and the Governance and Policy TA Lead to apply their specific areas of competence to the SoTiN BCSN Strategy;
• Support other non-BCSN related communication activities of the Programme.
• Identify innovative approaches of Behavioural Change and Social Norms and work with the program team to integrate them with regular activities of the programme and also during assessment processes.
• Provide support, lead/coordinate and guide capacity development activities and trainings on Behavioural Change and Social Norms for SoTiN staff and partners.
• Provide constant guidance and technical as well as on-the-spot assistance to the SoTiN Team during rolling out of the BCSN and outreach activities;
• Assist the M&E Lead to ensure all indicators relevant to BCSN Strategy are captured in the SoTiN Programme M&E system, and relevant data is collected and analyzed; and
• Review the progress of all BCSN related activities and prepare regular reports for submission to the SoTiN Team Lead.

Required Qualifications

• Master's Degree / PhD in Development Communications, Journalism, Mass Communications, Social Development
• International Development or related Social Sciences like Sociology and Anthropology.
• Strong, demonstrated understanding of Behavioural Change Communication as a form of strategic communication, with relevant experience in BCSNS related work.
• Experience demonstrating state-of-the-art expertise in the design of behaviour change communications strategies, messages and interventions.
• Demonstrated ability to address behaviour change issues in improving gender related issues.
• Willingness to occasionally travel and work with rural communities.
• Well-versed with working in MS office environment
• Good communication skill (both speaking and oral) in English