Social & Behavior Change Specialist, P-4, Kenya Country Office, Temporary Appointment (364 days), #00136678

Social & Behavior Change Specialist, P-4, Kenya Country Office, Temporary Appointment (364 days), # | UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund

Social & Behavior Change Specialist, P-4, Kenya Country Office, Temporary Appointment (364 days), #

UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund Kenya International P-4, International Professional - Internationally recruited position level Speaks Chinese, Arabic, English, French, Russian, Spanish

Application deadline: March 29, 2026

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Summary by Impactpool

The P-4 Social & Behavior Change Specialist will lead the integration of Social and Behavior Change (SBC) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) within UNICEF's Kenya Country Programme. This role involves providing technical leadership, building institutional capacity, and ensuring that evidence-based SBC informs policy and program design. The specialist will design, manage, and evaluate SBC strategies, advocate for SBC initiatives, and promote community engagement to achieve sustainable results for children. The position requires collaboration with various stakeholders to enhance the effectiveness of SBC programs in both development and humanitarian contexts.

Candidate Requirements:

Master's degree in social and behavioral science or related field

At least 8 years of relevant experience in SBC strategies

Expertise in social and behavior change science application

Experience in managing complex projects and priorities

Proven stakeholder management and capacity building skills

Fluency in English

The Kenya Country Office SBC Manager will play a pivotal role in advancing UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2026–2029 and the UNICEF Kenya Country Programme by embedding Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) across sectoral programmes. The role will ensure UNICEF’s technical assistance integrates evidence-based SBC, community engagement, feedback and accountability, demand generation, and equity as central drivers of results for children.The incumbent will provide cross-cutting technical leadership in SBC and AAP to UNICEF KCO and across sectors. This will include building institutional capacity, strengthening normative guidance, and ensuring behavioral and social sciences evidence informs policy and programme design.

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.

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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.

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How can you make a difference?

The Kenya Country Office SBC Manager will play a pivotal role in advancing UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2026–2029 and the UNICEF Kenya Country Programme by embedding Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) across sectoral programmes. The role will ensure UNICEF’s technical assistance integrates evidence-based SBC, community engagement, feedback and accountability, demand generation, and equity as central drivers of results for children. The incumbent will provide cross-cutting technical leadership in SBC and AAP to UNICEF KCO and across sectors. This will include building institutional capacity, strengthening normative guidance, and ensuring behavioral and social sciences evidence informs policy and programme design.

Under the general guidance of Deputy Representative Programs and in close coordination with Sectoral and Cross-Sectoral Sections and Offices, responsible for the design, management, execution, monitoring and evaluation of regional strategies related to Social and Behavior Change (SBC) and providing technical support to 03 of county offices in delivering SBC initiatives that advance human rights based approaches and community engagement to promote sustainable results for children in Kenya in both development and humanitarian situations. Support UNICEF offices and partners in applying the latest evidence-backed approaches in the social and behavioral sciences to programming by identifying and addressing the social determinants of behavior and empowering communities in change processes. 

Generate & Use Evidence:  Generate and utilize research, data, and evidence to inform the design, measurement, and monitoring of SBC programs and outcomes in both development and emergency contexts and to build the evidence base for SBC.  

Design, plan and implement:  Design, plan and implement SBC activities that are backed by social and behavioural evidence and strong engagement and participation mechanisms in both development and humanitarian contexts.  

Advocate & Build Partnerships:  Support operationalization of SBC by advocating for SBC, mobilizing resources, coordinating across stakeholders, sectors and teams, and partnership building.  

Build Capacities  Promote continuous learning, strengthening, and scaling up in SBC for both development and humanitarian contexts through capacity building for UNICEF staff and partners. 

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:    TOR Social & Behavior Change Manager P4 TA Kenya.pdf

Minimum requirements:

Education : Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in a social and behavioral science, including sociology, anthropology, communication studies/communication for development, psychology and/or related field is required.

Work Experience : At least 8 years of relevant progressively responsible professional experience at the national and international levels in developing, implementing, evaluating, and managing social and behavioral change strategies and content is required.  Demonstrated expertise in the application of social and behavior change science, theories, research, and analysis, to all stages of the programmes cycle. Demonstrated experience in the execution of complex priorities, processes and projects in office work-plans.  Proven ability to work with internal and external stakeholders at multiple levels, including providing technical support and capacity building and establishing/managing external partnerships.

Skills : Social and behaviour science application, social and behaviour science analysis, programme management, complex priorities handling, stakeholder management, capacity building.

Language Requirements : Fluency in English is required.

Desirables:

Language: Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language

Proven ability to manage social research, including quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methods for formative assessments, identifying behavioral drivers, and tracking, measurement and evaluation of social change is desirable. 

Demonstrated ability to stay current with new developments in the SBC field is required. Familiarity with new and emerging approaches such as behavioral insights, human centered design, social listening, among others is a plus.    

At least four years country programme experience in with a multilateral development agency or national NGO in a low- or middle-income setting is an asset. 

Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts. 

For every Child, you demonstrate...

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 competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct

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