Senior Social and Behavior Change and Community Engagement Advisor – South Sudan Resilience Through Agriculture

IMA World Health, a subsidiary of Corus International, is seeking a Senior Social and Behavior Change and Community Engagement Advisor to support implementation of an anticipated USAID-funded Resilience through Agriculture project in South Sudan.

Corus International is a family of organizations which believes that those who were born into impossible circumstances deserve the opportunity for a better life. Corus was formed through the strategic merger of IMA World Health (operating as a public health organization since 1960), and Lutheran World Relief (operating as a livelihoods organization since 1945), and today includes smaller entities of Charlie Goldsmith Associates, Ground Up Investing, and Farmers Market Coffee. Corus International works in over 20 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America with a primary focus on health, livelihoods, and emergency response.

IMA World Health is pursuing a USAID opportunity to strengthen nutrition-sensitive agriculture and resilience in South Sudan via a five-year project that will focus on facilitating the productive capacities of households to increase food production, utilize more nutritious foods, and diversify incomes through off-farm market activities.

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Social and Behavior Change and Community Engagement Advisor will be responsible for developing and supporting project staff and partners on contextually appropriate gender-responsive social and behavior change (SBC) approaches and activities. The Advisor is responsible for coordination and collaboration between the project stakeholders and communities to strengthen community-agriculture market linkages to improve nutrition within 13 counties.

This position will report to the Deputy Chief of Party and will be embedded in the project office within Juba, South Sudan. Hiring is contingent upon successful award and USAID approval.

Nationals of South Sudan are strongly encouraged to apply.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead execution of the project’s SBC component in South Sudan
• Provide input into technical strategies, workplans, guidelines, and other documents to ensure SBC/gender is appropriately incorporated, with particular focus on contextually appropriate gender responsive approaches to all activities
• Conduct focus groups and/or other qualitative methods to develop SBC approaches in collaboration with consortium partners; design and pre-test communication activities and messaging content as appropriate
• In collaboration with consortium partners, conduct training of community key stakeholders to disseminate messages and engage communities
• In coordination with partners, routinely monitor SBC activities and indicators and adjust activities as required to achieve project objectives
• Work with MERL team to develop appropriate SBC/gender indicators and monitoring and evaluation approaches as necessary
• Liaise with the project team to ensure SBC and gender activities support resilient individuals, families, and communities
• Support capacity development efforts for local partners and county level stakeholders in SBC and gender
• Prepare required narrative reports
• Identify successes achieved through project implementation and draft success stories for dissemination
• Represent project to USAID and other high-level stakeholders as needed

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Master’s degree in communications, public health, or agriculture, with a minimum of five years of relevant experience
• Experience in developing and implementing SBC strategies and activities, focusing on creating demand for uptake of nutrition practices within communities
• Ability to lead SBC analyses and recommend appropriate nutrition-sensitive messaging for agriculture programs
• Experience in developing and implementing SBC strategies and activities related to nutrition-sensitive approaches, especially as related to agriculture
• Experience in community engagement, SBC, and gender for country level projects
• Demonstrated record of developing and maintaining strong working relationships with various levels of key stakeholders from ministry level counterparts (i.e., Ministry of Health or Agriculture) to community-level actors
• Demonstrated capacity to lead the collection, analysis, and production of high-quality project reporting products
• Experience working in fragile contexts, including a demonstrated ability to motivate teams to work constructively under pressure and to respond resourcefully when challenges arise
• Advanced cross-cultural sensitivity, including experience working and communicating with professional and support staff in a multicultural, multi-linguistic environment; ability to promote an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect
• Excellent English writing skills and analytical abilities
• Strong interpersonal and oral and written communications skills, including the ability to effectively expresses ideas, thoughts, and concepts verbally and in written or graphic form, using correct grammar and structure
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications including MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Preferred

• Nationals of South Sudan are strongly encouraged to apply
• Working knowledge of nutrition-sensitive agriculture concepts in Africa and ability to apply a gender lens towards nutrition-sensitive agriculture approaches
• Experience managing USAID-funded grants, cooperative agreements, and/or contracts
• Experience using digital technologies for message dissemination
• Arabic fluency in oral and written communication
• Willingness to support IMA World Health’s mission

IMA World Health prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by US or International law.