SBC Program Officer at Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs

Breakthrough ACTION Liberia

SBC Program Officer

Background:

Breakthrough ACTION is a cooperative agreement funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead its social and behavior change programming. The vision of the project is to deliver effective quality social and behavior change (SBC) activities in Liberia that will result in improved demand and use of health services for malaria; maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH); family planning/ reproductive health (FP/RH); adolescent health; and water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and engage communities in behaviors to prevent zoonotic infections in line with the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), and the COVID-19 response through innovative evidence-based SBC interventions.

SBC Program Officer

Breakthrough ACTION is seeking applications from qualified individuals for the position of SBC Program Officer. The position will be based in Monrovia. The successful applicant will work closely with the SBC Advisor to implement and monitor the Breakthrough ACTION interventions and activities at national and sub-national levels in close collaboration with Breakthrough ACTION team members. The position will also provide technical guidance in the area of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and capacity strengthening to the project in application of gender approaches in the design and roll out of high-quality SBC interventions.

Key Responsibilities

· Support the design, planning, implementation, and monitoring of WASH- related social and behavior change and risk communication programming

· Assist with development, review, pretesting, refinement, and finalization of WASH SBC materials and tools

· Triangulate findings from primary and secondary research including those from WASH-related research, as well as from other data sources, like literature reviews, baseline surveys, synthesize learnings into crisp insights that set the direction for the design of new SBC solutions and interventions.

· Support review and dissemination of research findings

· Establish and maintain effective working relationships with government and partners at national and county, and district levels

· Ensure social and behavior change and/or risk communication activities are implemented in coordination and harmonization with government, partners, and other relevant platforms at all levels

· Support and build the capacity of partners and existing structures to design and implement social and behavior change and/or risk communication activities

· Ensure timeliness and high integrity of activity implementation in accordance with the work plan

· Monitor and ensure all SBC and/or risk communication activities and any challenges are documented and reported on a regular basis

· Review SBC information for feasibility and adherence to project objectives.

· Share new and creative ideas, embrace ambiguity, be optimistic, and create innovations rooted in people’s actual needs to explore lots of different possibilities for prototypes and solutions.

· Stay up to date on SBC trends in WASH and Liberia to provide specific direction and solutions to complex problems.

· Ensure timeliness and high integrity of activity in accordance with the work plan

· Serve as the Gender expert lead and technical authority Breakthrough ACTION

· Generate media briefs, reports, success stories, and other program documentation as requested

· Communicate regularly and coordinate with Breakthrough ACTION headquarters

· Represent Breakthrough ACTION at meetings, as directed

· Comply with USAID, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and Breakthrough ACTION processes and regulations.

· Perform any other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

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Required Qualifications

· Master’s degree in any of the following; public health, epidemiology, biostatistics research methods, design, communication or behavioral science with relevance to SBC programming, research, monitoring and evaluation or Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field with a minimum of four (4) years’ experience above.

· Minimum of four years of experience in international programming; experience working with US Government-funded projects preferred

· Minimum of 3 years experience with WASH-related program experience in Liberia

· Experience with programs in social and behavior change, behavioral economics, risk communication, material and message design, and/or capacity strengthening is an added advantage

· Experience with media development, especially radio, print, and social media

· Understanding of gender and how it impacts health behaviors.

· Strong experience with partner coordination and consensus building

· Experience planning and facilitating workshops and meetings

· Excellent organizational, communication, interpersonal, and collaboration skills.

· Strong written communication skills including writing reports, newsletter blurbs, and program success stories

· Comfortable interacting with key stakeholders

· Self-starter that can work under minimum direction in a highly collaborative, team-based environment

· Has a passion for problem-solving and believing that all problems are solvable.

· Strong knowledge of MOH and WASH structures at national, county, district, and community level

· Ability to work effectively in a rapidly changing, fluid environment; including possessing skills in proactive and strategic thinking, problem solving, demand prioritization, and flexibility

· Computer literate especially in Microsoft applications – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

· Technical ability to set up web-based video calls using applications like Skype and Zoom

· Fluency in English (verbal and written)

· Liberian national

· Able and willing to travel within Liberia, as needed