Social and Behavior Change Technical Advisor

Overview

The Global Health Training, Advisory and Support Contract (GHTASC) delivers effective global health programming to advance the mission of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Bureau for Global Health (GH) through institutional support and workforce development services from junior, mid-level, senior and expert advisory and administrative professionals.

Credence and its partner, the Public Health Institute (PHI), are both employers for GHTASC, and are seeking a Social and Behavior Change Technical Advisor in USAID under GHTASC.

Note: This is a term-limited position through September 30, 2023

Summary Statement

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Bureau for Global Health (GH) serves as the agency’s primary source of technical expertise, leadership, and donor coordination for the health sector, including HIV and AIDS, infectious diseases, child and maternal health and nutrition, family planning and reproductive health, and health systems strengthening and reform. GH is responsible for advancing field-relevant, state-of-the-art research and the transfer of new technologies and approaches to field programs. Through its staff, programs and country teams, GH provides critical support to USAID missions and field programs in more than 70 countries.

Over 6.2 million people have died from the COVID-19 pandemic. It has further disrupted access to essential services including immunization and put tens of millions at risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases. The Biden Administration has called on the world to collectively end the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible, and has introduced ambitious targets in three critical areas for ending this pandemic and preventing and preparing for the next: Vaccinate the World; Save Lives Now; and Build Back Better. As noted in the COVID-19 Global Response and Recovery Framework (GRRF), the U.S. government (USG) has committed to supporting the target of vaccinating 70% of the world population by the end of 2022.

To meet the ambitious goals set by the Biden-Harris Administration and the GRRF, the Bureau for Global Health joined forces with the Agency’s COVID-19 Task Force (CTF) to launch USAID’s COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Delivery Initiative (VADI) to support the USAID Administrator’s Global VAX commitments including: overseeing the historic rollout of more than a billion vaccine doses; working closely with USAID Missions to coordinate, supply, and strengthen country readiness and delivery; and managing our partnership with COVAX; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF); the World Health Organization; and others.

The key to controlling the pandemic lies in implementing a comprehensive public health and clinical strategy in every country. To prevent transmission and expand access to evidence-based, high-quality care and treatment for patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 infections, the Global Health Bureau has launched the Saving Lives Now agenda. Saving Lives Now aims to reduce morbidity and mortality, mitigate transmission, and strengthen health systems, including to prevent, detect, and respond to pandemic threats to respond to COVID more broadly.

Job Requirements

The Technical Advisor for social and behavior change (SBC) will deliver exceptional, high-quality technical recommendations for USAID support to countries in building confidence in and demand for COVID-19 vaccines. The Technical Advisor, SBC will collaborate across the VADI team and report to the Lead Technical Advisor. 

Responsibilities

USAID categorizes efforts in Immunization Demand within the Agency’s work in Social and Behavior Change (SBC). SBC interventions address individual, social, and environmental determinants (factors) that can affect adoption of healthy behaviors. These determinants may include skills, attitudes, social norms, and access to materials or financing, or other health system inputs.

As a range of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines become available, issues of demand and SBC are of utmost importance to ensure adequate trust, confidence and uptake. In addition, as USAID implements programming under Saving Lives Now, demand generation and SBC are critical components to the implementation of the test and treat strategy. The Technical Advisor, SBC will serve as an expert advisor on social and behavior change programming related to COVID-19 programming. 

Global Technical Leadership

• Stay abreast of new policy recommendations, emerging evidence, best practices, technical and programmatic developments, and data sources, in the area of SBC for COVID-19 vaccine and Saving Lives Now programming;


• Review and develop recommendations for areas of SBC programming as well as behavior-related research and evaluation relevant to COVID-19 vaccine demand and acceptance;


• Facilitate sharing of COVID-19 SBC materials and best practices across US Government and other donor/bilateral programs in countries;


• Draft briefers, talking points, and information memo on COVID-19 vaccine demand-related issues, programs and results;


• Participate in inter-agency and global meetings, consultations, working groups, and negotiations related to COVID-19 vaccines, with a focus on social and behavior change, risk communication, community engagement, and demand;


• Provide programming guidance related to COVID-19 vaccines demand and acceptance, including assisting with the preparation and/or review of strategies and project work plans across Global Health bureau projects;


• Provide technical and program oversight of COVID-19 vaccines demand and acceptance activities supported by USAID/GH cooperating agencies, including flagship programs managed by the MCHN Office;


• Facilitate the gathering of COVID-19 vaccines demand and acceptance data for reporting;


• Support and contribute to the Implementing Partners’ Forum

Support to Country Programs

• Provide state-of-the-art technical and program expertise, assistance and support to the VADI, regional bureaus and USAID field Missions in the development and evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine demand strategies, programs, and policies;


• Provide high-quality, up-to-date technical assistance to VADI team members in the area of vaccine confidence and demand;


• Liaise with the Lead Technical Advisor and other VADI team members to understand and develop tailored response mechanisms to address bottlenecks encountered in countries with regard to vaccine acceptance and demand;


• Understand the landscape of partners / mechanisms best suited to deliver technical assistance for SBC, appropriate to country contexts;


• Provide USAID country health teams and implementing partners with informed input and ongoing technical support to ensure best practices in SBC interventions for COVID-19 vaccine demand and acceptance;


• Serve as a resource that provides technical assistance to USAID Missions and Washington staff as well as coordinates strategic priorities and external partner engagement;


• As requested, support USAID Missions in developing and evaluating initiatives to build in-country capacity to address COVID-19 vaccine SBC issues;

Activity Support

The Advisor provides activity support  and technical advisor, working under the overall guidance of relevant Contract/Agreement Officer’s Representatives (C/AORs), and more generally serves to advance project management of USAID’s COVID-19 vaccine-related SBC and research and evaluation activities;

• Review Scopes of work for activities related to COVID-19 vaccine demand and acceptance;


• Provide support for program development and review of partner work plans and products;


• Assist in monitoring the project(s)’ technical and financial performance; and


• Support site visits to monitor the SBC COVID-19 vaccine field activities, as needed

Qualifications

• Masters degree and a minimum of 6 years of relevant experience, or bachelor’s degree with 8 years, Associate’s degree and 10 years relevant experience OR High School graduate and 12 years in public health, social psychology, health communication or other relevant behavioral/social science field;


• Experience working in areas of public health programming, policy, or research, including substantial experience in social and behavior change work, with experience in international or resource-challenged settings;


• Formal training in and demonstrated understanding of theories and frameworks relating to individual behavior change and broader social responses, the evidence base for social and behavioral/communication interventions and best practices, and familiarity with the current SBC and research and evaluation literature;


• Hands-on experience designing, planning, implementing, and evaluating behavioral interventions is highly desirable;


• Experience in vaccine demand-related programming highly desirable;


• US citizenship or US permanent residency with the ability to obtain and maintain Facility Access required.

 Competencies/Performance Criterion

• Creativity: Employee takes initiative to propose new ideas/approaches, and demonstrates ability to find new and better ways to accomplish work.


• Customer Service: Handles customer questions and complaints, communicates with customers, handles service problems politely and efficiently, always available for customers, follows procedure to solve customer problems, understands company products and services, maintains pleasant and professional image.


• Interpersonal Relationship: Employee demonstrates ability to work in cooperation with others and communicate effectively with co-workers, supervisors, subordinates, clients and other outside contacts.


• Accountability: Takes ownership of work responsibilities and holds high standards. Keeps commitments and takes appropriate actions to ensure obligations are met. Pursues efficiency and effectiveness and adheres to Organization policies and procedures.


• Continual Learning: Assesses and recognizes own strengths and weaknesses; pursues professional development that is aligned with organizational role, contribution, and goals. Proactively shares knowledge with others to foster learning across the Organization.