MCCT Cash Plus Delivery, Behaviour Change and Learning Consultant

MCCT Cash Plus Delivery, Behaviour Change and Learning Consultant

Yangon, Myanmar OfficeBased, 12 Months (Open Only for Nationals Of Myanmar) Req#596452

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Job no: 596452

Contract type: Consultant

Duty Station: Yangon

Level: Consultancy

Location: Myanmar

Categories: Social Policy

Contract Duration: 12 Month

Working arrangement: OfficeBased

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.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

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.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to Protection.

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF supports Maternal and Child Cash Transfers (MCCT) programmes that provides regular cash assistance to pregnant women and mothers of young children. They follows a ‘cash-plus’ approach, in which cash is combined with counselling, referral and other services; evidence from Myanmar shows that adding counselling and behaviour-change support to cash transfers can further improve child nutrition outcomes, including reducing stunting.

The cash-plus component combines the Smart Start Curriculum (SSC), a parenting, health and nutrition curriculum delivered in person, with a recently introduced Viber channel and referrals to health and nutrition services. UNICEF seeks a consultant to strengthen these elements and help them work together as a system.

The purpose of the consultancy is to strengthen the quality, reach and effect of the cash-plus component. Building on existing procedures and tools, the consultant will develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for curriculum delivery and referrals, design behaviour-focused digital and in-person engagement, assemble a standardised training package and document what works. The consultant will also maintain organised records and a content library for the component and support programme monitoring and reporting.

Scope of Work:

Under the overall guidance of UNICEF’s Social Policy Specialist, and in coordination with relevant programme teams, the consultant will carry out the tasks below. All work will follow UNICEF standards on informed consent, data protection, child safeguarding and the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

1. Standard operating procedures for curriculum delivery

· Review existing guidance and tools for delivering the SSC and for the Viber channel. Building on these, develop one or two practical SOPs for delivering the SSC in person and through the Viber channel. The SOPs should set out how the two channels complement each other: which content is delivered in person and which digitally, how recipients are supported to join the channel and followed up in person, and how recipients without smartphones receive equivalent support.

· Include in the SOP for the digital channel the steps for joining, informed consent (including a documented consent step), opting out, moderation, handling sensitive disclosures and data protection.

· Pre-test and finalise the SOPs with UNICEF and support their roll-out, including orientation of frontline staff.

2. Referral pathways

· Review existing referral arrangements, tools and lessons. Building on these, support UNICEF to develop a common SOP for referrals from the cash-plus component to health, nutrition and other services. The SOP will cover eligibility, routine and emergency referral criteria; referrals for children as well as mothers; options for transport and related support; feedback and follow-up; and links to protection and gender-based violence services where appropriate.

· Develop a standard referral tracker, with guidance on its use and on data protection, and support its introduction.

· Develop short referral and service-linkage messages for use in SSC sessions and on the Viber channel.

3. Behaviour-focused messaging and two-way engagement

· Agree with UNICEF a small number of priority behaviours, drawing on programme monitoring data and the evidence base. Examples are exclusive breastfeeding to six months and complementary feeding, maternal nutrition, and timely care-seeking, including recognising danger signs, antenatal and postnatal care, immunisation and growth monitoring.

· Develop and update a content plan for the Viber channel aligned with the SSC modules and the priority behaviours. Use evidence-informed techniques such as repeated and timely prompts, practical tips, testimonials and reminders linked to the child's age.

· Design two-way engagement: quizzes, short feedback questions, responses to common questions and prompts for in person follow-up.

· Pre-test content with recipients and frontline staff. Ensure that content is accurate, culturally appropriate, in plain Myanmar language and accessible to people with low literacy.

· Prepare, schedule and disseminate approved content in coordination with existing digital engagement support, as agreed at inception, and maintain an organised content library with consistent file naming, metadata and secure storage.

· Include regular messages on how to use the programme's feedback and complaints mechanism and how to report sexual exploitation and abuse.

4. Standardised SSC training package and facilitation support

· Building on existing SSC materials and training practice, assemble a standardised training package comprising a facilitator's guide and session plans, a training-of-trainers module, pre- and post-tests, observation and quality assurance checklists for SSC sessions, and a short refresher module.

· Strengthen curriculum content where gaps are identified, for example in practice time, context-specific examples and social norms.

· Co-facilitate training of trainers, analyse pre- and post-test results and recommend follow-up through the travels done at field locations.

· Prepare a high-quality, well documented modular version of the package for the wider training of social protection actors implementing cash-plus.

5. Monitoring, learning and reporting

· Review existing monitoring and reporting arrangements for the cash-plus component and, with UNICEF monitoring staff, propose additions so that the component can be monitored without parallel data collection. The framework should measure reach (messages sent, members and attendance), engagement (responses, quiz results and questions raised), knowledge and reported practice of the priority behaviours, and referral completion.

· Ensure that digital-channel activities follow the agreed programme design. The consultant will not change who receives digital content, or the content's intensity, without UNICEF's written approval.

· Prepare two short learning briefs (about four to six pages each) documenting lessons, good practices and recommendations: one at the mid-point and one at the end of the assignment.

6. Ongoing technical support and monthly reporting

· Prepare, schedule and disseminate approved content on the Viber channel, in coordination with existing digital engagement support, and maintain an organised content library with consistent file naming, metadata and secure storage.

· Maintain an organised digital archive of cash-plus documents, SOPs, training materials and records, and an activity tracker, and prepare a handover package at the end of the assignment.

· Maintain training records, including participants disaggregated by sex and organisation, to support training indicators.

· Provide logistical and documentation support for workshops and trainings, as required including field travels.

· Provide support in compiling monitoring data and narrative inputs on the cash-plus component for periodic programme reports, as requested.

· Coordinate regularly with the contract manager and relevant UNICEF teams.

· Submit, as part of the assignment, all required deliverables to UNICEF in a timely manner.

This description is extracted from the source posting and includes all substantive content as provided. It preserves the order and formatting of sections, including responsibilities, requirements, qualifications, benefits, and salary where stated. It also retains the application closing date line if present in the source.

Note: This posting appears to be for a fixed-term consultancy in Yangon, Myanmar, with nationality restrictions noted in the opening line.