Senior SBC Advisor at Three Stones International Rwanda Ltd: (Deadline 19 February 2024)

Senior SBC Advisor at Three Stones International Rwanda Ltd: (Deadline 19 February 2024)

Three Stones International Rwanda Senior Social Behavior Change Advisor

Company Profile

Three Stones was established in Rwanda to support and build the capacity of local organizations. Operational since 2012, Three Stones has conducted over 100 assessments, evaluations, and social research assignments, as well as more than 40 strategic and action plans for local and international organizations.

Our Mission 

Three Stones leverages our cumulative contextual knowledge and nurtured relationships to deliver comprehensive empirical studies, high-quality data evaluations and targeted technical assistance across the development sector.

We build productive relationships between sectors to make a positive, sustainable, and lasting impact. The time and attention invested to ensure we understand context, foster collaboration, and incorporate innovation with local solutions and provide the highest quality of development expertise makes us agile and unique.

Three Stones has three core, overlapping domains:

Business Transformation & Capacity Building

Provide and support local and governmental system strengthening to achieve intended results. Ensure that programs are successfully implemented and continue through an ongoing process of strategic and business planning, cost-effectiveness and impact analysis, policy advocacy, staff training, team building and leadership development.

Smart Development 

Provide short or long-term integrated social sector implementation and technical assistance. Areas of expertise include: agriculture; social behavior change (SBC); climate change; early childhood development; education; finance; gender; governance, youth and livelihoods; migration; technology and Health: Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights,  HIV/AIDS, Maternal and Child Health, WASH, and nutrition.

Evaluation, Assessment & Research

Provide full life cycle from methodology and tool development to management of data collection and analysis. Expertise in: program analysis; baseline, midterm, end-line studies; end-user monitoring; impact assessments; and social research studies.

Currently, we are searching for a qualified Senior Social Behavior Change Advisor to oversee the recently awarded USAID Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood (INECD) Activity SBC strategy.

INECD

The Inclusive Nutrition and Early Childhood Development (INECD) activity promotes nurturing and responsive care practices, especially in the areas of health, functioning, nutrition, and early childhood development (ECD) for caregivers and children. Specifically, the activity aims to improve health and nutrition outcomes among women of reproductive age and adolescents, and improve infant and young child feeding practices. It also aims to address child development gaps, significant unmet physical rehabilitation and assistive technology (rehab/AT) and social inclusion needs for infants and children. The activity focuses on community-level service delivery, community-health facility linkages, and district-level capacity development, as well as address issues of inclusion and participation, including access to programs and services for children and adults with disabilities, in line with Government of Rwanda priorities. The program is entering its 3rd year of activity.

Job description:

The Three Stones International Rwanda (TSIR) Senior SBC Advisor will work with other consortium partners led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in order to achieve the overall objectives of the INECD Activity. The Senior SBC Advisor will directly report to Three Stones International’s Managing Director, and have a functional reporting line to the Deputy Chief of Party at CRS. The SBC Advisor will be responsible for providing overall technical assistance for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SBC strategies across the INECD Activity, as well as coordinating with, and building the capacity of, TSIR Senior Cluster Officers and implementing partners based in the districts.

The Senior SBC Advisor will be responsible for managing a team of 4 officers and 4 junior officers in locations across Rwanda. Well versed in the Rwanda context, especially in Nutrition, ECD, and Inclusion, the Advisor will work with a dedicated TSIR team to integrate activities planned for this financial year into a wider SBC strategy for the remainder of the Activity, utilizing innovative approaches to enhance the strategy and INECD’s ability to reach the most marginalized populations. The Advisor will engage with local communities and implementing partners in the 10 project districts as well as national level stakeholders, especially the National Child Development Agency (NCD Agency), and the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC).

The SBC Advisor will then be responsible for oversight and implementation of this strategy, including leading the regular monitoring of this implementation. The Advisor will engage at the national and policy level to provide updates on SBC strategy performance, and dissemination of results, and adapt the SBC strategy to new emerging evidence. This is a Kigali- based position with anticipated travel of up to 40%.

All Three Stones’ staff and affiliates must comply with Three Stones’ policies, including our Safeguarding Policy. If successful, the applicant will complete a Staff Reference Check and sign a commitment to TSI HR and Safeguarding Policies before being offered a contract.

Job responsibilities include:

• Take full ownership of the SBC strategy design and the implementation of all activities in the work plan, including the development and implementation of tools, messages and other materials;
• Work with TSIR finance staff to ensure the Activity is within budget, and use the budget in the most efficient way to increase Activity impact;
• Ensure the utilization of best practices, established national SBC strategies and guidelines, available quantitative data, and global learning, to inform the development of effective SBC strategies and activities, frameworks, and tools;
• Provide technical leadership in the development of effective communication tools using participative adult learning, demonstrations, barrier analysis techniques, successful counseling, individualized behavior goal setting and peer influencing approaches for caregivers;
• Take responsibility for national level networking, engaging in thematic working groups, interacting with policy makers and stakeholders on SBC related components of INECD;
• Provide oversight on approval processes through the Rwanda Compass for SBC for SBC resources and materials by collaborating with the Health Promotion and Social Determinants Technical Working Group (HP&SD TWG);
• Supervise TSIR SBC team;
• Work with the TSI and CRS Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) teams to lead the analysis of SBC-related data, identify issues and challenges, and take the lead in implementing action plans to address the issues and maintain the successes of SBC achievements;
• Lead the process of documenting lessons learned and best practices, development of briefs and articles for publication and success stories in relation to SBC programming;
• Ensure high quality and timely delivery of project deliverables against objectives and targets.

Qualifications:

• 6+ years of relevant technical experience, representing SBC strategy, working in the areas of SBC design, formative research utilizing human centered design
• A Master’s degree in International Development, Social Behavior Change Communication, Public Health, or a topic strongly aligned with the content of this Activity, with an emphasis on ECD, Nutrition, or Gender, Equity, and Social Inclusion preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in managing successful large scale SBC programs at a national level, including the use of project management tools and skills
• Familiarity with emerging behavior change approaches, including behavioral science, behavioral economics, nudges, gamification, and Human Centered Design
• Demonstrated skills in adult-learning methodology, capacity building training approaches, and barrier analysis and problem-solving exercises
• Experience engaging with national level government ministries and agencies, especially MIGEPROF NCDA and MoH RBC, and  knowledge and experience of engaging with decentralized structures
• Experience managing USAID funded project activities in Rwanda with an understanding of USAID policies and procedures (highly preferred), or those of other donors, donor funded projects, community- based projects, or corporate social responsibility projects
• International NGO management understanding and experience as well as understanding and experience working with local organizations and partners
• Demonstrated experience working with a multicultural team and creating a collaborative, empowering environment
• Strong management skills
• Experience with event/conference planning and coordination/oversight for dissemination, validation, and coordination and learning events
• Outstanding work ethic, self-motivated, and ability to set tasks and work independently to achieve goals and targets, while ensuring the full team is engaged in the Activity
• The ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with a high degree of independence and adapt to change
• Excellent analytical, written and oral communication skills in English and Kinyarwanda is required
• Demonstrated skills and experience in qualitative and quantitative research including ability to comprehend and contextualize global literature and articulate formative research into concise policy objectives. Skills in program management software and Microsoft suite / Google accounts and online communications platforms
• Rwandan citizenship/ or Rwandan permanent residency is required

How to apply:

Applicants who meet or exceed the outlined qualifications are encouraged to visit our website before applying to determine if Three Stones International Rwanda is a good match: www.threestonesinternational.com. We consider ourselves entrepreneurs and are looking for creative people who are self-motivated, able to work independently as well as with a team, and who are full of ideas and enthusiasm. Please email a cover letter and CV, and contact information of three professional references to registration@threestonesinternational.com. Include “Job Application: Sr. SBC Advisor” in the subject line. Questions and clarifications about the role are welcome.

Applications to be submitted by 11pm Monday 19th February, interviews will be held on Friday 23rd February 2024. 

Three Stones is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. Women are especially encouraged to apply.