Consultancy: Behaviour communication change – SAPLING Vietnam (Chan-Henh)

ILRI Consultancy: Behaviour communication change – SAPLING Vietnam (Chan-Henh) (Closing date: 8 December 2022)

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) seeks to recruit a PhD graduate fellow to work on Improving human health through sustainable value chains in human-animal-environmental interactions using ICT in Vietnam (ICT4Health) to be hosted under the Animal and Human Health (AHH) program at ILRI.

ILRI works to improve food and nutritional security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe and sustainable use of livestock. It is the only one of 15 CGIAR research centers dedicated entirely to animal agriculture research for the developing world. Co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, it has regional or country offices in East, South and Southern Asia as well as Central, East, Southern and West Africa. www.ilri.org

Background

SAPLING is one of the CGIAR Initiatives focusing on sustainable animal productivity. See here a description of the Initiative. This Initiative aims to contribute to transforming livestock sectors in target countries to make them more productive, resilient, equitable, and sustainable.  Within Vietnam, the SAPLING initiative is focusing on strengthening the pig and beef-cattle value chains in the Mai Son district of Son La province.  This work is led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Alliance of Biodiversity and CIAT, and is being implemented in collaboration with a number of national partners. SAPLING work within Vietnam is being referred to by a local project name ‘Chan-Henh’.

As part of the Chan-Henh project, three behaviour change communication (BCC) campaigns will be implemented. Specifically, these are:

• Messaging on adoption of best practices on livestock keeping (including on herd-health, breeding / artificial insemination, and feeding) as well as marketing  of livestock, to small- and medium-scale pig and beef-cattle keepers and  other selected value-chain actors, such as extension officers and input service providers
• Messaging on household nutrition to livestock keeping households, as well as others selected actors in the community, such as community health-care workers
• Messaging for improved gender and youth inclusion and equity within the pig and beef-cattle sector to the communities where the interventions take place. The exact recipients will be identified through an initial exploration of existing norms

The BCC campaign swill be developed in a participatory manner with a range of stakeholders and implemented initially between early 2023 and December of 2024.  This process should follow standard Behavior change communication approaches (see these examples for this resource area or this guidebook)

Scope of Work:

Specific activities are as follows:

1. Facilitate a 1-day workshop with the implementing team and key partners to: determine the overall objectives of the communication campaigns (in alignment with the overall project development objectives), further refine the target audiences (including consideration of different groups of people, such as those of different genders, ages, ethnicities, and location); obtaining initial ideas on information to be shared with the different groups, as well as messaging and dissemination channels.  This workshop should also serve to create buy-in amongst the implementing team and key partners on the BCCs, as well as improve their understanding of BCCs in general.  It should also help to inform the communication needs assessment.  The consultant will be responsible for the design of the workshop, facilitation on the day, and production of a workshop report.
2. Undertake a communication needs assessment of key target audiences (different socio-economic groups of people) on (1) information requirements – to help focus the messages and (2) their needs and preferences on receiving information, to determine the most effective channels (i.e., communication channel mapping).  This will be achieved through surveys  (both focus group discussions and key informant interviews)  held within the Mai Son district.  The consultant will be responsible for the development of survey tools and design of the sampling framework  (in collaboration with an ILRI communications and research design specialists), implementation of the survey (collaborating with project team members on obtaining research permits, working within the district and identification of participants, and obtaining participant consent), and analysis, synthesis, and reporting of results.
3. Develop a draft strategic communication plan, for all three behaviour communication change campaigns, based on information obtained from the above activities.  The communication plan should include revised objectives, target audiences and expected changes, communication media and channels, messages and appeals, and production plan including estimated budget for production and dissemination.
4. Further, facilitate a ½ to 1 day workshop to share the draft communication plan with the implementing team and key partners, for feedback (consultant responsibility re the workshop are as for (a) above).
5. Develop the final strategic communication plan, for all three behaviour communication change campaigns, based on feedback received during the workshop.

Final products:

The consultant will deliver:

1. Reports from the initial and final workshops, in English
2. Tools and sampling framework for the communication needs assessments; transcripts of the focus group discussions and key informant interviews; and report on the communication needs assessment, in English
3. Strategic communication plan, in English

Consultancy Fee: Lumpsum or by mutual agreement based on agreed milestones and deliverables

Post location: Vietnam with travel to Mai Son province, Vietnam

Duration: December 2022– February 2023 (working days:  25 days)

Essential skills and qualifications

• Advanced degree in sociology, communication, counseling, rural development, nutrition or related training
• Over 15 years of experience in behaviour communication change
• Experience in managing and coordinating actionable BCC strategies and delivering agreed outputs on time and on budget
• Fluent in Vietnamese and English (spoken and written) and ability to guide discussions in varied audiences

How to apply: Applicants should send a cover letter and CV expressing their interest in the position, what they can bring to the job and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to the Director, People and Organizational Development through our recruitment portal by clicking on http://ilri.simplicant.com/ (https://ilri.simplicant.com/jobs/46693-ilri-consultancy-behaviour-communication-change-sapling-vietnam-chan-henh/detail) before 8 December 2022. The position title and reference umber REF: LG/ 780 /2022 should be clearly marked on the subject line of the cover letter.

We thank all applicants for their interest in working for ILRI. Due to the volume of applications, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

ILRI does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing or training). ILRI also does not concern itself with information on applicants’ bank accounts.

To find out more about ILRI visit our websites at http://www.ilri.org