Frontlines Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) and Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Specialist

Recurrent humanitarian crises and public health emergencies, including Ebola, cholera, mpox, and conflict-related displacements, have confirmed that SBCiE and RCCE are not support functions: they are core response infrastructure. Evidence-based community engagement, functional feedback mechanisms, and accountability to communities directly determine whether response interventions are trusted, accessed, and effective. UNICEF's reduced pool of SBC in Emergency and RCCE specialists and increased demand across regions makes this Frontlines pipeline a strategic priority. 

SBCiE and RCCE specialists deployed through this Frontlines pipeline will work at the operational heart of emergency and outbreak response. You will lead or contribute to the community intelligence, community engagement, and accountability functions that determine whether affected populations are informed, engaged, and able to shape the response that serves them. 

• Design and manage real-time community evidence systems — gathering qualitative and quantivative data, feedback, tracking rumours, monitoring knowledge and attitude changes — and translate findings into actionable multi sector interventions   that partners and government counterparts can act on immediately 
• Lead or co-lead SBC/CE and/or RCCE technical working groups, coordination meetings, and interagency forums, ensuring SBC is mainstreamed across all sectors and that community evidence reaches decision-makers across health, protection, WASH, nutrition, and other response pillars, 
• Strengthen national and sub-national SBC/RCCE coordination architecture, including government-owned systems that can sustain beyond the emergency period 
• Build and operate community feedback mechanisms that close the loop — communities not only give feedback but receive a response, see their inputs reflected in programme adaptation, and trust the system enough to keep engaging 
• Develop evidence-based SBC/RCCE strategies grounded in behavioural science, social norms analysis, and real-time community data, not generic templates, tailored to specific community contexts, languages, and trust environments 
• Identify, establish and build partnerships at national and subnational level to strengthen SBC/RCCE interventions on the ground, particularly on community engagement and effective participation 
• Manage the communication and accountability interface with affected populations across a complex response, ensuring no group, women, children, displaced persons, linguistic minorities — is systematically excluded from information or feedback channels 
• Lead the identification of gaps and needs of partners/actors and address them, including in terms of capacity development 

This campaign targets two complementary levels under one SBCiE/RCCE profile family. Profile A covers NOC/P3 specialists with at least five years of relevant experience; Profile B covers P4 specialists with at least eight years of experience and a stronger leadership, coordination, and systems-building role. 

Combined Profile — SBCiE and RCCE Specialist · NOC/P3–P4 

Profile A: technical support and field delivery; Profile B: technical leadership, interagency coordination, government partnership, capacity building, and resource mobilisation. 

Responsibilities vary by deployment context and grade level. Profile A specialists focus on delivery and technical support; Profile B specialists perform the same core functions while also leading strategy, coordination, systems strengthening, quality assurance, and senior-level engagement. 

• Profile A: minimum five years of relevant professional experience in RCCE, SBC, community engagement, AAP, humanitarian response, or public health emergencies. 
• Profile B: minimum eight years of relevant experience, including direct field experience in public health emergencies or complex humanitarian crises and leadership of SBC/RCCE/AAP functions. 
• Required experience includes community feedback mechanisms, social listening or community data systems, government-led coordination structures, and at least one major emergency or outbreak response. 
• Assets include experience with U-Report, KoboToolbox or equivalent platforms; behavioural science frameworks; and field experience in high-burden humanitarian contexts. 
• For Profile B, additional evidence should include leading interagency coordination, designing multi-method community intelligence systems, building government partnerships, representing UNICEF or equivalent organisations, and designing capacity-building programmes. 

Note: Language skills are a primary matching criterion for deployment. Candidates will be asked to self-assess language proficiency at screening. For deployments requiring specific language competency, only candidates meeting the language standard will be considered.

Working in an emergency context is challenging and may be at short notice. Before registering interest in Frontlines, please consider: 

• Discuss with your supervisor and secure their agreement that you can be released for a surge assignment, and that you will be supported with any required training beforehand 
• Consider whether any personal circumstances — a new baby, primary care responsibilities for a close dependent, ongoing health requirements — could make short-notice deployment difficult. Where applicable, discuss the possibility of emergency deployments with your family 
• Honestly assess your mental and physical health. Emergency deployments require sustained performance in stressful, resource-constrained, and sometimes insecure environments 
• Ensure you have up-to-date travel documents (UN Laissez-Passer and national passport), recommended vaccinations per UNMD guidance, and valid SSAFE training before being called forward 
• RCCE and AAP deployments often involve direct community engagement in conflict-affected, post-disaster, or outbreak settings. Candidates should be comfortable with this type of work and familiar with the personal safety, data protection, and community safeguarding dimensions involved