Pathfinder International is a global leader in sexual and reproductive health. We place reproductive health care at the center of all that we do—believing that it is not only a fundamental human right, but is critical for expanding life opportunities for women, families, communities, and nations, and paving the way for transformations in environmental stewardship, decreases in population pressures, and innovations in poverty reduction. Pathfinder provides women, men, and adolescents with a range of quality health services—from contraception and maternal care to HIV prevention and AIDS care and treatment. Pathfinder strives to strengthen access to family planning, advocate for sound reproductive health policies, and, through all of our work, improve the rights and lives of the people we serve.

Project Overview:

The Building Healthy Families (BHF), funded by the US Agency for International Development, seeks to improve health outcomes in Pakistan by strengthening primary health care systems to encourage use of voluntary family planning (FP) and reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) services. The project works closely with Sindh Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provincial governments and private-sector providers to assist the Government of Pakistan with achieving its FP2030 goals. BHF contributes to a higher-performing health system that is prepared to handle pandemics, and is more responsive to the needs of Pakistanis, especially women, children, and youth, disadvantaged and marginalized populations.

The project expands the delivery of FP/MNCH products and services through private and public community-based providers. It tests new and existing high-impact practices, working with the government to scale up those that are most effective. 

Beyond the project’s focus on women and girls, BHF reaches married men and youth so that they can knowledgably communicate about, demand, and use essential services. This includes working with health providers to test, refine, and scale up youth engagement and counselling models. Additionally, BHF applies innovative, evidence-based social and behaviour change interventions with young individuals and couples, and men. 

Job Purpose:

Pathfinder is seeking a Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Manager for the USAID-funded Building Healthy Families activity in Pakistan. This position will oversee the design, implementation, and monitoring of SBCC interventions in close coordination with the Senior Manager SBCC, Chief of Party and Deputy Chief of Party. S/he will lead SBCC capacity building, partnership development, and integration of behavioral interventions across the project. S/he must have at least a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline and at least 6 years of demonstrated experience in the design, implementation, and monitoring of large-scale development programs focusing on health promotion and behavior change with a strong health communication/risk communication component. Superior verbal and written communication skills and experience establishing robust partnerships with the private sector and local government organizations to support SBCC are required. Prior experience in strengthening the capacity of government health system staff and Civil Society Organizations is desired.

Key Job Outcomes:

Program Design and Implementation

• Work with colleagues across the project to design, develop, and support the implementation of SBCC interventions for behavior change that can be applied across the activity and that are solidly grounded in behavioral theory, research, and audience insights.

Capacity Building and Partnership Development

Support development of expertise and capacity of internal staff, local NGOs and CSOs, and government partners on SBCC; lead the establishment of partnerships with the private sector and local government organizations.

Strengthen evidence-based programming

Working with the project’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team to design and implement strategies to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of SBCC interventional approaches. Together ensure knowledge sharing and learning, and dissemination across the project of lessons learned, promoting their utilization.

Thought Leadership

Lead efforts to stay abreast of, as well as influence, the latest global thinking on SBCC and health-seeking behaviors, capturing best practices that can be applied to the project’s interventions. Represent Pathfinder externally including giving presentations; and organizing and attending technical meetings and consultations; among others.

Knowledge Management

Develop and implement processes to capture, organize, and disseminate insights gained from social and behavior change programs. This includes managing research findings, creating user-friendly repositories, and facilitating knowledge-sharing sessions to ensure lessons learned and best practices are accessible across teams and stakeholders. The role emphasizes maintaining data quality, synthesizing evidence to inform decision-making, and producing knowledge products such as case studies, reports, and toolkits. Additionally, the manager is responsible for publishing project outcomes through research papers in respected journals, presenting findings at conferences, and engaging with global networks to incorporate innovative methodologies that enhance SBC efforts.

Project Quality Management

Oversee the planning, execution, and monitoring of social and behavior change initiatives to ensure alignment with objectives and timelines. The role involves managing partnerships with stakeholders such as vendors, consultants, and government counterparts, fostering collaboration, and ensuring effective communication throughout the project lifecycle. The manager coordinates with partners to ensure deliverables meet quality standards, addresses challenges proactively, and monitors budgets and resource allocation. Additionally, the manager ensures compliance with organizational and donor requirements and maintains strong relationships with all stakeholders to achieve project success.

Required Education and Work Experience

• 6 to 8 years of experience in developing, implementing, overseeing, and evaluating health promotion programs with a strong SBCC component
• University Degree (M.A., MHS, MPH) in public health, communications, social sciences, anthropology, behavioral economics, or a related area with significant public health and/or communication experience in family planning/sexual and reproductive health
• Functional understanding of behavior and social change theories, including new and evolving theories and evidence pertinent to SBCC programming.
• Significant experience working across complex programs and multiple partners
• Prior experience in SBCC capacity strengthening
• Proven experience in knowledge management and developing knowledge repositories
• Advanced expertise in designing SBC research methodologies and tools
• Exceptional report-writing skills

Required Job-Specific Competencies

• Project Coordination and Execution: Excellent skills in project coordination, execution, and follow-up to fulfill project aims/objectives, including the timely implementation, completion, and dissemination of project resources among key stakeholders including government, donors, private sector, and development partners.
• Communication: Skills in the development of strategic communication/dissemination plans. Strong communication, and relationship-building skills
• Knowledge Management: Mastery of knowledge creation and management in archiving project resources/materials.
• Team building: Be prepared to be flexible and very hands-on with a positive can-do attitude
• Software/tools: Proven ability to use MS Office
• Country-Specific Public Health System: Knowledge of the countries’ public health
• Communication and Influencing Skills: Proven ability to influence others, including donor agencies and local partners, through diplomacy and proven oral and written communication
• Presentation Skills: Proven ability to make presentations on results to small and large
• Community Relations: Mastery of skills in facilitating work relationships between partners, government officials, and communities.
• Languages: Proven writing and speaking skills using local languages (Urdu) and English language
• Self-Management and Teamwork: Ability to work independently or as a member of a team, ability to work with people from different cultures, ability to thrive in a matrix organization, ability to be detailed-oriented, and ability to manage stress effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Matrix Management: Ability to thrive in a matrixed
• Confidentiality: Proven ability to maintain confidentiality on work-related

Preferrable Competencies:

• Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Services: Foundational knowledge of family planning and reproductive health principles, practices, and services including strategies and indicators.
• Passion for Sexual and Reproductive Health: Commitment to family planning, reproductive health services, gender, maternal, child health services, and eradication of harmful traditional practices.

Other Information:

• Travel required (40% or less).
• Uses cellular and office phone, laptop or desktop computer.
• This job description format focuses on the main duties of the position and is not intended to list every potential task or assignment.
• Duties can and will change to meet the changing priorities of the department and organization.

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer Statement:

Pathfinder International provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Safeguarding and Protection Statement:

Pathfinder is committed to the safeguarding and protection of the people we serve and our staff. We have zero tolerance for any type of behavior that inflicts harm on children, young people, adults, our staff, and partners including sexual abuse, harassment, bullying, and exploitation. We do everything possible to ensure that we recruit only those who are suitable to work with us. We expect that everyone we hire will abide by our safeguarding and related policies and will report any suspected or known violations. This job is subject to a range of vetting checks as legally permitted in the country where they are being hired. By applying, the job applicant acknowledges they understand our intent to verify suitability to work with us.