Programme Associate

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

The 2025 Voluntary National Review (VNR) consultations, led by NITI Aayog and supported by the UN in India, prioritized 13 “Leave No One Behind” (LNOB) groups, including Scheduled Tribes and Adivasis, highlighting the urgent need to build capacities, ensure access, and foster meaningful representation for tribal youth. The consultations identified critical gaps in skills, leadership opportunities, and systemic support for marginalised youth, emphasising the need for targeted career pathways and inclusive development strategies.

UNICEF works with various ministries of the national government and recently the Ministry of Tribal Affairs too has expressed interest in partnering with UNICEF especially to support design implementation of the national schemes, PM- JANMAN, Dharti Abha and Adi Karmayogi programmes focused on addressing culturally sensitive programming and building positive social norms. The current Terms of Reference is to support the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on social and behaviour change across different sectors outcomes that support the realization of SDG outcomes. India has a population of 10.45 crore Scheduled Tribes (STs), as per Census 2011, which constitutes 8.6% of the total population. Some tribal communities, especially the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) who live in remote forest areas, do not only have low socio economic and health indicators but suffer from high vulnerability compared to other tribal communities. Access to basic services, demand for quality services is bound by stringent norms, cultural practices and behaviours that act as barriers in accessing services and entitlements provided to them by the government. Furthermore, these social cultural practices also hinder the practice desirable behaviours that impact the development wellbeing of these groups.

UNICEF seeks engagement of young volunteer from the tribal community to support the SBC Specialist in providing research and other desk analysis support to further strengthen support to the Ministry – especially around changing behaviours and practices of the tribal and PVTG groups to ensure uptake of services, demand without changing the basic fabric of their culture and cultural artefacts; to support in changing the narrative around good health, nutrition, WASH, education and overall wellbeing without being confrontational towards their social norms but by building on the ‘goods’ prevalent in their community. This innovative programme will bring together the expertise of UN agencies to mentor, train, and place tribal and marginalised youth in impactful roles across government and development sectors at the national level along with creating a more inclusive environment within UN System in India.

The UNV is proposed to be hired for 12 months who will support the social and behaviour change components to ensure achievement of the programmatic vision of tribal development proposed by the Ministry. UNICEF’s technical support on SBC will be to develop an evidence a social and behaviour change strategy for tribal with special focus on demand for quality health, nutrition, WASH, Education and Child Protection services – creating a convergent narrative of wellbeing anchored on behaviours and practices.

Under the direct supervision of SBC Specialist, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Assist the SBC Specialist in reviewing evidence on UNICEF’s work with tribal populations on how SBC played a catalytic role in supporting programmes like Health, Nutrition, Education, Child Protection and WASH to develop an SBC intervention pathway.
• Support SBC Specialist in mapping behavioural barriers on health, nutrition, WASH and Education within tribal communities
• Ensure mapping of gender norms in tribal communities including ‘key platforms and people of influence’ within communities
• Support the SBC Specialist in drafting a Convergent SBC Strategy for Outreach to tribal communities
• Participates in meetings and discussions at MoTA to accelerate SBC work across states with dominant trial populations


Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
• Contribute articles/writeups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.