Communications Specialist, Freetown, Sierra Leone

UNDP • Freetown, AL

9h • Onsite

About The Position

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the lead UN agency focused on delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s work is grounded in human rights, gender equality, and a commitment to improving sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) worldwide.
UNFPA Sierra Leone’s Country Programme (2025–2030) represents UNFPA’s strategic framework for accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Sierra Leone. It is aligned with the Government of Sierra Leone’s Medium-Term National Development Plan (2024–2030) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2025–2030). Central to the success of the Country Programme is effective communication that fosters public understanding, promotes behaviour change, galvanizes community engagement and builds strong partnerships.
The Government of Sierra Leone, through Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL), is preparing to conduct a National Population and Housing Census as a key national statistical
exercise to generate accurate, reliable, and disaggregated data for evidence-based planning, policy formulation, service delivery, and monitoring of national, regional, and global development commitments, including the Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) is providing technical and financial support to the Government of Sierra Leone for the planning and implementation of the census, in line with UNFPA’s mandate to support population and development data, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, and the principle of leaving no one behind. Public awareness, trust, and participation are critical to the success of the census.
In this regard, UNFPA, in collaboration with Stats SL, seeks to recruit a Communications Consultant to design and support the implementation of a comprehensive, inclusive, and culturally appropriate communication and advocacy programme for the UNFPA Country Programme and the National Census in Sierra Leone.
Objective of the Consultancy:
This consultancy has two primary objectives:
● To develop and support the implementation of an effective communication, advocacy, and public engagement strategy that ensures nationwide awareness, public confidence, and full participation in the National Population and Housing Census in Sierra Leone.
● To increase visibility of UNFPA’s mandate, messages and results, including through the development of content for social, print and electronic media, engagement with the media, and development of newsletters and communications products to increase visibility and outreach with partners and donors.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, Social Sciences, Development Studies, or a related field.
• At least 5–7 years of relevant professional experience in strategic communication, advocacy, or public information, preferably for large-scale national programmes.
• Proven experience working with media, civil society, and community structures in Sierra Leone.
• Strong writing and editing skills in English; knowledge of Krio and other local languages is a strong advantage.
• Fluency in written and spoke English is required

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated experience supporting government-led communication initiatives or national surveys/censuses is an asset.
• Experience working with UN agencies is an asset and especially UNFPA
• Previous experience working with UNFPA will be an added advantage
• Demonstrate to work in a diverse, multi-cultural and multi-national environment
• Previous experience working in Sierra Leone.
• Fluency in Krio, or other Sierra Leone Language is an asset

Responsibilities

• Strategic Communication and Advocacy:
• Develop and support the implementation of a comprehensive Census Communication and Advocacy Strategy for Sierra Leone, covering pre-enumeration, enumeration, and post-enumeration phases.
• Develop and lead the implementation of comprehensive Communication and Visibility Strategy for the Country Office focused on promoting UNFPA’s strategic priorities as outlined in the Country Programme (2025-2030).
• Identify key target audiences, including policymakers, traditional and religious leaders, women and girls, youth, persons with disabilities, hard-to-reach communities, the media, and the general public.
• Define key messages, communication channels, timelines, and responsibilities.
• Ensure that communication approaches are gender-responsive, inclusive and culturally appropriate, taking into account Sierra Leone’s linguistic and socio-cultural diversity.
• Message Development and Content Creation:
• Development of clear, consistent, and accurate census messages aligned with national legislation and international statistical standards.
• Support the development of census branding, slogans, and visibility materials in line with Government of Sierra Leone and UNFPA branding guidelines.
• Draft communication materials, including FAQs, fact sheets, talking points, brochures, posters, radio jingles, TV scripts, and social media content.
• Media Relations and Public Engagement:
• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with national and local media houses, including community radio stations.
• Support the organization of press briefings, press conferences, and media outreach activities.
• Prepare and disseminate press releases, media briefs, and opinion pieces related to UNFPA’s programe and the census.
• Support engagement with traditional authorities, religious leaders, civil society organizations, youth groups, women’s networks, and other community influencers to promote UNFPA’s three transformative results and participation in the census.
• Mobilize paid and donated space and air time in the media including press statements and op-eds for publication in local media, radio and TV programmes, talk-shows, news items and interviews with designated country office senior staff, and maintaining an updated data-base of writers, journalists and media contacts;
• Coordinate communications engagement in public events including, public dialogues, public events, and International UN Days commemoration, in order to ensure visibility of UNFPA’s mandate
• Maintaining the UNFPA Country Office website, and coordinating with the UN Communications Group and the UNFPA Regional Office
• Digital and Social Media Communication:
• Support the development and management of digital and social media communication content for the country office and census.
• Monitor media and social media platforms to identify misinformation, rumors, or resistance related to the census and propose timely mitigation measures.
• Support innovative communication approaches, including SMS messaging, social media campaigns, and community-based communication initiatives.
• Monitor, Document and Report:
• Monitor and assess the effectiveness of CO and census communication activities.
• Document good practices, challenges, and lessons learned.
• Prepare periodic progress updates and a final consultancy report with recommendations for future national data exercises.

Benefits

• UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance.
• We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply.
• Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply.
• Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process.
• UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level