Programme Support Officer

UN-HABITAT SLE organization mission TBD

Urbanization in Sierra Leone – especially in its capital, Freetown – has accelerated rapidly, with urban dwellers growing from under one million in 1960 to over 3 million by 2020. This expansion has outpaced infrastructure and governance capacities, leading to widespread informal settlements. About 59 % of the urban population lived in slum-like conditions in 2018, characterized by overcrowding, inadequate housing, poor sanitation, and limited access to clean water and health services. In Freetown, these pressures are compounded by the city’s challenging topography and climate change, with unregulated construction on steep slopes contributing to severe annual flooding and landslides. The informal nature of livelihoods, where up to 70 % of residents work outside the formal economy, further limits municipal revenue and capacity to invest in essential infrastructure, while weak land use planning and elite-driven policy making exacerbate social exclusion, environmental degradation, and heightened vulnerability to disasters.
UN-Habitat has been operational in Sierra Leone for more than a decade, and it has worked in a recent past on the preparation of a Feasibility Study for developing a National Urban Policy and has collaborated with Catholic Relief Services in planning and implementing integrated informal settlements upgrading initiatives in Freetown.
Since 2024, UN-Habitat is implementing the Zurich-Freetown City-to-City Cooperation (C2CC), a partnership launched by the Freetown City Council (FCC) and the City of Zurich, Switzerland, with UN-Habitat's support, to regenerate Freetown's Central Business District (CBD) by improving infrastructure, public spaces, transport, and creating a cleaner, safer, more attractive urban environment over five years.
The C2CC project, consists of five (5) outputs, namely: (i) improving pedestrian areas; (ii) renewing street lighting; (iii) introducing a regulated parking system; (iv) creating more inviting public spaces; and (v) landscaping and greening.
Within the context of the C2CC, a UNV position is open to support the country programme operations.

This position is located within the Regional Office for Africa of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and is coordinated by the West Africa Sub-Regional Hub in Dakar, Senegal and the UN-Habitat Country Programme in Freetown. The UN Volunteer will be based in Freetown, working under the overall supervision of the Technical Team Lead (project lead).

The Volunteer will collaborate closely with local government institutions, project partners, community representatives, and other institutions engaged in the City-to-City Cooperation (C2CC) project and related UN-Habitat initiatives.

Under the direct supervision of the Team Lead, the UN Volunteer will perform the following functions:

Urban Design & Technical Support
• Contribute to design development for public space improvements, walkability, street layout, drainage, and signage.
• Support documentation of walkthroughs with stakeholders (e.g., EDSA, GUMA, SierraTel).
• Develop diagrams, sketches, and reports for design proposals.

Stakeholder Coordination
• Support organization of technical site visits, consultations, and community meetings.
• Follow up with utilities and partners on coordination issues (e.g., poles, pipes, manholes, rights-of-way).
• Support communication between FCC departments and UN-Habitat.

General Administration
• Prepare minutes, briefs, presentations, and monitoring updates for Freetown City Council (FCC), UN-Habitat, and partners.
• Support development of knowledge products, including maps, before/after visuals, and project documentation

Other tasks
• Support logistics for fieldwork, training sessions, and project events.
• Contribute to visibility, storytelling, and communications of project progress