Office/Unit/Project Description

The UN Secretary-General established the UN SDG Action Campaign to inspire people and organizations from all backgrounds and every part of the world to take actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, while holding decision-makers to account for progress society-wide. The UN SDG Action Campaign is hosted and supported by UNDP and is based in Bonn (Germany) with a lean team that marshals rapid support for new initiatives as opportunities arise and provides partners with on-demand strategic creative services that inspire SDG action with an engaged community of activists and concerned individuals.

The UN SDG Action Campaign is working closely with cities and local governments to showcase how they are actively contributing to implement Agenda 2030, accelerating transformative action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for all, and everywhere. The UN SDG Action Campaign, together with the office of UNDP in the Sierra Leone are supporting the Freetown City Council to implement its development plan and showcase how it contributes to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.

Freetown has experienced a significant increase in population due to migration from rural areas, especially after the 11-year civil conflict. The impacts of climate change have further accelerated this growth. Over the past 25 years, the population of Freetown has more than doubled, and it now accommodates approximately 15% of the national population on less than 0.1% of the national landmass. The city is projected to gain another half a million residents over the next decade. Unfortunately, the Freetown City Council has historically lacked the necessary urban management tools to utilize urbanization for economic growth and improved service delivery. The consequences of rapid population growth without proper land use planning and building controls are devastating for the natural environment and the quality of life for residents.

In its 2019 -2023 development plan, the Freetown City Council aimed to address various challenges through Transform Freetown eleven priority sectors, including environmental management, revenue mobilization, education, and sanitation. Together, the Council, its residents, and a group of technical experts identified 19 targets and 37 initiatives to be implemented.

The Transform Freetown—Transforming Lives Plan (Transforming Lives, for short) is Freetown City Council’s development plan for 2024 – 2028. It builds on the progress made during the previous five years of the Transform Freetown initiative. Transforming Lives aims to be inclusive and data-driven in addressing Freetown’s challenges and creating job opportunities.

The plan focuses on four priority sectors:

• Climate change
• Heritage tourism
• Digital economy
• Human development

These priorities directly relate to the Sustainable Development Goals and align with the Government of Sierra Leone’s Medium-term National Development Plan. In May 2024, the Freetown City Council engaged extensively with the community to identify the interventions that need prioritization. Approximately 4,800 residents from 48 wards representing various stakeholders, including youth, elderly, persons with disabilities, women, and religious leaders, were involved in the engagement process. Feedback from the communities emphasized the need for improvements in critical public service delivery, including water access, health facilities, education and skills development, and waste management.

The Monitoring & Performance Specialist will be responsible for performance improvement in the implementation of Transforming Lives Plan.  He or She will will work closely with Freetown City Council staff and technical teams to use performance management practices and data analytics and make data-informed program and process improvements, to spend resources wisely and to ultimately deliver better services to the residents of Freetown.  The work is focused on three areas:  performance management, continuous improvement and data analytics.

• Guide the development and implementation of Transforming Lives strategic and operational plans in alignment with agreed goals and priorities.
• Work with city leadership and team to identify performance data.
• Develop reporting and monitoring systems for regular organizational performance reviews.
• Build internal capacity within departments, teams and projects for robust outcomes-based performance management and measurement activities.
• Conduct deep dive diagnostics into performance issues to identify root cause, potential solutions and then work with stakeholders and technical teams to implement solutions.
• Contribute to the development, planning, coordinating, distributing, and analyzing of employee and resident surveys.
• Conduct performance management assessments evaluations; and assist managers with development and implementation of performance improvement action plans.
• Work with the City´s departments and project teams to help them collect, understand, and use their data for managerial decision making to address issues and to drive improvements to the City’s delivery of services.
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

This position reports to the Advisor, cities and local governments, UN SDG Action Campaign, UNDP Executive Office.

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously:  LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

• Climate Change Mitigation: Sustainable Infrastructure

Finance – Budget management

• Ability to support budgetary aspects of the work planning process, drawing and management of team budgets

Business Direction & Strategy – Effective Decision Making

• Take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority, area of expertise and resources and take into consideration potential wider implications

Business Direction & Strategy – Project management

• Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

Business Direction & Strategy – Risk management

• Ability to identify and organize action around mitigating and proactively managing risks

Business Direction & Strategy : Communication 

• Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
• Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Social Sciences, Public or Business Administration, Global Affairs, or a relevant discipline is required.
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years (with Master’s Degree) or 7 years (with Bachelor’s Degree) of progressive work experience in project management within or supporting local and regional governments is required.

Required skills 

• Proven experience in elaborating performance KPI, metrics and  data analysis.
• Experience in managing relationships with stakeholders and communicating project outcomes, targets and timelines.
• Proven experience in improving processes, systems, ways of working – proactively solving problems.

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section

• Demonstrated experience in working on results-orientated projects and have an understanding of working within the public sector.
• Experience in corporate governance and risk management.
• Experience in developing improvement strategies and designing control systems and processes for capacity building.

Required Language(s)

• Fluency in English both written and oral is required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language(s) is desired.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements