International Consultant: Review of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) Priorities to Identify Entry Points for Integration of Family Planning, Freetown, Sierra Leone

The Position:

Background and Rationale:

Sierra Leone continues to face persistent challenges in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), particularly in ensuring access to family planning (FP) services. Despite strong policy frameworks, such as the FP Costed Implementation Plan (2022-2027) and FP2030 commitments, critical indicators like high maternal mortality, adolescent pregnancy, and unmet contraceptive need remain barriers to human capital development and inclusive growth. 

The MTNDP 2024-2030 prioritizes inclusive development, human capital, youth empowerment, gender equality, and resilience, offering a timely opportunity to institutionalize FP within national policy and investment frameworks. To fully leverage this opportunity, structured analysis is needed to identify concrete entry points, cross-sectoral linkages, and financing pathways. 

Family planning (FP) directly supports all MTNDP priorities, with particularly strong linkages to the following four thematic areas: 

1. Agriculture and Food Systems: FP contributes to food security and rural development by enabling smaller, healthier families and empowering women to participate more actively in agricultural production and decision-making. 
2. Youth Empowerment and Employment: By preventing unintended pregnancies, FP helps adolescents and young adults stay in school, pursue skills development, and engage in productive economic activities. 
3. Climate Resilience and Natural Resources: FP reduces pressure on land and ecosystems, promoting sustainable resource use and enhancing the capacity of households and communities to adapt to climate-related shocks. 
4. Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: FP is foundational to gender equality, enabling women to exercise reproductive choices, pursue education and employment, and engage more fully in social and economic life. 

The UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2025-2030 further reinforces this opportunity through its focus on food systems, climate resilience, essential services, and economic transformation. UNFPA’s 8^th country program (2025-2030) is aligned with both the MTNDP and UNSDCF, contributing to national priorities through integrated programming on youth, gender, and human capital. 

Evidence from the 2024 FP Investment Case shows that scaling up FP could prevent 3 million unintended pregnancies and 10,000 maternal deaths by 2030 - delivering an estimated return of US$9.80 for every US$1 invested. In contrast, underinvestment could cost the country over 600,000 additional unintended pregnancies and 0.8% of its GDP. Yet domestic funding remains under 1%, with a projected funding gap of US$65 million (2024-2030). 

Globally and regionally, integrating FP into national development plans has been shown to accelerate progress across health, education, and economic development, while improving accountability and attracting financing. Conducting a structured analysis of the MTNDP will: 

• Align FP with national political and budget priorities, using evidence to strengthen domestic commitment. 
• Promote cross-sectoral integration, identifying how sectors like youth, education, and agriculture benefit from FP
• Support strategic targeting, ensuring FP investments reach underserved populations such as adolescents and persons with disabilities. 
• Embed accountability mechanisms, including FP indicators and budget lines, within development frameworks. 
• Strengthen donor alignment and unlock catalytic financing through clearly articulated integration pathways.

In essence, this alignment bridges the gap between advocacy and implementation, moving from why FP matters to how and where it can be effectively integrated. In this context, UNFPA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and national stakeholders, seeks qualified consultants to analyze the MTNDP and identify practical entry points for FP integration. The findings will inform advocacy, resource mobilization, and cross-sectoral coordination to advance universal access to FP and support Sierra Leone’s development agenda
 

Consultancy objective:

The objective of this consultancy is to conduct a focused, evidence-based analysis of Sierra Leone’s Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) 2024-2030 to identify strategic entry points for the integration of family planning (FP). The assignment will generate practical, context-specific recommendations to inform advocacy, policy dialogue, and cross-sectoral programming, ensuring that FP is systematically embedded within national priorities, sectoral strategies, and implementation frameworks in support of inclusive development and human capital advancement.

You would be responsible for:

1.         Desk Review and Situational Analysis 

• Review the MTNDP 2024–2030 and relevant sectoral strategies (e.g., health, education, youth, gender, agriculture, environment) to assess the extent to which FP is reflected or aligned.
• Analyze key national policy and financing documents, including FP Costed Implementation Plan (2022-2027), FP Investment Case, Health Sector Strategic Plan, RMNCAH Strategy, and budget statements. 
• Synthesize global, regional, and national evidence on effective approaches for integrating FP into national development planning, including examples from comparable contexts. 

2.         Mapping and Identification of Entry Points 

• Identify actionable entry points for integrating FP across the MTNDP’s priority, particularly in the four thematic priorities below, but not limited to: 
• Agriculture and food systems 
• Youth empowerment and employment 
• Climate resilience and natural resource management 
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment 
• Map existing FP commitments (e.g., FP2030, ICPD25, SDGs) against national priorities to highlight synergies and integration opportunities. 
• Identify institutional and programmatic platforms - both existing and emerging - through which integration could be operationalized and sustained. 

3.         Stakeholder Consultations 

• Conduct targeted consultations with key government ministries (e.g., MoPED, MoH, MoF, MoYA, MoGCA, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change), development partners, FP2030 focal points, CSOs, and community-level actors. 
• Gather insights on coordination mechanisms, policy and implementation gaps, and financing bottlenecks or opportunities. 

4.         Policy and Advocacy Recommendations 

• Develop clear, actionable recommendations for integrating FP into MTNDP implementation and relevant sectoral strategies. 
• Propose measurable indicators for tracking FP integration and multisectoral outcomes. 
• Recommend approaches for resource mobilization, including leveraging fiscal space, donor alignment, and innovative financing mechanisms. 

5.         Presentation and Validation 

• Present draft findings and recommendations to key stakeholders, including MoPED, MoH, and MoF. 
• Facilitate a validation workshop to refine the analysis, build consensus, and strengthen stakeholder ownership. 
• Incorporate feedback and finalize deliverables accordingly. 

 

Key deliverables:

1. Inception Report
2. Annotated Review Matrix 
3. Draft Analytical Report 
4. Stakeholder Consultation Summary
5. Final Report
6. Presentation Materials 
7. Validation Report

 

Duration:

25 Working days (within a timeframe of 60 days between June to August 2025)

 

Qualifications and Experience: 

Education:  

• Professional in public health, social, and/or economic sciences with extensive experience in health and national development planning
• At least a master’s degree in Public Health, Economics, and/or Social Policy Analysis
   

Knowledge and Experience: 

• At least ten (10) years of experience in consulting and delivering time-bound results in global/public health and particularly in the field of SRHR/FP and national development planning.
• Experience with national development plans, policies, and strategies, particularly those related to human capital development, agriculture, youth empowerment, gender equality, and climate action
• Knowledge of health service delivery, particularly primary health care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries 
• Experience in stakeholder engagement and management approaches
• Strong professional writing skills supported by publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• Strong analytical orientation and sound judgement; initiative, culturally sensitive, and resourceful.
• Excellent facilitation, verbal communication skills required, and ability to conduct consultative meetings.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to interact with national and global partners and professionally provide creative solutions.
• Fluent in written and oral English.
   

Languages: 

Fluency in spoken English and excellent written English skills are required.
 

Required Competencies: 

Values:

• Exemplifying integrity, 
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system, 
• Embracing cultural diversity, 
• Embracing change
    

Core Competencies:

• Strategically positioning the UNFPA programme
• Providing conceptual innovation to support programme effectiveness.
• Generating, managing, and promoting the use of knowledge and information
• Facilitating quality programmatic results
   

Functional Competencies:

• Achieving results,
• Being accountable,
• Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen, 
• Thinking analytically and strategically,
• Working in teams/managing ourselves and our relationships,
• Communicating for impact 

 

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA fosters a work environment that embodies the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity, and a 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. 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 - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, and other administrative requirements. 

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