AGRA

Communications Officer Agriculture Transformation Office (ATO) Sierra Leone

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Job Reference: CO/SL/03/2026

AGRA and its Work to Transform Agriculture

AGRA is an African-led institution that actively supports the drive towards inclusive agricultural transformation and sustainable food systems. We do this by empowering the continent’s estimated 33 million small-farming households to transform their subsistent agriculture into profitable businesses. The continent’s farmers regularly face challenges, and we, in collaboration with our partners, aspire to provide uniquely African solutions that respond to their agricultural and environmental challenges, leading to increased harvests for reduced hunger and more incomes aligned with the Kampala CAADP and national priorities.

Working in alignment with the development priorities of our focus countries, we enable farmers to access improved and high-yielding seeds, gain knowledge on sustainable farming, and linkages to profitable markets. In our work, we aspire to build the alliances, partnerships, and networks required to drive an inclusive agricultural transformation. We work with our partners to create an equitable youth-friendly environment that harnesses the youth dividend on the continent to drive growth and facilitate open employment opportunities for young women and men. We achieve our key objectives through a focus on the following four areas of intervention:

1. Policy and state capability – We support governments in creating an enabling environment for private sector involvement in agricultural transformation.
2. Seed systems – We trigger higher productivity by increasing the availability and access to improved seeds by farmers allowing them to increase their harvests for food security and better incomes.
3. Sustainable farming – We support farmers in building resilient farming systems for sustained high yields through interventions such as mechanization and irrigation.
4. Inclusive markets and trade – We work to increase the linkages between farmers, and other market actors for a positive, sustained cycle of commercialization and reinvestment.
5. Youth, Gender, and Inclusiveness – We enable women and youth to contribute to and benefit from agriculture for their economic empowerment.

Implementing Our New Strategy Through People

People are the heart of our organization and remain the true drivers of our delivery and our impact.

We work with incredible people and partners who have roots in farming communities across the continent, combined with an inclusive and diverse workforce from over 24 nationalities. Our commitment to a call to action goes beyond ourselves as we arise to catalyze African Food Systems & transformation by being Deeply collaborative, Executing Excellently, Sincerely Constructive, and Increasingly Entrepreneurial, aligned with our values of (I-RISE; Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Stewardship, and Equity).

We are looking for people who are passionate about Africa to join our innovative, growing, and multidisciplinary team. Together, we can accelerate Africa’s food system transformation, thereby improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Want to join us?

Background

The Government of Sierra Leone has launched the Feed Salone Strategy (2023–2028) to accelerate and ensure food systems transformation, food security, and inclusive economic growth, targeting an annual growth rate of 10% for the agriculture sector within the next five years. The strategy focuses on boosting productivity in high- impact value chains, leveraging the comparative advantages of targeted districts, and enhancing resilience through climate-smart practices. The Feed Salone Strategy focuses on six strategic pillars: mechanization and irrigation, seed and input systems, aggregation and marketing, agricultural finance, AgTech and climate-smart agriculture, and the empowerment of women and youth.

To drive its effective implementation, the Sierra Leone Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), in collaboration with AGRA and its partners, seeks to hire a qualified Communications Officer who will lead the communications and outreach efforts of the Agricultural Transformation Office.

The Position Overview

The Communication Officer will lead strategic communications and knowledge management for the Agriculture Transformation Office (ATO), strengthening public awareness, partner confidence, and institutional learning in support of the Feed Salone agenda. Reporting to the Partnerships specialist, the role will ensure that progress, results, and lessons from implementation are clearly communicated to government leadership, partners, investors, and the public, while systematically capturing and sharing knowledge to improve delivery and policy outcomes.

The ideal candidate will support Ministerial engagement, partner coordination, advocacy, event organization, and resource mobilization by producing high-quality, data-backed communication and knowledge products that demonstrate impact and reinforce accountability.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Strengthen public awareness, credibility, and understanding of Feed Salone goals and progress and the ATO as a results-driven delivery mechanism.
• Institutionalize knowledge management practices that capture implementation experience, lessons learned, and good practices to improve delivery and policy outcomes.
• Reinforce a culture of transparency, learning, and accountability within MAFS and across Feed Salone interventions.
• Support partner and investor confidence by clearly communicating progress, results, and impact.
• Support Ministerial and ATO leadership engagement with partners, media, and stakeholders through narratives, briefs, and communication products.
• Coordinate and align communications across government MDAs involved in Feed Salone, helping ensure consistent messaging, terminology, and framing of priorities, progress, and results.
• Manage media relations and public engagement to ensure accurate, timely, and positive coverage of Feed Salone priorities and achievements.
• Engage development partners, civil society, and the public through digital platforms, events, and forums to build awareness and support for the agriculture transformation agenda in collaboration with the MAFS Communications team.
• Advice on strategic communication and advocacy opportunities that amplify Feed Salone messaging and support partnerships and resource mobilization.
• Work closely with pillar leads, M&E, Data, and Partnership colleagues to ensure consistent, evidence- based messaging across all engagements.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of the Feed Salone and ATO communication strategy, including a communications calendar aligned with delivery milestones and Ministerial engagement.
• Produce and manage high-quality content across platforms (website, social media, newsletters, briefs, reports, videos).
• Develop visual and multimedia products (written, audio, photographic, video) that showcase progress, results, and impact.
• Capture, synthesize, and document lessons learned, innovations, and good practices from projects and pillars.
• Produce knowledge products and policy-relevant briefs using evidence from M&E and delivery systems.
• Maintain a structured knowledge repository for ATO and MAFS communication and learning products.
• Track performance of communication activities (reach, engagement, usage) and adapt content strategies accordingly.

Skills, Qualifications and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in communication, Marketing, Business Management, or a related field.
• An advanced degree in any of the above fields will be an added advantage.
• Certifications in either Strategic Communications, Public Relations, Digital Communications, or Media Analytics is desired.
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in strategic communications, knowledge management, or public affairs within a development or international organization.
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing communication strategies for complex programs or policy initiatives.
• Proven experience producing high-quality communication and knowledge products.
• Experience engaging with media, development partners, and public-sector stakeholders, includingsupport to senior leadership engagements.
• Familiarity with digital communication tools and platforms, including websites, social media, and basicdesign tools (e.g., Canva, Adobe, or similar).
• Experience in agriculture, rural development, or similar sectoral programs is an advantage.
• Ability to contribute to the design and implementation of communication strategies and editorial calendars aligned with program and Ministerial priorities.
• Skilled in producing and managing high-quality written, visual, and multimedia content for digital platforms, reports, briefs, and knowledge products.
• Ability to capture, synthesize, and organize lessons learned, good practices, and implementation evidence into accessible knowledge products.
• Experience managing websites, social media platforms, and digital tools to engage stakeholders and monitor performance.
• Ability to support media relations and public communications, including drafting press materials and supporting public awareness activities.
• Capacity to work with M&E and Data teams to translate data, findings, and insights into clear, policy- relevant communication products.
• Ability to understand target audiences and write articulately and give compelling presentations both in local and English languages.

If you believe you are a fit for this position, please submit your application with a detailed CV (including your email and telephone contact information) to recruit@agra.org. Please quote the job reference number CO/SL/03/2026 on the subject line of the application email.

Applications must be received on or before 18 th March 2026. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

 For more information on the AGRA, visit www.agra.org.

AGRA is an Equal Opportunity Employer