Senior Social Development Specialist
Job #: |
req29409 |
Organization: |
World Bank |
Sector: |
Social Development |
Grade: |
GG |
Term Duration: | 3 years 0 months |
Recruitment Type: |
International Recruitment |
Location: |
Addis Ababa,Ethiopia |
Required Language(s): |
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Preferred Language(s): |
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Closing Date: |
10/2/2024 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC |
Description
Do you want
to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is one of the
largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique
global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty and
promoting shared prosperity. With 189 member countries and more than 120
offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing
in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop
solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
Eastern and Southern Africa (AFE) Region:
We
need the best and brightest talent focused on our region in order to harness
the potential and innovation happening across the continent. Home to about 700
million of Africa’s people, Eastern and Southern Africa is a geographically,
culturally and economically diverse region of 26 countries stretching from the
Red Sea in the North to the Cape of Good Hope in the South.
The
subregion harbors some of Africa’s protracted conflicts, rendering many of its
countries fragile, while significant gaps in education, health, and skills
development continue to keep people from reaching their full potential. This
creates a huge development challenge, impacts heavily on the lives and
livelihoods of people, and hinders regional integration and trade. But it also
creates an opportunity to work closely with country leaders, civil society,
development partners, and young people to chart a brighter course for the
future.
Are
you ready to make an impact? We are looking for dedicated professionals to join
our innovative and diverse team to improve people’s lives and help countries
build back better after COVID19. For more information on the Eastern and
Southern Africa (ESAFR) Region, visit: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/eastern-and-southern-africa.
Planet Practice Group
The Planet Practice Group of the World Bank supports the
WBG’s vision by focusing sustainable and inclusive growth and ensuring that the
Bank’s work focus on people. The Group comprises five operational units
including Agriculture and food (AGF); Climate Change Global (CCG) solutions;
Environment, natural resources, and blue economy (ENB), Water as well as the
Social sustainability and Inclusion (SSI) practices. In addition, the Planet
Group leads the implementation of the World Bank’s Environmental and Social
Framework (ESF), making sure that Bank-assisted projects are sustainably
designed and implemented. The Planet leadership team includes Vice Presidency
(VP), Regional Directors (RDs) responsible for the delivery of regional and
country programs and Global Directors (GDs) who have a primary role in setting
GP strategy, global engagements, promoting the flow of global knowledge, talent
management, and strategic staffing. The Planet Group has four objectives (i)
deliver basis needs; (ii) ensure sustainability; (iii) build social inclusion
and cohesion; and (iv) lead on long term development issues.
Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice
Social
Sustainability and Inclusion reflects the World Bank’s focus on addressing long
lasting barriers to development, strengthening the focus on people who have
been excluded from economic and social opportunities, and increasing investment
in inclusive growth. For more information, visit https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialsustainability.
Unit Context
The
East Africa Unit of SSI (SAES2) provides social development support to Borrower
countries in East Africa – Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia,
South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. SAES2 manages a
portfolio of SSI operations and analytics across East Africa, supports other
global practices in meeting the Bank’s social risk management requirements on
their operations and is responsible for quality assurance on all social risk
management instruments for the region. The unit is seeking an experienced Senior
Social Development Specialist to play a key role in social risk management.
Duties and Responsibilities:
The
Country Management Unit (CMU) Social Coordinator/Senior Social Development Specialist
will lead a team of seven specialists overseeing one of the Africa region's
largest IDA portfolios. The CMU covers Fragile, Conflict and Violence
(FCV) affected countries, including Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Eritrea. The
successful candidate is expected to have a strong track record of working on
complex, high-risk projects and extensive experiences with safeguards and ESF. Ethiopia
is the country in the CMU with and the largest and most complex portfolio. The successful
candidate will work closely with the
Practice Manager, the Regional Safeguards Advisor, Sector Leader and the CMU,
and be part of the Bank-wide Global Solutions Group on Social Sustainability
and Standards. The work will entail exercising leadership on social risk
management, and engagement on operational, policy and analytical aspects of the
social development agenda. Candidates looking for opportunities to expand their
team leadership experiences, applying innovation and strategic thinking, in a
fast-paced and high-visibility setting are encouraged to apply.
The
incumbent will:
- Lead
the country dialogue on key social and social risk management issues across
the CMU.
- Provide technical leadership to government, CMU and practices on
due diligence required for the preparing and implementing of activities to
improve the social sustainability of high and substantial risk projects.
Lead Bank teams to undertake
social analysis and oversee the preparation of key ESF related instruments
such as the Environmental and Social Review Summaries on high-risk and
complex projects as a key part of the Bank’s due diligence.
- Advise project teams and
clients on the preparation and implementation of instruments and tools to
handle the social risks and impacts of Bank financed projects in
accordance with Bank ESF/policy requirements. These include legal
documents such as the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan, social
assessments, stakeholder engagement plans, labor management procedures,
plans for inclusion of historically underserved traditional local communities, resettlement action plans, environmental and social
impact assessments, gender based violence risk assessment and action plans,
and environmental and social management plans as determined by the needs
and impacts of a project.
- Participate in project preparation, appraisal, and
supervision activities of project implementation, including operational
missions and support the resolution of emerging issues for high-risk
complex projects to ensure results on the ground and project
implementation progress.
- Hold direct responsibility for and oversight of high-risk and very complex projects.
- The
successful candidate will also play a role in the unit’s quality assurance
team, working with a small team on the overall quality of the unit’s
portfolio.
- The
senior specialist is expected to work closely with other Global Practices,
ensuring that social sustainability
and inclusion are designed into World Bank financed operations, for
example through project components or mainstreamed through Bank financed
operations.
- There
may be opportunities to design and implement SSI projects in East Africa.
Policy and Analytical work:
Participate in CPF/SCD
discussions to advance GP/SD Strategy and build work programs, with new
projects or analytical work pipelines agencies and donors including providing
leadership to practice teams responsible for the preparation of policy
notes, Systematic Country Diagnostics, Country Partnership Frameworks,
Country Policy and Institutional Assessments, Development Policy Lending,
sector studies, and research and policy development activities.
Lead dialogue on the
implementation of the Environmental and Social Framework with senior government
officials, development partners, civil society, and other stakeholders,
and coordinate the Bank's relations with clients on social development.
Working closely with CMU, lead
portfolio reviews, overview assessments and other analytics on social
sustainability and social risk management as required.
Conduct and contribute to
formal and informal analytical advisory activities and research work on
key social development issues, including on community and local
development, lagging regions, local livelihood enhancement, social
inclusion, gender equality, forced displacement and FCV.
Advise task teams on technical
options for social development analytics on the full range of social
development issues.
Capacity building:
Lead coordination (with
environmental colleagues) to enhance the capacity of the client countries
to enhance their systems for enhancing the environmental and social
sustainability of projects and managing the environmental and social risks
and impacts of the development process.
Supervise the work of
consultants and technical specialists to ensure consistency and conformity
to international good practice.
The
role also involves a significant focus on developing and mentoring. The
CMU coordinator/SDS will promote
teamwork, innovation and agility including and help mentor junior staff on
operations and analytical work and career development.
Other:
Maintain
active engagement with a broad range of key stakeholders, identifying potential partnerships and new opportunities for
engagement around social sustainability and inclusion with internal and
external Bank clients.
Work as an active member of the
Country Office and Country Team/Unit.
Reporting:
Reports to Practice Manager,
SAES2
Selection Criteria
- This is a challenging position suited to constructive,
highly motivated team players with an eye for detail, understanding the
bigger picture context of operations, and creative problem-solving
abilities. The successful candidate should have extensive experiences in
social risk management, implementation of safeguards policies and ESF,
including ESS5 Land Acquisition, Restrictions on Land Use and Involuntary
Resettlement (ESS5).
- Advanced university degree (Masters or PhD) in relevant
social science (e.g., Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, and Political
Science) or related relevant fields.
- A minimum of eight years of professional experience in
social sustainability, social standards/safeguards and/or social
development (gender, community-driven development, citizen engagement).
- Extensive experience working on complex, high-risk programs, addressing
social risk management aspects of project design and implementation
support.
- Demonstrated experience with complex involuntary
resettlement, social risk management/safeguards is required.
- Experience in Africa region and broader areas of social
development such as experience in fragile, conflict and violence affected settings,
regional operations, citizen engagement, social inclusion, stakeholder
engagement, gender and women’s empowerment, lagging and conflict-affected
regions, and forced displacement are desirable.
- Demonstrated ability to translate analytical work into
policy advice and substantial, practical recommendations.
- Proven ability to engage effectively with Government,
private sector, project beneficiaries and civil society.
- Strong analytical skills.
- Excellent interpersonal, problem-solving skills, and
ability to think innovatively and strategically to find solutions to
complex development problems.
- Readiness for frequent travel within Country duty
station and to other countries covered by the Unit.
- Proven ability to work in and actively contribute to
teams and champion a positive team dynamic.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
in English.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.
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