Description
Voulez-vous construire une carrière qui en vaille vraiment la peine ? Travailler à la Banque mondiale vous offre une occasion unique d’aider nos clients à résoudre leurs plus grands défis en matière de développement. La Banque mondiale est constituée de deux entités – la Banque internationale pour la reconstruction et le développement (BIRD) et l’Association internationale de développement (IDA). Il s’agit d’une coopérative mondiale de développement détenue par 189 pays membres. En tant que plus grande banque de développement au monde, la Banque mondiale fournit des prêts, des garanties, des produits de gestion des risques et des services de conseil aux pays à revenu intermédiaire et aux pays à faible revenu solvables, et coordonne les réponses aux défis régionaux et mondiaux. Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site www.worldbank.org.
Western and Central Africa (AFW) Region
We need the best and brightest talent focused on Sub-Saharan African countries in order to harness the potential and innovation happening across the continent. Africa is a continent on the move, with a young population and a growing market of nearly 1.2bn people. We are committed to making the Africa regional teams into leading innovation hubs.
Yet, these vast opportunities are tempered by persistent gaps in education, health, and skills, which have Africa only reaching forty percent of its estimated potential. Moreover, conflict, food insecurity, population growth, and the disruptive forces of climate change threaten to curtail or even reverse the progress that has been made over the past decades.
In West and Central Africa, the World Bank is a leading partner with a growing portfolio of 387 projects totaling more than $44.1 billion in areas such as agriculture, trade and transport, energy, education, health, water and sanitation- all to support job creation, gender equality, poverty reduction, and better lives. Across the continent, the World Bank’s program has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. By 2030, about 87% of the world’s extreme poor are projected to live in Sub-Saharan Africa, so this is where our mission to end extreme poverty and to promote shared prosperity will be achieved.
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 COVID.
Western and Central Africa (AFW) Region: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/western-and-central-africa
The Sustainable Development Practice Group helps countries tackle their most complex challenges in the areas of Agriculture and Food; Climate Change; Environmental and Social Framework (ESF); Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy; Social Sustainability and Inclusion; Urban, Resilience and Land Development; and Water.
SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AND INCLUSION GLOBAL PRACTICE
The SSI Global Practice (GP) helps countries tackle deep rooted social problems stemming from fragility, climate change, exclusion, and the digital age with people centered solutions that build on local values and institutions. The GP engages with citizens, communities, and governments to deepen resilience, build inclusion, and empower vulnerable and marginalized groups to have influence and voice. The SSI GP prioritizes participatory, multi-sectoral approaches that build on norms and informal institutions to address social challenges and to build more inclusive, empowered communities. It also works across the Bank’s portfolio to implement the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) and strengthen inclusive development. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialsustainability
POSITION
The Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice (SSI GP) has a growing work program in West and Central Africa, encompassing project loans and grants, advisory and analytical programs and active partnerships supporting a wide range of engagements focusing on fragility, conflict and violence (FCV); social cohesion and resilience; women empowerment and gender equality, social inclusion, citizen engagement and social accountability; and social risk management. These include regional programs that support community-driven development of services and infrastructure, front line service delivery, local governance, citizen engagement, and social inclusion/cohesion in fragile and conflict affected areas.
SAWS4, one of the two SSI GP units in West and Central Africa, is looking to recruit a Senior Social Development Specialist to lead our operational engagement in the Cote d’Ivoire Country Management Unit (CMU). The selected candidate will be based in Cote d’Ivoire and will report directly to SAWS4 Practice Manager. S/he will be expected to work closely with the CMU and task teams in the countries, as well as with other Global Practice teams, Global Solution Groups and Global Theme teams specializing in Gender and Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV).
Duties and Accountabilities
The Senior Social Development Specialist will have the following responsibilities:
- Lead/manage the preparation and implementation of community driven development projects in fragile, conflict and violence context.
- Lead missions and provide implementation support for Bank-financed projects as a technical expert and/or Task Team Leader; interacts with clients at the operational and policy level.
- Lead/advise and support Task Team Leaders, task teams and counterparts on technical options for social development programs and operations, on the full range of social development topics, including local development, social cohesion, citizen engagement, social inclusion, gender and youth, with a particular focus on lagging regions, access to services, community-based service delivery, social accountability mechanisms, etc.
- Support the unit to develop, pilot and scale disruptive, innovative, technology-enabled solutions to enhance effectiveness in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
- Support Lead Operations Specialist in handling complex technical, institutional and program implementation issues regarding social sustainable and inclusive development at the operational level and leads the related dialogue with counterparts.
- Play a key role in implementing the Unit’s operational strategy, through advising the Practice Manager and Lead Operations Specialist, engaging clients and supporting colleagues.
- Employ appropriate methodologies for handling simple and complex procurement tasks and/or issues.
- Contribute to develop new areas of focus and operational business around social development issues, including on social cohesion, social inclusion, gender, youth, decentralization/community development as well as issues that emerge in the context of fragile regions.
- Contribute to sector policy; make recommendations on strategies and policy options for member governments.
- Contribute to the elaboration of strategies, project concept and policy analysis relevant to the Social Sustainability and Inclusion Practice; Participate in cross-practice teams responsible for the preparation of policy notes, Systematic Country Diagnostics, Country Partnership Frameworks, sector studies, and research and policy development activities on the full range of social development topics.
- Contribute to the Unit’s analytical work; generate “think pieces” and “best practice” papers; lead the development and implementation of proposals for analytical and advisory work.
- Actively engage in efforts to promote evidence-based approaches and policy updates to foster social cohesion, conflict sensitivity, community empowerment, resilience, and violence prevention.
- Contribute to knowledge sharing, dissemination and awareness raising activities with both Bank staff and clients.
- Work independently under the general direction of the Practice Manager, seeking guidance on complex projects/issues from Lead Specialists; guide and mentor more junior staff.
- Supervise the work of consultants and technical specialists to ensure consistency and conformity to Bank operational policies.
- Support and actively participate to the Bank-wide professional community of staff engaged in social development by participating in thematic groups, exchanging best practices, and drafting technical notes.
Note: The specialist may be expected to take other assignments as and when required by the Practice Manager.
Selection Criteria
This position is suited to constructive, highly motivated team players with an eye for detail, understanding of the bigger picture context of operations, and creative problem-solving abilities. The successful candidate should have strong operational and analytical skills and experience in fragile and conflict affected settings and be able to integrate social development considerations in an operational context.
- Master’s degree or PhD in relevant social science (e.g., Sociology, Gender studies, Social Anthropology, Social Development, Public Health, Political Science, Conflict and Violence Prevention) or related fields.
- Minimum of 8 years of professional experience addressing at the operational level social development topics, including community-driven development, fragility and conflict, social cohesion and local service provision.
- Minimum of 5 years of demonstrated team leadership experience and deep knowledge in the areas of community empowerment, social inclusion, local service provision, forced displacement, community driven development, fragility, conflict and violence in fragile and conflict affected countries.
- Extensive proven project management experience with World Bank IDA and/or IBRD lending operations, policies, procedures and processes or from other multi-laterals or bi-laterals;
- Extensive proven experience leading design and implementation of social development programs including social cohesion, Community Driven Development and livelihoods support in fragile and conflict affected countries.
- Extensive experience with managing operations in low capacity, fragile and conflict-affected environments, and working on complex multi-sectoral development challenges.
- Experience in contributing to high-level strategic decisions and technical support to government counterparts, policy makers, beneficiaries, community-based organizations, and development partners on effective approaches to local development in fragile and conflict affected countries.
- Demonstrated ability to translate analytical work into policy advice and actionable, practical recommendations.
- Strong organizational skills, with ability to prioritize, deal with frequent and unexpected changes, and work within tight.
- Proven capacity to work with a wide range of stakeholders, international organizations, development agencies, government counterparts, beneficiaries of Bank projects, and civil society organizations; ability to effectively negotiate and build consensus to achieve constructive outputs.
- High level of energy, initiative and self-motivation; willingness to travel and work under challenging circumstances.
- Demonstrated ability to work across practices, work in cross-thematic teams, foster teamwork, and mentor junior staff.
- Outstanding interpersonal, communication, problem-solving, and team skills, and ability to think innovatively and strategically to find balanced solutions to complex development problems, with a strong client focus; Proven track record in communicating complex issues in a clear and concise manner to different stakeholders.
- Excellent oral and writing skills in English and French essential.
Competencies
The successful candidate is expected to exhibit the following core competencies:
- Social Development Implications on Policy, Institutions, and Operations: Solid understanding of the implications of social development on policy, institutions, and operations.
- Analytical Tools for Social Sustainability: Robust experience conducting social development analyses, producing meaningful results, and applying the tools in operations.
- Participation and Consultation: Solid experience conducting social development consultative and participatory approaches, and applying the approaches in operations;
- Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena: Understands policy making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
- Policy Dialogue Skills: Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
- Deliver Results for Clients: Proactively addresses client’s stated and unstated needs.
- Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries: Collaborates across boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly received diverse perspectives.
- Lead and Innovate: Develops innovative solutions.
- Create, Apply and Share Knowledge: Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
- Make Smart Decisions: Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward.
