All Things Urban

The World Bank, a member of the World Bank Group, is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Our mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors.

The African continent provides challenges and opportunities for the World Bank’s twin goals of poverty reduction and shared prosperity. More than half of the world’s poor live in the 47 states of Sub-Saharan Africa. There is a wide range of populations – with 12 states having less than 1.5 million people and 6 with more than 50 million. Angola, Nigeria and South Africa make up about 60% of the region’s GDP. Poverty has declined from 59% in 1993 to 41% in 2015, but the number of poor has increased and there is an overlap between the monetary poor and deprivations in other aspects (e.g. education and social services). The average fertility rate is twice the global average and the Human Capital Index is 0.4. Access to electricity is around 45%. Growth is expected to be 2.9% in 2019 partly due to the tightening of global financial conditions and the volatility of commodity prices. Given the youthful demographics and greater private sector dynamism in the region, there are important opportunities for economic growth, bolstered by political reforms, regional integration, disruptive technologies and globalization. Achieving the Bank’s twin goals will require a concerted effort to accelerate the rate of poverty reduction, a key objective in Western Africa, including tackling efforts to promote social inclusion by women and other vulnerable groups.

The four Africa Social Development Units play a strategic, advisory and knowledge role for the Region and the GP’s work in these areas. The combined Units have a wide range of engagements including social safeguards (involuntary resettlement and Indigenous Peoples); Environmental and Social Framework (ESF); community driven development; support for fragile states and conflict-affected countries; citizen engagement and social accountability; social inclusion; and social resilience and analytics for social development.

• Develop technical solutions and lead/manage the preparation and implementation of community driven development projects in fragile, conflict and violence context.
• Participate in project teams to develop operational designs and mechanisms including social risk management.
• Advises task teams and counterparts on technical options for social development programs and operations, on the full range of social development topics, including 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.
• Helps the unit develop, pilot and scale disruptive, innovative, technology-enabled solutions to enhance effectiveness in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
• Plays a key role in implementing the Unit’s sector strategy, through advising the Practice Manager, engaging clients and supporting colleagues.
• Supports Senior and Lead Specialists in handling complex technical, institutional and program implementation issues regarding social development at the operational level, and leads the related dialogue with counterparts.
• Contributes 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.
• Contributes to sector policy; makes recommendations on strategies and policy options for member governments.
• Participates 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.
• Works independently under the general direction of the Practice Manager, seeking guidance on complex projects/issues from Lead Specialists; guides and mentors more junior staff.
• Participate in missions and supervises Bank-financed projects as a technical expert and/or Task Team Leader; interacts with clients at the operational and policy level.
• Supervises the work of consultants and technical specialists to ensure consistency and conformity to Bank operational policies.
• Contributes to the Unit’s analytical work; generate “think pieces” and “best practice” papers; leads the development and implementation of proposals for analytical and advisory work.
• Employs appropriate methodologies for handling simple and complex procurement tasks and/or issues.
• Contributes to knowledge sharing, dissemination and awareness raising activities with both Bank staff and clients.
• Supports 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.

• Master or Bachelor's degree with 5 years’ experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience in a related social science (e.g., Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Political Science)
• Demonstrated skills and experience in the following areas is required: community driven development and fragility, conflict and violence; Additionally, skills and experience in one or more of the following is desirable: social inclusion, citizen engagement, gender, youth.
• Demonstrated skills and direct work experience with at least one or more of the following: community development, public consultations; participatory budgeting; participatory rural and urban appraisal; participatory research methods (including observation, surveys); participatory monitoring and evaluation; grievance redress mechanisms; or youth mobilization.
• Experience working in fragile and conflict-affected environments is required
• Experience in applying emerging and disruptive technologies and innovations to development engagements is highly desirable.
• Project leadership and management experience with World Bank IDA and/or IBRD lending operations or comparable project management experience with other large-scale development institutions is highly desirable.
• Proven capacity to translate analytical work into policy advice and operational, actionable, recommendations.
• Proven capacity to work with a wide range of stakeholders, international organizations, development agencies, government counterparts, beneficiaries of Bank projects, and civil society organizations.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams and multicultural environments.
• Excellent oral and written communications skills in French and English; knowledge of local language would be an advantage.
• Willingness to travel regularly in Africa, including in areas affected by fragility.

In addition, 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.

Poverty has no borders, neither does excellence. We succeed because of our differences and we continuously search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe.

We’re not fully sure whether this role is open to international candidates. If you would need visa sponsorship or work authorisation, we recommend checking directly with the employer before applying.