Deadline: August 15, 2023 | Social Development Specialist | World Bank
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| Job #: | req23714 |
| Organization: | World Bank |
| Sector: | Social Development |
| Grade: | GF |
| Term Duration:Â | 4 years 0 months |
| Recruitment Type: | Local Recruitment |
| Location: | Bangui,Central African Republic |
| Required Language(s): | English & French |
| Preferred Language(s): | |
| Closing Date: | 8/15/2023 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC |
Social Development Specialist | World Bank
Description
THE WORLD BANK GROUP
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. 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, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. 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. Visit www.worldbank.org.
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 Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice 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 Practice engages with citizens, communities, and governments to deepen resilience, build inclusion, and empower vulnerable and marginalized groups to have influence and voice. It prioritizes participatory, multi-sectoral approaches that build on norms and informal institutions to address social challenges and to build more inclusive, empowered communities. The Practice also works across the Bank’s portfolio to implement the Environment and Social Framework (ESF) standards. The ESF offers an overarching platform for fostering inclusive approaches to ensure vulnerable groups benefit from Bank investments and mitigate against related risks.
The Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice has adopted a new strategy that aims to promote inclusive sustainable development anchored on four  pillars:
• Social Inclusion: enhancing opportunities for equality and inclusion of all people irrespective of income level, geography, gender, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or other grounds of discrimination; Advancing inclusive laws, regulations, policies, and institutions; and investing in access to markets and services for hard to reach and marginalized groups living in lagging regions.
• Social Resilience: Strengthening social risk management for social sustainability; Enhancing social cohesion and opportunities in fragile communities; Strengthening social resilience to climate extremes and natural hazards and Supporting emergency response and an inclusive recovery from COVID-19.
• Social Empowerment: supporting community empowerment for more effective service delivery; Fostering accountable governance including from the bottom up; and Promoting community-driven women empowerment and livelihood support programs.
• Social Opportunities and Risks: support social risk management, and enhanced inclusion, efficiency, and transparency of public and private investments; Environmental and Social Framework (ESF)project preparation and implementation; Environmental and Social (E&S) country dialogues, systems assessments, and regulatory reform; Finance to strengthen Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) institutional capacity and professional cadre
WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA (AFW) REGION:Â
https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/western-and-central-africa
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/sierraleone
Central African Republic COUNTRY OVERVIEW
https://ida.worldbank.org/en/country/centralafricanrepublic
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/centralafricanrepublic
POSITION (Social Development Specialist | World Bank)
The Social Development Specialist will be based in BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC , and will provide support in meeting the Bank’s expanding Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) and social safeguards agenda and will promote the social sustainability of its investments. She/he will report directly to a regional Practice Manager and will be expected to work closely with country units and task teams across in Central African Republic. The selected candidate will also be expected to work collaboratively and develop good relations with the corporate safeguards team, and the Bank-wide Social Sustainability and Safeguards Global Solutions Group (GSG).
Note:Â If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 4-year term appointment.
Duties and Accountabilities
The Social Development Specialist will have the following responsibilities:
• Work under the coordination of the Regional Coordinator and the Country Management unit coordinator for ESF and social safeguards, providing oversight and quality assurance on the project portfolio.
• Provide technical support on social risk management (and social sustainability and inclusion?) to Bank teams during the processing of Bank-financed projects under preparation and ensure proper internal documentation during both project preparation and implementation. This includes preparation of relevant ES due diligence documents as part of the Project Concept or Appraisal package; provide ES risk ratings at concept, as part of the PAD, and in ISRs; promptly notifying the GPs responsible for the Project if significant additional risks and impacts are identified during Project preparation and implementation, and documenting these in the ISR; track the social requirements for the project and communicate upcoming deadlines, and any new or changing social risks as identified.
• Provide technical advice to Borrowers on social risk management and social sustainability and inclusion of projects. This support may include providing recommendation to the Borrower regarding appropriate ES mitigation measures; assisting the Borrower in the identification of relevant ES tools and instruments, guide preparation of ESF instruments such as the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) with its corresponding Environmental and Social Management Plan, Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), Social Impacts Assessments (SIA) and corresponding Social Management Plans (SMP), Resettlement Frameworks (RFs), Indigenous Peoples Plan (IPP), Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP), Stakeholders Engagement Plan (SEP), and Labor Management Procedures (LMP), Grievance Redress Mechanism, etc.
• Provide technical support to Borrowers on range of processes related to the implementation of the ESF instruments. This should include but will not be limited to consultations, stakeholder engagement, and grievances redressing.
• Organize/deliver training on social risk management to counterpart agencies working on Bank-financed investments.
• Travel regularly to field sites to monitor social risks, impacts and performance of Bank-financed operations as needed. Sites may be in remote areas with very limited facilities and provide intensive on-site field level support to project teams and/or Borrowers involved in preparation and the implementation of social risk management instruments.
• Lead/support country system strengthening support and client capacity building on Social Risk Management and ESF implementation in Central African Republic.
• Engage actively and regularly with country unit management leadership and task teams and identify business opportunities for social risk management in consultation with clients.
• 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.
• Advise and participate in project teams to help develop operational designs and mechanisms to assess social opportunities, impacts, constraints, and risks related to Bank supported operations; develop and evaluate proposed technical solutions and assist in the preparation of project documentation.
• Handle complex technical, institutional and program implementation issues regarding social risk management and and social sustainability and inclusion and support the related dialogue with counterparts.
• Participate and play a leading role in portfolio reviews on social safeguards/ESF and selected social sustainability and inclusion topics.
• Participate in analytical studies, support other analytical work on different and social sustainability and inclusion topics, and stay abreast of developments in social sustainability and inclusion globally and on cross-cutting issues, including providing analytic inputs to operational activities, with an emphasis on inclusive societies (social inclusion and gender equality, GBV); resilient communities  (Green and Just Transitions and locally led climate action; Security and safety (gender-based violence, forced and child labor, trafficking); Conflict prevention, recovery and migration; and empowered people (community empowerment for voice and oversight; institutions and innovations for citizen engagement; partnerships and platforms to strengthen civic space, voice and accountability)
• Engage in the Bank-wide professional community of staff in social development and social standards/safeguards by participating in thematic groups, exchanging best practices, and drafting technical notes.
• Help develop sustainable local and national consultation mechanisms and strategies.
• Supervise the work of consultants and technical specialists to ensure consistency and conformity to Bank standards.
• Contribute to the development of learning products/activities such as Technical Assistance, internal BBLs, guidance notes, peer learning events.
• Take other assignments as and when required by the Practice Manager.
Selection Criteria
Qualifications
This position is suited to constructive, highly motivated team players with an eye for detail, an understanding of the bigger picture context of operations, and creative problem-solving abilities. The successful candidate should have strong operational and analytical skills, have practical experience handling complex/sensitive social development issues through participatory processes of stakeholder engagement, and be able to integrate social development considerations in an operational context.
• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in social sciences (gender studies, anthropology, sociology, social development, public health, conflict, violence prevention, etc.).
• A minimum of five (5) years of directly relevant professional experience in social development and inclusion; women’s economic empowerment, and gender/GBV.
• Knowledge and experience in addressing social risk management covered by the World Bank’s ESF and social safeguards policies or similar policies in other international finance institutions in complex and challenging settings, and across practices. This includes experience with: social assessments and analyzing social risks and impacts on different population groups; involuntary resettlement in different socio-economic contexts and tenure systems; Indigenous Peoples’ issues; transparent consultative and stakeholder engagement processes; grievance redress mechanisms, integration of relevant planning instruments such as Resettlement Action Plans and Indigenous Peoples Plans; labor and working conditions including community health and safety; and cultural heritage.
• Experience in social risk management dialogue and collaboration with governments, other international development agencies
• Ability to present complex social development and ESF/safeguards issues to task teams and Bank audiences, and to engage effectively with government counterparts, the private sector, project beneficiaries and civil society.
• Proven leadership in social risk management skills and experience with World Bank IDA and/or IBRD (or other comparable international organizations) lending operations, policies, and procedures.
• Experience in areas of social inclusion such as gender, gender-based violence (GBV); disability; conflict, fragility, and violence (FCV), displacement etc.
• Strong operational (task management) and analytical skills and demonstrated ability to translate analytical work into policy advice and actionable, practical recommendations.
• Experience with working in low capacity, fragile and conflict-affected environments, working on complex multi-sectoral development challenges.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize, deal with frequent and unexpected changes and work within tight timeframes
• Experience in collecting, analyzing, and effectively using data related to women empowerment/ gender equality /GBV prevention and response.
• Experience in contributing to high-level strategic decisions and technical support to government counterparts, policymakers, beneficiaries, community-based organizations, and development partners on effective approaches to close gender gaps.
• 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.
• 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.
• Excellent oral and writing skills in English and French are essential, including proven track record in communicating complex issues in a clear and concise manner to different stakeholders and ability to present and facilitate sessions.
• Very 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, and foster teamwork.
COMPETENCIES
In addition, the successful candidate is expected to exhibit the following core competencies:
• Social Safeguards/ESF: Experience in successfully applying social safeguard and/or ESF policies to both high and low risk projects, with minimal supervision, covering issues of involuntary resettlement, indigenous peoples, labor, community health and safety, stakeholder engagement, etc.
• Social Development Implications on Policy, Institutions, and Operations: Familiarity with the implications of social development on policy, institutions, and operations.
• Analytical Tools for Social Sustainability: Solid 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.
• 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.
• 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.
MORE INFORMATION:
Visit the World Bank Official Careers website to apply
