Senior Social Development Specialist - World Bank

الصفحة الرئيسية

Senior Social Development Specialist


  • Job #: req8500
  • Organization: World Bank
  • Sector: Social Development
  • Grade: GG
  • Term Duration: 3 years 0 months
  • Recruitment Type: International Recruitment
  • Location: West Bank & Gaza
  • Required Language(s): English
  • Preferred Language(s): Arabic
  • Closing Date: 9/25/2020 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

JOB DESCRIPTION


Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. Visit http://www.worldbank.org/.

Sustainable Development Practice Group

The SD practice group helps countries tackle their most complex challenges in the areas of Agriculture; Climate Change; Water; Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy (ENB); Social Sustainability and Inclusion (SSI); and Urban, Resilience and Land Development.

Social Sustainability and Inclusion Development Context

The Social Sustainability and Inclusion (SSI) 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 Global Practice 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 ESF standards and strengthen inclusive development. Cross-GP collaboration is critical for the ESF and also the direct operational work of the staff. In particular, the GP focuses on three opportunity sets:
  • Social Resilience: Deepening opportunities for people to thrive by building cohesive and resilient communities able to withstand divisions caused by inequality, violence, climate change, and other risks to their livelihoods.
  • Inclusion for All: Expanding opportunities for people who have been excluded from participating fully in markets, services and society, because of their ethnicity, gender, disability, income, or religious or sexual orientation.
  • Empowerment: Creating opportunities for people to lead their communities, engage more fully in government, and shape their own futures.
Three overarching priorities of the Global Practice are to strengthen: (1) the analytics that underpin our country dialogue, operations, social risk management across the Bank’s portfolio, and engagements on the global agenda exploiting traditional and new sources of data and analytical tools, including digital tools; (2) the synergies between operational interventions (ASAs and financing) and the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) to help deliver on the promise of the ESF to bring a development focus to social risk management of the Bank’s portfolio; and (3) the Community Driven Development operational instrument to more consistently focus on social dimensions of climate change, digital applications for community learning, empowerment and livelihoods, and norms and behavior change.

Regional Context

The Middle East and North Africa Region (MNA) at the World Bank serves 21 client countries with a total population of about 335 million. Clients range from upper middle-income countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which are more interested in the Bank’s Reimbursable Technical Assistance, analytical and advisory services; to IBRD middle income countries such as Egypt, Iraq and Morocco, and two IDA countries, Yemen and Djibouti where more traditional Bank services are required. Hence the range of needs for advice, support and cross-fertilization of experiences is wide and challenging.

On the basis of the above, the MNA Social Sustainability and Inclusion team works across a complex institutional environment, in partnership with many different units within the Bank given the cross-cutting nature of social sustainability and inclusion issues, and task managing analytical products, technical assistance programs and projects that focus on youth, social accountability, local governance, as well as directly supporting specific Bank Operations on social sustainable development and social safeguard aspects.

Country Context

The political situation in the West Bank and Gaza (WB&G) remains uncertain as the economic momentum falters. Palestine faces a number of challenges, including political, economic and social that have been augmented by the outback of COVID-19. After two strong quarters at the end of 2018, preliminary data by the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) show that the growth of real gross domestic product in the West Bank & Gaza contracted in the first two consecutive quarters of 2019. Specifically, quarter-on-quarter growth was −2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2019 followed by −2 percent in the second quarter. As a result, the economy is technically in a recession. The Palestinian economy has been driven by large inflows of transfers as other sources of growth have been long hindered by the ongoing restrictions on movement and access.

Unemployment has continued to be high and poverty rates have increased. The unemployment rate reached 24.6 percent in the third quarter of 2019. This headline story, however, masks the regional divergence. In Gaza, 45.1 percent of those in the labor force were unemployed in the third quarter of 2019. COVID-19 is exacerbating an already challenging economic situation in the Palestinian territories. PCBS estimates losses of about USD 2.5 billion that represents a decline of 14% of GDP if COVID-19 pandemic last more of three months. The COVID-19 shock falls on an already very fragile economy, which has already suffered from plummeting foreign aid flows since 2012.
Currently there are more 28 active projects in the Palestine portfolio, including 2 COVID projects.

Roles and Responsibilities

MNA SSI is seeking a Sr. Social Development Specialist to be based in the West Bank and Gaza (WBG) country office. The Senior Social Development Specialist will have the following responsibilities:

  1. Lead the WBG social safeguards portfolio (under safeguards policies and ESF), provide direct operational support to operations, and advise task teams and clients on the Bank’s policies relating to assessment and mitigation of social risks and impacts during preparation and implementation of lending operations.
  2. Serve as country social development focal point and engage actively and regularly with country units and global practice teams and identify business opportunities for the SSI team in consultation with clients and country units.
  3. Undertake policy dialogue with clients on social sustainability and inclusion as well as social safeguards issues and advise counterparts on technical options for social and inclusive development including institutional development strategies.
  4. Lead analytical work and as relevant operational activities related to social sustainability and inclusion.
  5. 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 SSI topics; advise on the social sustainability of the portfolio, including gender, beneficiary feedback and safeguards issues, etc.
  6. Advise and participate in project teams to 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.
  7. For high risk projects, liaise closely with the Regional Social Safeguards Coordinator and the Regional Environmental and Social Standards Advisors to ensure timely distribution, completion and follow-up on social review processes. This will include ensuring that technical comments related to social aspects have been fully addressed and integrated into project documentation and ensuring compliance with applicable procedures and disclosure requirements.
  8. Participate in portfolio reviews on selected social risk and social sustainability and inclusion issues.
  9. Build capacity with clients on issues related to safeguards and broader SSI issues, including clients’ monitoring and evaluation of social development activities and outcomes.
  10. Improve feedback mechanisms through participating in and contributing in high quality training and other learning events related to social assessments, social safeguards and broader social development issues.
  11. Develop and build client relations within the Bank and with clients and contribute to generating new business for the Bank.
  12. Liaise with other social development specialists and other groups within the unit and other Global Practices and across the World Bank Group, to develop and promote the use of consistent approaches to social assessment and risk management.
  13. Participate in the broader SSI work of the team.
  14. Work independently under general direction of the Practice Manager and the RSC.

Selection Criteria

  1. Advanced university degree (Masters or PhD) in relevant social science (e.g., Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, and Political Science) or related fields.
  2. Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in social development topics, including fragility and conflict, community-driven development, disability, social inclusion, Citizen engagement, gender, youth, etc.
  3. At least 8 years of knowledge and professional experience in addressing issues 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.
  4. At least 8 years of experience with social assessments and analyzing social risks and impacts on different population groups; involuntary resettlement in different socio-economic contexts and tenure systems; coordination of transparent consultative and stakeholder engagement processes; grievance redress mechanisms, integration of relevant planning instruments such as Resettlement Action Plans in overall project planning and implementation; labor and working conditions community health and safety; and cultural heritage.
  5. Experience in social sustainability and risk management policy development, including dialogue with governments, collaboration in these areas with other international development agencies, corporate reviews and policy development and improvement efforts.
  6. Experience leading complex cross-cutting analytical work related to social sustainability and inclusion.
  7. Experience working in fragile and conflict affected states desirable.
  8. 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.
  9. Excellent interpersonal, problem-solving, communication and team skills, and ability to think innovatively and strategically to find balanced solutions to complex development problems, with a strong client focus.
  10. Acting with integrity at all times to build trust and to create an enabling work environment, whether as team leader or team member.
  11. High level of energy, initiative and self-motivation; willingness to travel and work under challenging circumstances.
  12. Ability to work across practices, work in cross-thematic teams, foster teamwork, and mentor junior staff.
  13. Excellent oral and writing skills. Ability to write well in English is essential. Excellent oral and written Arabic desirable.

Competencies

  1. In addition, the successful candidate is expected to exhibit the following core competencies:
  2. 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.
  3. Social Development Implications on Policy, Institutions, and Operations: Familiarity with the implications of social development on policy, institutions, and operations.
  4. Analytical Tools for Social Sustainability: Solid experience conducting social development analyses, producing meaningful results, and applying the tools in operations.
  5. Participation and Consultation: Solid experience conducting social development consultative and participatory approaches and applying the approaches in operations.
  6. Policy Dialogue Skills: Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
  7. Deliver Results for Clients: Proactively addresses client’s stated and unstated needs.
  8. Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries: Collaborates across boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly received diverse perspectives.
  9. Create, Apply and Share Knowledge: Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
  10. Make Smart Decisions: Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward.

How to Apply

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