Job: Program Analyst

Location: Washington
Deadline: Sunday, 28 July 2013

Description

Background / General description:

Note: This is a two year coterminous term appointment. A re-entry guarantee will need to be secured by Bank staff holding open-ended or regular appointments.

infoDev (www.infodev.org) is a program of the World Bank which works at the intersection of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship to create opportunities for inclusive growth, job creation and poverty reduction. infoDev assists governments and technology-focused small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow jobs, improve capacity and skills, increase access to finance and markets, ensure the appropriate enabling policy and regulatory environment for business to flourish, and test out innovative solutions in developing country markets. We do this in partnership with other development programs, with World Bank/IFC colleagues, and with stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors in the developing world.

infoDev is staffed by an expert Secretariat housed in the Financial and Private Sector Development (FPD) Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group. We leverage our work with complementary programs of FPD and other World Bank Group units, using the following strategic priorities:

• Facilitate the creation and growth of innovative technology enterprises (particularly SMEs) that in turn, support and lead to the growth of competitive industries;
• Support the commercialization and adoption of technologies, such as ICTs and climate technologies, by building capacity and skills, providing technical assistance, and enhancing access to finance and markets.
• Promote sound enabling environments for innovation and technology entrepreneurship to flourish, by disseminating cutting edge research and best practices, connecting communities of practice, building capacity and skills, and convening stakeholders. 
  infoDev is a global thought leader in ICTs for development (ICT4D) and in small business incubation for innovative entrepreneurs, start-ups and enterprises. infoDev's global incubation network spans some 400 incubators in over 100 countries. It connects more than 20,000 small and medium enterprises and has helped create over 270,000 jobs. infoDev's ICT4D work, in particular, its cutting edge research and analytical products have helped regulators and policymakers around the world create sound enabling environments for ICT access and use to flourish.
   
  infoDev's work is a continually iterative process. We communicate with our stakeholders on an ongoing basis through communities of practice, surveys and interviews, social media, focus groups, and direct feedback during training sessions. Our analytical work helps frame our work in the field. This adaptive format enables infoDev to build strong partnerships, work with a wide range of stakeholders, coordinate joint action among bilateral and multilateral partners, and deliver innovative programs on a national, regional and global scale. It also allows us to design demand-driven programs that are grounded in the realities of the developing countries we serve.
   
  infoDev's donors support the use of technology and innovation for development. They see a key role for a strong and robust private sector in growth, development, competitiveness, and poverty alleviation. They believe that access to information and ICTs opens opportunities for inclusive development, across all economic sectors and parts of society in developing countries.
   
  infoDev is currently implementing an ambitious work program, which includes several interesting initiatives:
• The 'Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC)', helps growth oriented Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Caribbean region use small business incubation as a tool to help technology enabled start-up entrepreneurs and grow competitive industries. The capacity of incubator managers and policymakers to support MSME development is an area of focus, as is the special needs of Caribbean women entrepreneurs. The program will also provide seed funding to promising MSMEs to help them successfully scale their operations, in recognition of the fact that access to finance is an important barriers for these enterprises to succeed.
• The 'Climate Technology Program (CTP)' aims to create a network of Climate Innovation Centers (CICs) to accelerate the development, deployment, and transfer of locally relevant climate technologies. CICs help developing countries innovate technologies and business models that meet local needs and as a result, address climate change mitigation and adaptation issues, as well as meet their 'Green Growth' objectives by supporting domestic climate and clean technology sectors for economic development, competitiveness and job creation Services offered by the CICs include financing, technical assistance, market information, policy advice and capacity building. CICs are expected to contribute over 70 innovative climate technology enterprises, generate over 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, and mitigate 1.5-2m tons of C02. A global network of CICs will facilitate and catalyze cross border, south-south, and north-south collaboration, market access and sharing of knowledge and contacts.
• The 'Creating Sustainable Businesses in the Knowledge Economy Program' (CSBKE) is a public-private partnership with the Government of Finland and Nokia. This program explores how to improve the productive capacity of enterprises, particularly SMEs, as engines for sustainable and equitable development. It also evaluates how innovation facilitates development, in areas such as value-chains, policy frameworks, and broader innovation eco-systems. It incorporates a number of creative and cutting-edge activities, such as mobile applications laboratories, social networks, access to finance and market mechanisms for technology SMEs and innovative agribusiness value chains. The program has global components, but its main focus is on Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA). 
  The infoDev team is led by the infoDev Program Manager and includes Program Coordinators (PC), Task Managers (TM) and core program teams. The Program Manager provides strategic guidance, makes linkages between programs and oversees relations with donors, the Bank and IFC, and other partners. PCs are responsible for overall coordination and delivery of infoDev's work program, while TMs manage individual projects, activities and thematic areas. infoDev is assisted by a core team handling areas such as operations, communications, resource management and administration.
   
  Note: 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 2 year term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities:

infoDev is seeking to hire a Program Analyst to assist the project management team in implementing the programs above. She/He may work primarily for one program but would be expected to provide support for other programs. The Program Analyst will report on a day-to-day basis to the TTLs and/or the infoDev Program Coordinators. Specifically, the Analyst(s) will be tasked to:

• Assist the TTL with day-to-day coordination and overall project management and supervision of relevant trust funds, including writing TORs, planning and monitoring of consultant and client deliverables so as to ensure timely and quality delivery of the work program, and responding to consultant and client queries related to World Bank requirements and processes;
• Plan and coordinate the execution of program in cooperation with the local consultants, and with relevant World Bank country offices and other partners. This includes development and execution of a monitoring and evaluation framework so as to measure the results of the capacity development program;
• Contribute to team discussions and decisions on overall strategy and implementations plans for infoDev programs.
• Pro-actively identify business development opportunities; assist with preparing related concept notes, proposals and presentations; and conduct preliminary outreach to relevant donors;
• Prepare progress reports, powerpoint presentations and any other documentation or materials required by senior management, the program steering committees, the infoDev Program Manager, or infoDev donors;
• Help organize, prepare, participate in and follow-up on all missions, workshops and events, this includes preparation of 'back to office reports' and workshop summaries and engaging relevant local country offices for clearance and communications;
• In collaboration with the Sr. Communications Officer, facilitate the preparation and dissemination of press releases, highlights and knowledge products generated from the program work. This includes pro-actively alerting the communications team to good PR opportunities and assisting in the preparation and contributing to communications products such as blog posts
• Prepare and process grant agreements and disbursement letters, monitor the implementation of grant agreements, withdrawals, deliverables, financial reports, and audits and engage other World Bank departments on all matters pertaining to grant management;
• In consultation with infoDev's Resource Management staff , administer trust funds financing program: ensure appropriate controls on usage of trust funds and relevant budgets, monitor utilization levels of trust funds, and advise the Program Manager regularly on the status of allocations, disbursements, and usage of trust funds;
• Work as part of a team to handle procurement for various program components;
• For training and capacity building activities under the program, coordinate pre-training assessments, analyze post-training assessments, and coordinate the updating and printing of all collateral training materials;
• Coordinate the recruitment of short term and extended term consultants for the program, including posting and disseminating job advertisements, setting up interviews and processing recruitments;
• Work with task managers to ensure compliance, due diligence and quality trust funded activities; and
• Other tasks that may be required by the program management teams.

Selection Criteria:

• Master's Degree in business, economics, international relations, or a related discipline;
• A minimum of three years of work experience;
• Excellent project management skills;
• Familiarity with World Bank procurement, financial management, hiring processes and Small Grants Policies.
• Positive, energetic and ambitious work attitude, willingness to work within a team environment.
• Excellent command of information resources and information technology.
• Accredited for Trust Funds and e-Consult a plus.
• Highly systematic with keen attention to detail.
• Capacity to manage multiple complex tasks in parallel.
• Problem-solving orientation.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with staff, clients and partners at junior and senior levels;
• Excellent command of Powerpoint, Word, and Excel.

Competencies:

• Operational Project Management - Participates in the review of bidding documents, evaluation reports, safeguard studies draft fiduciary, and implementation progress reports, and in the development/updates of procurement plans and action plans. The selected candidate would also be responsible for processing grants in accordance with the World Bank Small Grants Policy.
• Project Management - Demonstrates basic knowledge of project management tools , operations portal, and methodologies and applies them to own tasks and objectives setting.
• Demonstrates a good understanding and experience in the areas of Access to Finance (A2F); SME and business advisory services are considered a plus.
• Previous experience working in the Caribbean region would also be considered a plus.
• One FPD - FPD Knowledge & Experience - Demonstrates basic knowledge of financial and/or private sector development issues and initiatives; demonstrates strong analytical skills & writing ability to support multi-disciplinary teams.
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation - Demonstrates a basic understanding of the strategies and practices of entrepreneurship and innovation; demonstrates strong analytical skills and writing ability to support the promotion and creation thriving of enterprises.
• Client and Results Orientation - Accepts Accountability for Job Tasks
• Business Judgment and analytical decision making - Analyzes Available Information
• Building and Sharing Expertise - Builds and Shares Basic Knowledge
• Teamwork and Communication - Values Working in a Team Environment
• Leadership - Focuses on Personal Impact and Acts Proactively
• Client Orientation - Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.
• Drive for Results - Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results, and has the personal organization to do so.
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team's work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner.
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others' work.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities.

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