Job: Senior Private Sector Specialist

Location: WashingtonDeadline: Thursday, 01 August 2013

Description

Background / General description:

Established in 2002, the Global Partnership for Education ('Global Partnership' or GPE), formerly the Education for All Fast Track Initiative, has grown and evolved to become the premier partnership focused on basic education in developing countries. Its members include 58 of the world's poorest developing countries, over 30 bilateral, regional, and multilateral agencies; development banks; the private sector; civil society groups; and teachers organizations. The GPE Board of Directors, the Global Partnership's governing body, sets its policies and strategies and approves all funding.

The Global Partnership provides its developing country partners support to build and implement sound education plans. In this respect, GPE manages trust funds that have allocated approximately $2.2 billion over the past 8 years and will be allocating approximately a further $2 billion by 2014. The Global Partnership aims to achieve Education for All by efficiently using international and national resources and matching donors' priorities with developing countries' own education goals and strategies.

The GPE Secretariat, which has approximately 50 staff, is hosted by the World Bank in Washington, DC. As a consequence of the Partnership taking a greater leadership role to achieve international development goals in education, the Secretariat is developing its capacity to support country level processes and meet expectations from GPE's stakeholders to demonstrate concrete results and outcomes as well as clear value for money.

The Secretariat's Partnerships and External Relations Team includes donor relations, communications, advocacy, civil society outreach, private sector outreach, Board constituency support and the coordination of the Global Partnership's Implementation Plan. The GPE Board agreed to the next replenishment pledging conference being held in June 2014. The Senior Private Sector Specialist will have a critical role in bringing the private sector and foundations more centrally into the partnership and hopefully actively participating in the replenishment campaign. Currently the private sector and private foundations hold a shared seat on the 19-seat GPE Board of Directors. The position will offer motivated individuals the chance to shape the future of the GPE and its impact at the global level.

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:

The position reports directly to the Manager, Partnerships and External Relations and has the following responsibilities:

1. Develop and execute a comprehensive private sector and foundations engagement strategy that seeks to maximize the enormous potential that these groups have to strengthen the Global partnership. Specifically:

• Support the GPE Chief Technical Officer in the development and implementation of a comprehensive approach to innovation, including possible funding options
• Explore the options for private sector and private foundation financial and in-kind contributions to the GPE Fund or other possible funding structures (as agreed by the GPE Board)
• Facilitate greater private sector and private foundation engagement at the country level, including in Local Education Groups
• Facilitate greater private sector and private foundation engagement at the global level of the partnership, including in advocacy
• Support the private sector/private foundation Board constituency
• Act as the interface with the Global Business Coalition for Education
• Act as the interface with the Education Funders Group
• Development, with the Communications team, of targeted materials
• Engage with the private sector and private foundations on innovative financing options for education as relevant 
  2. As part of the Partnerships and External Relations Team, the Senior Private Sector Specialist will work closely with colleagues on advocacy and messaging and also in the planning for and execution of major events that involve the private sector and private foundations.
   
  3. Finally, the Senior Private Sector Specialist will also participate in Secretariat-wide activities in support of other teams.

Selection Criteria:

• Master's degree in a relevant discipline
• At least 8 years' prior experience working with the private sector and/or private foundations in an international development context
• Familiarity with cross-cultural dynamics, strong negotiation skills
• Proven track record in mobilizing funding or other forms of contributions from the private sector and/or private foundations
• Willingness to work in a complex environment and travel frequently
• Strong analytical, writing and facilitation skills
• Ability to work independently and under pressure
• Ability to write competently in English
• Working proficiency in French or Spanish preferred
• Enthusiasm and commitment to the mission of the Global Partnership for Education

Competencies

• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Translates technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies; interacts with clients at the policy level.
• Client Orientation - Maintains client relationships in the face of conflicting demands or directions and provides evidence-based advice and solutions based on sound diagnosis and knowledge.
• Drive for Results - Identifies the needed resources to accomplish results involving multiple stakeholders and finds solutions to obstacles affecting key deliverables.
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Shows leadership in ensuring the team stays organized and focused, and actively seeks and considers diverse ideas and approaches.
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Leads in the sharing of best practice, trends, knowledge and lessons learned across units and with clients and partners, articulating ideas verbally and in writing in a clear and compelling way across audiences of varied levels.
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Gathers inputs, assesses risk, considers impact and articulates benefits of decisions for internal and external stakeholders over the long term.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

More Info and Application