Job: Social Development Specialist

Location: Accra, Ghana 
Deadline: Thursday, 03 October 2013 

Description

Background / General description:

The World Bank's Africa Region has an active work program encompassing a large number of IDA operations, a smaller number of middle-income clients, a wide-ranging advisory and analytical program, active partnerships with Regional and Sub-Regional institutions and a large portfolio of around 400 projects under supervision. The core values guiding our work are passion for our mission of sustainable development and poverty reduction, putting the needs of our clients at the core of our work, trust and respect in everything we do, intellectual rigor and imagination, teamwork, openness to learning from our successes as well as our failures.

The Sustainable Development Department in the Africa Region has a wide-ranging work program that covers the environment, agriculture and rural development, social development and fragile/conflict affected states, water, urban, energy, and transport sectors. The Department has over 350 staff, a portfolio of over 200 projects worth over $12 billion and a rapidly growing pipeline of new commitments.

The Fragile States, Conflict and Social Development Unit (AFTCS) in the Sustainable Development Department plays a strategic, advisory and knowledge role for the Region's work in these areas. The Unit has around 40 staff and two major work streams: support for fragile states and conflict-affected countries; and social development, including implementation of the Bank's social safeguards policies on resettlement and indigenous peoples. With a rapidly growing lending program, especially the increasing emphasis in relieving infrastructure constraints in the Region, there is a growing demand for safeguards work and the need to strengthen the Region's capacity to not only assist task teams to meet their safeguard obligations but also to contribute more broadly to the design of operations that are socially sustainable and able to spread the benefits of growth more widely.

Ghana's portfolio comprises US$1.6 billion in 26 projects across a range of sectors, budget support and guarantees. Regional projects reflect Ghana's role as a hub in West Africa, with a regional portfolio of eight projects of nearly US$752 million. In addition to Ghana the Country Management Unit covers the two post-conflict countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone. Liberia's portfolio comprises US$570 million in 16 projects, and Sierra Leone US$350 million in 17 projects.

AFTCS is looking to recruit a Local Social Development Specialist for the World Bank's Accra Office to focus on cross-cutting social development issues with a major focus on social safeguards policies. The selected candidate will report directly to the Africa Region Sector Manager for Social Development (AFTCS), based in the World Bank's Washington DC Office, working closely with the Senior Social Development Specialist in the Accra Office (under recruitment), the two Lead Specialists based in Washington DC, and the Country Management Unit (CMU) responsible for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. He/she will also work closely with environment safeguards colleagues working on the CMU portfolio and with the Regional Safeguards Advisor and her team (ASPEN). The Local Social Development Specialist in the Accra Office will have the following main duties and responsibilities:

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 3 year term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities:

• Provide direct social safeguard review and support, specifically on OP 4.12, to clients and Bank teams working on the Ghana portfolio, as well as Sierra Leone and Liberia. Where appropriate the Social Development Specialist may be asked to support task teams in other countries in Africa.
• In particular, advise and guide Bank teams and client governments on the applicability of, and compliance with, Bank social safeguard policies; supervise and provide technical support to government project agencies on preparation and implementation of social safeguard components; formulate the necessary supporting documentation required internally by the Bank to process projects; and participate in periodic supervision to monitor and ensure compliance with safeguard policies throughout the project phases.
• Contribute to capacity building for local government agencies, training and other dissemination efforts on social safeguards.
• Contribute to strengthening the AFTCS consultant roster in West Africa by developing, mentoring, and working with a cadre of local consultants to focus on lower-risk projects
• As the safeguard work program permits, provide expert advice and support to the CMU and project teams on social accountability, benefit sharing, social inclusion, gender and engagement with civil society. This may include undertaking or participating in social analyses, gender assessments and portfolio reviews.
• Work with teams to include grievance redress mechanisms into project design and implementation to manage risk, encourage transparency and social accountability.
• Lead our engagement with the CMU on social development, especially by participating in portfolio reviews, contributing to Country Assistance Strategies, and participating in project review meetings.
• Participate in discussions, meetings and programs of the Gender Sector Working Group on behalf of the World Bank.
• Represent the Bank at relevant forums such as donor sector working groups, civil society forums, and outreach activities.
• Contribute to building client and stakeholder capacity on social development by identifying opportunities for sharing regional and international experience.
• Travel in-country regularly to support the various lending operations as needed, and if required undertake some limited international travel within the Africa Region.

Selection Criteria:

• Advanced Degree (Masters Degree or equivalent) in Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Political Science or related social sciences and at least 5 years of directly relevant external and/or Bank experience.
• Knowledge of World Bank's social safeguard policies on involuntary resettlement and indigenous peoples, as well as the ability to provide advice on social safeguards issues to task teams and clients. Related experience on issues of resettlement including land administration and management and its related compensatory issues, indigenous peoples, or public consultations.
• Demonstration, through written work and dialogue, of in-depth knowledge of social issues in Ghana.
• Proven capacity to translate analytical work into policy advice and operational, actionable, recommendations.
• Demonstrated skills and direct work experience with at least one or more of the following: public consultations; public hearings; participatory research methods (including observation, surveys); participatory rural and urban appraisal; participatory poverty assessments; participatory monitoring and evaluation; and grievance redress mechanisms.
• Proven capacity to work with a wide range of stakeholders, international organizations, development agencies, government counterparts, beneficiaries of Bank projects, and civil society organizations.
• Strong oral and written presentation skills, creativity and problem-solving skills. Outstanding interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams and multicultural environments.
• Enthusiasm for, and commitment to poverty alleviation, social development and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable.
• Excellent oral and written communications skills in English; working knowledge of French would be an advantage.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SECTOR COMPETENCIES

• 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.
• Integrative Skills - Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.
• Analytical Tools for Social Sustainability - Solid experience conducting social development analyses, producing meaningful results, and applying the tools in the course of an operation.
• Participation and Consultation - Solid experience conducting social development consultative and participatory approaches, and applying the approaches in the course of an operation.
• Social Development Implications on Policy, Institutions, and Operations - Familiarity with the implications of social development on policy, institutions, and operations.
• Social Safeguards - Familiar with and can apply (under supervision) the social safeguard policies to a situation and identify issues and risks.
• 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.

More Info and Application