Job: Senior Social Protection Specialist/Senior Economist

Location: Washington
Closing Date: Saturday, 30 November 2013

Background / General description:

WORLD BANK CONTEXT

Innovation and partnership bond the five institutions of the World Bank Group (WBG): the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help poor nations reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve quality of life. To ensure that countries can access the best global expertise and help generate cutting-edge knowledge, the World Bank Group is constantly seeking to improve the way it works. Key priorities include delivering measurable results, promoting openness and transparency in development, and improving access to development information and data.

NETWORK CONTEXT

The Human Development (HD) Network at the World Bank is the professional home for Bank staff working on education; health, nutrition and population (HNP); and social protection and labor (SP&L). The HD Network works to renew and strengthen technical skills, build a global knowledge base, enhance learning and strategic thinking, form effective partnerships for development results, and improve the quality of products and services in the human development sectors. The HD Network is governed by the HD Council and three sector boards for education, HNP and SP&L.

UNIT CONTEXT

The main objective of HD Social Protection and Labor Anchor unit (HDNSP) is to provide support to Bank country teams in their work with the clients to eliminate extreme poverty and to promote shared and sustainable growth. The unit provides significant amount of cross support to regional VPUs and in its core business activities focuses on knowledge management and partnerships with other development agencies and donors.

HDNSP strategic directions are set in the new Social Protection and Labor Strategy for 2012-2022, which will also be the foundation of the new SP&L global practice. Among its key objectives is increasing coverage by social protection programs in the Low-Income Countries and Fragile States (LICs and FS), and moving toward building social protection systems. A system approach to SPL should improve coordination at policy, program, and implementation/ delivery levels and should be tailored to each country context.

To support the implementation of the SP&L Strategy the HDNSP Anchor Unit has developed a Business plan which focuses on the following themes for its knowledge and solutions work:

(i) Implementation of the systems approach: Two main tools for this are the SPARCS initiative (Social Protection Assessment of Results and Country Systems - an internationally agreed and shared instrument to assess social protection and labor systems and to guide their development, launched in 2013); and the ASPIRE database (Atlas of Social Protection: Indicators of Resilience and Equity - social protection data depository from both administrative and household survey data to assess and benchmark programs performance and facilitate data collection).

(ii) Exploring new areas of safety net design for LICs and fragile states to increase the coverage of the poor and vulnerable: new work on innovative solutions for targeting, productive aspects of social safety nets, political economy and financing of SP&L in low capacity settings, work on technological innovations in delivering SP, increasing their transparency and improving governance.

(iii) Supporting global advocacy for safety nets and focus on results: including positioning of senior management, key stakeholders, participation in international fora and efforts to increase development aid effectiveness.

(iv) Facilitating increased inter-regional knowledge sharing, enhancing access to knowledge for the Bank staff and clients and providing technical assistance through cross support.

Priority activities consist of:

(i) country-specific work with task teams in regional VPUs;

(ii) support for the knowledge exchange among client countries and efforts to influence the authorizing environment and

(iii) support to the community of practice on safety nets, comprising practitioners from client countries, leading researchers and staff of international agencies involved in this field.

SPARCS INITIATIVE

A key instrument for the implementation of the systems approach is the SPARCS initiative - Social Protection Assessment of Results and Country Systems. This is an internationally agreed and shared instrument to assess social protection and labor systems and to guide their development (launched in 2013). An inter-agency initiative, SPARCS aims to improve the performance of SP&L systems by creating an 'open source' platform for collaboration, based on defining and assessing key system metrics and outcomes. SPARCS provides systematic and comparable information on the design and implementation of SP&L systems. The objective is to move towards a more standardized, shared approach to assess country SP&L systems, building on existing work. SPARCS tools can be used by country policymakers and their development partners to help identify the strengths and weaknesses of SP&L systems and to guide their improvements. Each SPARCS country systems assessment is prepared in collaboration with country policymakers and experts, together with partner agencies and other external advisers. A central element of SPARCS is the establishment of strong links across governments, donor agencies, experts and key stakeholders working on social protection & labor operations and policy. Another central element is open access. SPARCS tools and data will be publicly accessible and available for broad application.

HDNSP is seeking a Senior Social Protection Specialist/Economist with excellent management and technical skills in the design and implementation of social protection policies and programs to serve as the coordinator for the SPARCS initiative. The candidate is expected to actively step into the above listed areas of work and help to innovate, connect and foment active dialogue and close collaboration with key stakeholders both internally in the Bank as well as externally.

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:

REPORTING

The Senior Social Protection Specialist/Economist reports to the HDNSP Sector Manager, and is expected to become part of the eventual SP&L global practice.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

The Senior Social Protection Specialist/Economist, is accountable for performing the responsibilities, modeling the behaviors and maintaining the competencies (listed below) in his or her capacity as a member of the HDNSP Unit. Accountability means being answerable for achieving results, managing quality, risks and institutional initiatives, and operating in compliance with Bank policies and procedures.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Social Protection Specialist/Economist, working as an integral member of the HDNSP team, will apply her/his creativity, problem solving, communications and collaboration skills to maximize the team's contribution to the HDNSP goals generally and in particular to the development, advancement and overall coordination of the SPARCS Program.

Specifically s/he will collaborate with the HDNSP sector manager and the SPARCS team to coordinate the overall SPARCS program, including:

• Developing protocols and oversee the implementation of the quality assurance processes around SPARCS in all stages of the SPARCS cycle, including assessment instrument development, norms for country applications, data review, publications/data access.
• Coordinating the overall SPARCS team, including TTLs for various SPARCS instruments, inter-agency working group and reference group members.
• Developing and overseeing the implementation of annual plans and budgets for SPARCS, including providing annual updates on SPARCS progress, coupled with proposals for annual work program and budget.
• Developing and implementing a plan for the World Bank-based SPARCS Secretariat that will serve as the locus for coordination, information and quality control for the SPARCS initiative.
• With external affairs, legal, IT and communications teams, oversee development of the SPARCS web-based knowledge exchange platform which will serve as the main entry point for the '˜open access' information on SPARCS.
• Engaging in active outreach and serve as the main contact point for the various agencies collaborating on SPARCS, including the World Bank, GIZ, EC, ILO, UNICEF, DfID, AusAid and other agencies and NGO's.
  The Senior Social Protection Specialist/Economist will also contribute directly to the work of the SPL practice on the design and implementation of social protection systems, including
  (i) policy level issues;
  (ii) program harmonization; and
  (iii) service delivery sub-systems (such as identification, MIS, registries and payments). This work would likely encompass:
• Participating in country level studies and projects involving system reforms, such as reform of subsidies and development of targeted cash transfers, or activation and graduation approaches.
• Monitoring the evolution of SPL systems to collect, analyze and disseminate key lessons and best practices.
• Documenting technical know-how on best practices in implementing the service delivery aspects of systems
  In addition, the Senior SP Specialist/Economist will provide analytical support to the knowledge management activities. In practice he/she will:
• Contribute to responses to queries from regions and to briefings for corporate management on the themes related to the staff's key areas of expertise: systems design, results and performance.
• Contribute to the content development for the potential South-South learning and its delivery.
• Produce notes (in cooperation with regional staff) on new emerging practices in system design and implementation, and/or other similar activities bearing on safety net programs
• Review analytical work, including serving as a peer reviewer.
• Developing and delivering training on SPL systems, likely as part of the HDNP core courses on safety nets, labor markets and pensions

Selection Criteria:

• At least an MA/MS in a relevant field/discipline (e.g., economics, social sciences, public administration, or other field related to development and SPL) and a minimum of 8 years of relevant professional and operational experience.
• Proven knowledge and experience in the field of social protection and/or labor, including analytical and operational work with country counterparts. This includes proven analytical skills, including capacity to conduct high quality quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Significant experience in SPL system implementation and an excellent track record in carrying out high quality and timely activities.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, in particular ability to effectively dialogue with and relate to clients and stakeholders.
• High level of energy, initiative and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements.
• Ability to work well in a small team, to operate under pressure, to deliver high-quality work within deadlines, and meet team objectives.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English; additional official languages (French, Russian, Spanish) of the Bank is a plus.

TECHNICAL & BEHAVIORAL 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.
• Policy Dialogue Skills - Anticipates needs and requests in the field and conducts independent policy discussions with representatives of the government and non-government partners.
• Integrative Skills - Understands relevant cross-sectoral areas how they are interrelated; able to undertake cross-sectoral work in lending and non-lending operations.
• Social Protection Knowledge and Experience - Has experience working on economic, institutional, and policy issues related to social protection, in different social and development contexts. Has expertise in one or more of the following: Safety nets, Social Insurance, and/or Labor.
• 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.

More Info and Application