Senior Social Development Specialist / Senior Social Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist at World Bank Group

The World Bank Group – Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2018, the WBG committed $67 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $24 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188-member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Social Development Specialist / Senior Social Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist

Job #: req8322
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Organization: World Bank
Sector: Social Development
Grade: GG
Term Duration: 4 years – 0 months
Recruitment Type: International Recruitment

Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. Visit www.worldbank.org.

The Sustainable Development Practice Group helps countries tackle their most complex challenges in the areas of Agriculture and Food; Climate Change; Environmental and Social Framework (ESF); Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy; Social Sustainability and Inclusion; Urban, Resilience and Land Development; and Water.

Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice

• The Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice helps countries tackle deep-rooted social problems stemming from fragility, climate change, exclusion, and the digital age with people-centred solutions that build on local values and institutions.
• The Practice engages with citizens, communities and governments to deepen resilience, build inclusion, and empower vulnerable and marginalized groups to have influence and voice. It prioritizes participatory, multi-sectoral approaches that build on norms and informal institutions to address social challenges and to build more inclusive, empowered communities.
• The Practice also works across the Bank’s portfolio to implement the Environment and Social Framework (ESF) standards. The ESF offers an overarching platform for fostering inclusive approaches to ensure vulnerable groups benefit from Bank investments and mitigate against related risks.

The Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice has adopted a new strategy that aims to promote inclusive sustainable development anchored on three pillars:

• Social Inclusion: enhancing opportunities for equality and inclusion of all people irrespective of income level, geography, gender, ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation or other grounds of discrimination; Advancing inclusive laws, regulations, policies and institutions;  and Investing in access to markets and services for hard to reach and marginalized groups living in lagging regions.
• Social Resilience: Strengthening social risk management for social sustainability; Enhancing social cohesion and opportunities in fragile communities; Strengthening social resilience to climate extremes and natural hazards; and Supporting emergency response and an inclusive recovery from COVID-19.
• Social Empowerment: supporting community empowerment for more effective service delivery; Fostering accountable governance including from the bottom up; and Promoting community-driven women empowerment and livelihood support programs.

Nigeria Country Context

• A key regional player in West Africa, Nigeria accounts for about half of West Africa’s population with approximately 202 million people and one of the largest populations of youth in the world. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and culturally diverse federation which consists of 36 autonomous states and the Federal Capital Territory. With an abundance of natural resources, it is Africa’s biggest oil exporter, and has the largest natural gas reserves on the continent. While Nigeria has made some progress in socio-economic terms in recent years, its human capital development remains weak due to under-investment and the country ranked 152 of 157 countries in the World Bank’s 2018 Human Capital Index. Furthermore, the country continues to face massive developmental challenges, which include the need to reduce the dependency on oil and diversify the economy, address insufficient infrastructure, and build strong and effective institutions, as well as governance issues and public financial management systems. Inequality in terms of income and opportunities has been growing rapidly and has adversely affected poverty reduction. The North-South divide has widened in recent years due to the Boko Haram insurgency and a lack of economic development in the northern part of the country. Large pockets of Nigeria’s population still live in poverty, without adequate access to basic services, and could benefit from more inclusive development policies. The lack of job opportunities is at the core of the high poverty levels, of regional inequality, and of social and political unrest in the country. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria/overview

Background: Support for women’s social and economic empowerment in Nigeria:

• In response to a request from the Government of Nigeria, the World Bank supported the design of the Nigeria For Women Project with an objective to support women’s improved livelihood opportunities in targeted communities of Nigeria.
• The “Nigeria For Women” Project (NFWP) aims to demonstrate the impact of a multi-dimensional and a medium to long-term approach to overcome the main institutional and market failures limiting women’s economic outcomes in Nigeria.
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is partnering with the World Bank to support the implementation of the Nigeria for Women Project, particularly to establish a solid model of “Women Affinity Groups” that can be used for effective service delivery in Nigeria. This partnership is being materialized through activities planned under the Trust Fund “Support for Women’s Social and Economic Empowerment through the NFWP”.
• The goal of the proposed partnership is to “support women’s social and economic empowerment in selected states and LGAs of Nigeria” through leveraging three distinct but interrelated and interdependent investments under the World Bank-funded NFWP through interventions to: (i) Design, strengthen and Institutionalize the WAG model in Nigeria, (ii) Evaluate the core WAG model as part of the NFWP approach in Nigeria, and (iii) Layer the WAGs model for Development Outcomes.
• Designing, strengthening and institutionalizing the WAG model in Nigeria: Activities under this area will be used to both established a solid and functional core model for WAGs in Nigeria as well as providing the necessary support to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs to sustain this program.
• Testing and Evaluating the WAG model as part of the NFWP approach in Nigeria: Following phases and scale-up of the NFWP and the WAGs model depend on the availability of solid evidence that can prove the impacts of the WAGs model on women socio-economic outcomes. Activities under this area will be used to generate this evidence through rigorous impact evaluations on the overall WAGs model and its impacts on women’s livelihoods and economic empowerment and in turn on gender equality.
• Layering the WAG model for Development Outcomes: Activities under this grant will be used to strengthen WAGs as platforms for service delivery that result in better human development outcomes and platforms for improved livelihoods in Nigeria.

Position:

• The Social Sustainability and Inclusion Practice has a growing work program in Nigeria, encompassing project loans and grants, advisory and analytical programs and active partnerships supporting a wide range of engagements across sectors, including women empowerment and gender equality, Social inclusion, citizen engagement and social accountability; social resilience and social risk management. SAWS1, one of the two Social Sustainability and Inclusion units in West and Central Africa, is looking to recruit a Senior Social Development Specialist/Senior Social Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist to lead our women empowerment and gender equality program in Nigeria.
• The Senior Social Development Specialist/Senior Social Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist will be based in Abuja, Nigeria and will report directly to SAWS1 Practice Manager and will be expected to work closely with the CMU and task teams in the country.
• The selected candidate will also be expected to work collaboratively and develop good relations with other Global Practice teams, Global Solution Groups and Global Theme teams specializing in Gender and Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV).
• 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 4-year term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities

• The Senior Social Development Specialist/Senior Social Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist (Program Manager) will be responsible for managing the planning of large, complex, and strategically significant activities and achievement of the desired outcomes under the project “Support for Women’s Social and Economic Empowerment through the NFWP” implemented with the support of the World Bank and BMGF.
• She/he will provide oversight, coordination and strategic guidance for the implementation of activities according to agreed work plans and corresponding deliverables.
• The Senior Specialist (Program Manager) will also be in charge of managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders, and partners with respect to the NFWP. In addition, the S/he (Program Manager) will also coordinate the implementation of the project in the broader context of World Bank’s contributions to the Federal Government of Nigeria’s agenda of Support to Women and Girls; and serve as the thought leader for the Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice in Nigeria on this subject.

Program Management – BMGF Partnership:

• Lead and provide strategic guidance for comprehensive program implementation: Successful program delivery will involve the implementation of all the different initiatives envisaged under the BMGF MDTF to ensure the achievement of expected scope and value proposition of this support, complete on budget and on schedule. This will include:
  • Coordinate with the World Bank and BMGF task teams and other donors as relevant on the scope and deliverables of the various firms to be contracted under the TF.
  • Support the development and implementation of an overall as well as annual work plan for the TF implementation as well as specific annual work plans as agreed with the various firms hired under the TF; ensure high-quality reviews and submissions of deliverables with the support of an Assistant Program Manager.
  • Oversee financial management under the TF including developing, tracking, and updating budgets for the different contracts; monitoring monthly projections and actuals; anticipate budget modifications and other financial matters.
  • Provide strategic guidance for the delivery of tasks and ensure coordination with the Focal Persons for the different agencies hired for the TF activities implementation (for example Umbrella Organization, M&E firm, Impact Evaluation management firm, communications consultants but also other aspects including  health layering, financial services, and marketing assessment for which firms/consultants will also be hired under this TF).
  • Facilitate coordination and strategic engagement with field teams, BMGF, and the NFWP Federal Project Coordination Unit (FPCU) and State Project Coordination Unit (SPCU) on the status of ongoing activities, as well as other donors as relevant.
  • Identify issues or potential risks that can hinder program implementation, consult with appropriate WB NFWP staff and make informed decisions on how to address issues, communicating when appropriate with WB NFWP task team and BMGF program officers.
  • Network with other stakeholders working on similar scope as NFWP and crowdsource knowledge for qualitatively improving project implementation and technical assistance support.
• Supervise, evaluate, and provide quality control and guidance in the production of quarterly and annual reports for sharing the NFWP Task Team, BMGF and other donors as relevant.
• Manage and supervise the MDTF team (Assistant Project Manager, short-term consultants etc.); provide constructive feedback and step in to help solve a range of issues that may come up from the hired firms/consultants.
• Provide regular constructive performance feedback, prompt resolution of problems for the different agencies hired for the TF activities implementation (i.e. Umbrella Organization, M&E firm, IE management firm, COM Consultants and other consultants and firms).
• Ensure adequate coordination and alignment between implementation of activities under the TF and with the NFWP. This will include regular communication with the NFWP World Bank Task team as to coordinate communications and approaches with the NFWP Federal and State Project Coordination Units and ensure adequate and coordinated spending of TF resources to support the NFWP implementation.

Women empowerment, gender equality and gender-based violence:
Provide strategic leadership and technical support on women empowerment gender equality and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response:

• Serve as a core member and co-lead of the Nigeria ‘Supporting Women and Girls (SWAG’) programmatic initiative, with a primary focus on leading the ‘Empowerment’ pillar;
• Provide leadership and technical inputs into selected analytical work related to women empowerment, gender equality and GBV, including serving as peer reviewer for relevant project documents and products;
• Engage actively and regularly with government counterparts, community stakeholder and development partners to promote evidence-based approaches and policy updates that foster women empowerment, gender equality and effective GBV prevention and response;
• Summarize and globally share lessons from the Nigeria experience; contribute to the creation of global knowledge on social sustainability and inclusion issues; actively contribute to the enhancement of Bank’s support to clients.
• As appropriate, build and maintain partnerships with key international institutions helping to drive the women empowerment and gender equality agenda (e.g., other multilateral and bilateral donor institutions, research groups, and civil society organizations);

Social Sustainability and Inclusion:
Lead/support strategic engagement on broader social sustainability and inclusion issues:

• Develop and lead analytical work that informs the social development aspects of key policy and operational decisions in areas such as gender equality, social inclusion, poverty reduction, social resilience, and local service delivery.
• Contribute to the elaboration of strategies, project concept and policy analysis relevant to the Social Sustainability and Inclusion Practice; 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 social development topics.
• Actively contribute to internal and external discussions on technical options and new areas of focus and operational business around social sustainability and inclusion issues.
• Guide and mentor junior staff; Supervise the work of consultants and technical specialists to ensure consistency and conformity to Bank operational policies.
• Contribute to the Unit’s briefs, blogs, strategy documents, and papers on critical social development issues for both internal and external audiences.

Selection Criteria

• This position is suited to constructive, highly motivated team players with an eye for detail, understanding the bigger picture context of operations, and creative problem-solving abilities.
• The successful candidate should have strong operational and analytical skills, have practical experience handling complex/sensitive social development issues through participatory processes of stakeholder engagement, and be able to integrate social development considerations in an operational context.
• Master’s degree or PhD in Social Sciences (Gender Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Social Development, Public Health, Conflict and Violence Prevention etc.), and a minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience in social development and inclusion; women economic empowerment, gender/GBV.
• Demonstrated leadership experience and operational skills and experience in the areas of women empowerment, gender/GBV, social inclusion, citizen engagement, youth community-driven development, fragility, conflict and violence in low- and middle-income countries.
• Proven leadership and project management experience with World Bank IDA and/or IBRD (or other comparable international organizations) lending operations, policies, procedures and processes; experience with leading design and implementation of social development programs including women empowerment and gender equality, social inclusion, Community Driven Development and livelihoods support.
• Experience in managing Trust Funds/Grants and in coordinating with donor organizations; knowledge of World Bank trust fund procedures and processes.
• Experience with managing operations in low capacity, fragile and conflict-affected environments, working on complex multi-sectoral development challenges and working in a federal system.
• Strong organizational skills, with ability to prioritize, deal with frequent and unexpected changes, and work within tight timeframes
• Demonstrated ability to translate analytical work into policy advice and actionable, practical recommendations; Experience in collecting, analyzing and effectively using data related to women empowerment/ gender equality /GBV prevention and response.
• Experience in contributing to high-level strategic decisions and technical support to government counterparts, policymakers, beneficiaries, community-based organizations and development partners on effective approaches to close gender gaps.
• Proven capacity to work with a wide range of stakeholders, international organizations, development agencies, government counterparts, beneficiaries of Bank projects, and civil society organizations; ability to effectively negotiate and build consensus to achieve constructive outputs.
• Outstanding interpersonal, communication, problem-solving, and team skills, and ability to think innovatively and strategically to find balanced solutions to complex development problems, with a strong client focus.
• Proven track record in communicating complex issues in a clear and concise manner to different stakeholders.
• Acting with integrity at all times to build trust and to create an enabling work environment, whether as team leader or team member.
• Very high level of energy, initiative and self-motivation; willingness to travel and work under challenging circumstances.
• Demonstrated ability to work across practices, work in cross-thematic teams, foster teamwork, and mentor junior staff.
• Excellent oral and writing skills in English is essential; ability to present and facilitate sessions; French language skill is a plus.

Competencies:

• Policy Dialogue Skills – Anticipate needs and requests in the field and conduct independent policy discussions with representatives of government and non-government partners.
• Social inclusion and empowerment – Experience in successfully applying social sustainability and inclusion principles and good practice, covering issues of gender/GBV, inclusion and non-discrimination of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, stakeholder engagement, etc.
• Social Development implications on policies, institutions, and operations – Solid understanding of the implications of social development on policy, institutions, and operations.
• Participation and Consultation – Extensive experience conducting social development consultative and participatory approaches, deriving results that resonate with the client; ability to coach others in the application of the interventions.
• Analytical Tools for Social Sustainability – Extensive experience conducting social development analyses, deriving results that resonate with the client; ability to coach others in the application of the tools.
• Integrative Skills – Understand relevant cross-practice areas and how they are interrelated; able to undertake cross-practice work in lending and non-lending operations.
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena – Translate technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies; interact with clients at the policy level.
• Lead and Innovate – Develop innovative solutions with others.
• Deliver Results for Clients – Achieve results and identify mission-driven solutions for the client.
• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries – Initiate collaboration across boundaries and broadly across the World Bank Group and bring differing ideas into the forefront.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge – Create, apply and share knowledge from across and outside WBG to strengthen internal and or external client solutions.
• Make Smart Decisions – Recommend and take decisive action.

Application Closing Date
26th August, 2020 at at 11:59pm UTC