Senior Urban Development Specialist

Senior Urban Development Specialist

Job #:
req18946

Organization:
World Bank

Sector:
Urban

Grade:
GG

Term Duration:
3 years 0 months

Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment

Location:
Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s):
English, French

Preferred Language(s):

Closing Date:
9/16/2022 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

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

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

The "Urban, Resilience and Land" (URL) Global Practice

Urbanization is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Cities generate 80% of global GDP and are key to job creation and the pursuit of shared prosperity. Yet one billion city residents live in slums today, and by 2030 one billion new migrants will arrive in cities. This concentration of people and assets will exacerbate risk exposure to adverse natural events and climate change, which affects the poor disproportionately. The absence of secure land tenure underpins deprivation and is a major source of conflict in the urban and rural space. One and a half billion people live in countries affected by repeated cycles of violence. In the absence of services, participative planning and responsive institutions, these trends will result in increased poverty, social exclusion, vulnerability and violence. Finally, avoiding a 4-degree warmer world requires drastically reducing the carbon footprint of cities.

The URL GP covers a wide gamut: (i) developing green, inclusive and resilient cities; (ii) enhancing urban and rural development through supporting and managing the urban-rural transition, assisting local development through developing land tenure, management and information systems; (iii) supporting operation in FCV with the aim to bring basic services and infrastructure, improve connectivity, social resilience, jobs; (iv) assisting in disaster risk management through issues of risk assessment, risk reduction (including flood management, urban drainage, coastal management, and retrofitting of infrastructure), disaster preparedness (including hydromet services, early warning systems, and civil defense), risk financing (including CAT-DDO), and resilient reconstruction (including post-disaster damage and loss assessment); (v) supporting communities, families, public and private sector get access to land and how their rights are administered, managed and altered, (land rights recognition, allocation and registration), technical (land and spatial records and data, territorial planning), fiscal (property valuation and taxation) and social (minority rights, safeguards) topics and expanding geospatial information management expertise and country support to National Spatial Data Infrastructure solutions for advanced location-based applications such as 3D land management and smart cities.

REGIONAL CONTEXT

Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa is occurring at an unprecedented pace. The share of Africans living in urban areas is projected to grow from 38 percent in 2016 to almost 60 percent by 2040, translating to an additional 40,000 new urban citizens every day until 2040. The region's urbanization rate, one of the highest in the world, can lead to economic growth, transformation, and poverty. However, many cities in Africa still have not fully captured the benefits of urbanization and poorly managed urbanization has exacerbated existing infrastructure challenges, resulting in increased inequality, urban poverty, proliferation of informal settlements and vulnerability to hazards. Adverse natural events present a serious obstacle for achieving sustainable social and economic development, particularly in vulnerable regions as Sub-Saharan Africa. Disasters affect the poor most severely; unplanned human settlements, unsafe building practices, high population densities, economic growth, and accumulations of assets in risk prone areas has dramatically increased exposure to hazards and increased disaster loss. Climate changed has the potential to significantly worsen the situation.
The region harbors some of Africa's protracted conflicts, rendering many of its countries fragile, while significant gaps in education, health, and skills development continues to keep people from reaching their full potential. This creates a huge development challenge, impacts heavily on the lives and livelihoods of people, and hinders regional integration and trade. But it also creates an opportunity to work closely with country leaders, civil society, development partners, and young people to chart a brighter course for the future.

Roles & Responsibility:
• Lead and/or co-lead the Bank's URL agenda primarily in francophone countries. This would involve day-to-day management of our relationships with internal stakeholders (including CMUs), local and national government authorities, and development partners at the policy and operational level;
• Lead and/or participate in task teams to prepare and supervise lending operations, prepare analytical and advisory activities, and develop new business opportunities in URL sectors;
• Lead and/or contribute to urban development, territorial development and land policy dialogues and provide just-in-time advisory work in business development and policy reform, and ensuring comprehensive integration of the urban, resilience, climate, land, and territorial development agendas, as appropriate;
• Lead and/or contribute in executing necessary analytics to prepare new operations
• Lead and/or contribute to cross-sectoral engagements such as Sustainable Development Practice Group engagement, Systematic Country Diagnostic and Country Partnership Framework, CCDR and other CMU-led activities;
• Help adapt global good practice to local context and advise government counterpart and Bank teams on matters related to green, resilient and inclusive urban development;
• Supervise the work of consultants and technical specialists to ensure consistency and conformity to Bank standards; evaluate studies and sector-related project documentation.
• Provide guidance to government counterparts and implementing agencies by, identifying potential problems and advising on required actions as well as overall project/program implementation;
• Manage Trust Fund (TF) activities including preparation and review of grant proposals, consultation on technical issues, preparation of progress reports, project briefings, disbursements and quality control of deliverables;
• Participate in professional development and knowledge sharing activities in the URL Global Practice, the GSGs, and contribute specific knowledge both within the assigned countries and in the World Bank;
• Provide coaching mentoring on-the-job to junior team members, extended term consultants and junior professionals in the unit; and
• Perform other duties and functions as assigned by the Practice Manager.

Selection Criteria
• Advanced university degree (Masters) in a field relevant to urban development, such urban or regional planning, economics, geography, municipal finance, infrastructure engineering, public policy, political science, or a related field;
• At least eight years of relevant experience in urban development program or urban infrastructure development, integrated multi sector operations;
• Understanding of fragile and low capacity context and the ability to prepare and implement projects in these contexts
• Understanding of the concept of territorial development and the ability to integrate it into the project design
• Understanding of climate change agenda and the ability to integrate them into the design of urban projects
• Demonstrated leadership skills leading complex operations, sector policy and engagement strategies, and analytical works, including in FCV settings;
• Demonstrated experience of bringing global knowledge, best international practice experience and fit for purpose innovation into operations and sector engagements.
• Strong motivation to work in the urban, DRM, and land fields and ability to work flexibly and independently on a range of assignments, adjusting to and prioritizing a variety of complex evolving tasks;
• Demonstrated relationship management skills with internal stakeholders (CMUs, PGs), external clients, and development partners;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to lead teams and function effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team;
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to communicate succinctly, and in a well-structured manner complex message on a variety of topics to a wide range of audiences, including to the Board.
• Strong teamwork spirit including an open and collegial work style and a high level of energy;
• Proven track record of delivery of high-quality outputs while working under pressure, in a multi-sector environment, and within tight deadlines.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

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