Senior Social Development Specialist/ Senior Social Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist
Job #: req8321
Organization: World Bank
Sector: Social Development
Grade: GG
Term Duration: 4 years 0 months
Recruitment Type: International Recruitment
Location: Yaounde,Cameroon
Required Language(s): English and French
Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 8/26/2020 (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 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 centered 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.
CAMEROON COUNTRY CONTEXT
Cameroon is a lower-middle-income country with a population of over 25 million (2018). Located along the Atlantic Ocean, it shares its borders with Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Nigeria. Two of its border regions with Nigeria (northwest and southwest) are Anglophone, while the rest of the country is Francophone. Cameroon is endowed with rich natural resources, including oil and gas, minerals, high-value species of timber, and agricultural products, such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, maize, and cassava. Cameroon is the largest economy in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), a region experiencing an economic crisis triggered by the steep fall in oil prices. Along with its CEMAC partners, Cameroon has therefore had to put fiscal adjustment measures in place to adjust to the terms of trade shock and restore macro-stability and confidence in the common currency. Because its poverty reduction rate is lagging behind its population growth rate, the overall number of poor in Cameroon increased by 12% to
- 1 million between 2007 and 2014, and poverty is increasingly concentrated, with 56% of poor living in the northern regions. Cameroon suffers from weak governance, hindering its development and ability to attract investment. It ranks 152 out of 180 countries in the 2018 Transparency International corruption perceptions index, and 166 out of 190 economies in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2019 report. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/cameroon/overview POSITION
The Social Sustainability and Inclusion Practice has a growing work program in Cameroon, encompassing project loans and grants, advisory and analytical programs and active partnerships supporting a wide range of engagements across sectors, including multi-sectoral community driven development (CDD) program, social inclusion, citizen engagement and social accountability; social resilience, FCV prevention and response; 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/ Social Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist to lead our operational engagement in Cameroon.
The Senior Specialist will be based in Yaoundé, Cameroon and will report directly to SAWS1 Practice Manager and will be expected to work closely with the country management unit (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). While Cameroon would be the major focus of the work, the candidate may be asked to advise or contribute to other Social Sustainability and Inclusion Practice country work programs in the region.
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/Sustainability and Inclusion Specialist will be responsible for managing the planning of large, complex, and strategically significant activities currently led by the Social Sustainability and Inclusion Practice. S/he will provide oversight, coordination and strategic guidance for the implementation of activities according to agreed work plans and corresponding deliverables. S/he will also coordinate the implementation of the activities in the broader context of World Bank’s contributions to the Government of Cameroon’s development agenda; and serve as the thought leader for the Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice in Cameroon.
Provide strategic leadership and technical support to the implementation of the Community Development Program Support Project Response to Forced Displacement (CDPSP) with day-to-day interaction with the Project Implementation Unit and regular field visits. Proactively ensure collaboration and coordination with other Bank projects related to the CDPSP to deliver a more coherent and coordinated support to both refugees and host-communities population. Lead coordination with government counterparts, community stakeholders and other development partners actors on the ground, including with UNHCR and other UN agencies where a very strong relationship has been established to promote the Humanitarian-Development Nexus; actively engage in efforts that promote evidence-based approaches and policy updates that foster social cohesion, community empowerment, resilience and violence prevention. Work with internal and external partners to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the economic and social impact of the conflict in the South-West and North-West (NOSO) regions of Cameroon as well as its impact in neighboring regions and at the national level. Support the implementation and supervision of the regional project Lake Chad Region Recovery and Development Project; support the preparation of additional financing for the same project. Expand the Social Sustainability and Inclusion support to the country, and develop sound programs and policy options, including in the areas of effective prevention and response to fragility, conflict and violence; support to displaced and host communities; and implementation of IDA19 policy priorities. 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, Prevention & Resilience Allocation (PRA) eligibility note, sector studies, and research and policy development activities on the full range of social development topics. Summarize and globally share lessons from the Cameroon experience; contribute to the creation of global knowledge on social sustainability and inclusion issues. Contribute to the identification of business opportunities for the Social Sustainability and Inclusion team in consultation with clients and country unit. 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/community development, inclusion, resilience etc. Demonstrated leadership experience and operational skills and experience in the areas of community empowerment, social inclusion, forced displacement (refugees & IDP’s etc.), citizen engagement, local service delivery, community driven development, fragility, conflict and violence (CVR, DDR etc.) in low- and middle-income countries. Proven project leadership and management experience with World Bank IDA and/or IBRD lending operations, policies, procedures and processes or comparable project management experience with other large-scale development institutions; 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 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, policy makers, 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 and French are essential; ability to present and facilitate sessions.
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.
Poverty has no borders, neither does excellence. We succeed because of our differences and we continuously search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe.
