Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? 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 and promoting shared prosperity. 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. For more information, visit http://www.worldbank.org
We need the best and brightest talent focused on African countries in order to harness the potential and innovation happening across the continent. Africa is a continent on the move, with a young population and a growing market of nearly 1.2bn people. We are committed to making the Africa regional teams into leading innovation hubs. Yet, these vast opportunities are tempered by persistent gaps in education, health, and skills, which have Africa only reaching forty percent of its estimated potential. Moreover, the COVID-19 crisis, conflict, food insecurity, population growth, and the disruptive forces of climate change threaten to curtail or even reverse the progress that has been made over the past decades.
The Human Development (HD) Africa East and West Regions
Human development is at the core of the World Bank’s strategy to improve people’s lives and support sustainable development. The World Bank’s Human Development activities span education, health, nutrition and population, social protection, and labor. In recent years, the World Bank has been stepping up its support to African countries to empower girls and women and improve their access to quality sexual and reproductive, maternal and child health services, so as to enable girls and women to attain their full potential as citizens. Investing in girls and women empowerment is an essential and accepted strategy to accelerate Africa’s demographic transition and expand its human capital. It is also critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current crisis is exacerbating existing gender inequalities, including through increased child marriages, interrupted education, teenage pregnancies, and disrupted access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health. The World Bank’s approach is multisectoral and is built on “4 E’s”: Empowering girls and women through Education, Employment, Enhanced access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, and an overall Enabling environment conducive to girls and women’s social and economic autonomy.
The Bank intends to scale up and increase the impact of its support to country units and clients by recruiting 13 girls and women’s empowerment fellows to provide technical assistance closer to its clients in Africa. These specialists, hired at both young specialists and mid-career levels and to be based in different duty stations, will be part of a community of practice that fosters technical learning and exchanges, knowledge building and networking. This community will be supported by the WB’s Africa Human Development Women and Girls Empowerment Task Team, its Africa Gender Innovation Lab, the Global Financing Facility, and WB project teams, notably from the flagship Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project.
This vacancy announcement is for a Senior Specialist based in Dakar who will cover Girls and Women Empowerment activities as described below in the following countries: Senegal, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso. She/he will report the Health, Nutrition and Population Program Manager for AFR East/West, HAWH2.
SCOPE OF WORK
The Girls and Women Empowerment (GWE) Senior Specialist will:
• Support WB country task teams on policy dialogue on GWE and maintaining effective relationships with client country counterparts (including Ministry of Finance, Health, Education, Social Protection and other ministries) as well as other stakeholders and development partners.
• Support the design, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of World Bank projects with a multisectoral focus on WGE while nurturing cross-sectoral collaboration between WB units, in particular on SRHR, family planning and adolescent health.
• Contribute to advisory services and analytics with a focus on GWE to increase the evidence base both globally and nationally and provide technical assistance to clients.
• Facilitate coordination between and collaboration with development partners who intervene in the field of GWE in different sectors.
• Contribute to internal and external advocacy as well as knowledge building on GWE within the World Bank, including through the preparation of presentations, briefs and reports.
Selection Criteria
• Masters, equivalent or higher degree in a relevant field/discipline related to the work of the World Bank, such as public health, sociology, demography, population studies, gender, development studies, with a minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience.
• Excellent understanding of international development issues, and WB strategic priorities, in particular in relation to SRHR, adolescent health, family planning and gender equality in health in Africa.
• Experience working in the Africa region on SRHR-related issues is necessary. Experience working with WB operations and/or with the Global Financing Facility process is considered a plus.
• Proven expertise in programming and/or research on addressing SRHR, family planning, adolescent health, comprehensive sexuality education, and enhancing women and girl’s empowerment through gender equality in health.
• Willingness to travel frequently to other countries to engage with clients and partners in the field.
• Demonstrated ability to lead or conduct research on SRHR-related issues, adolescent health, comprehensive sexuality education, family planning and commodities, gender equality in health, using quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Ability to foster collaboration within and between multi-cultural teams.
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English required, fluency in French required for francophone postings.
• Aptitude to navigate cultural sensitivities and demonstrated experience in engaging tactfully on sensitive topics as SRHR.
• Excellent practical computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
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Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.