Description
We are on a mission to change the world; do you want to join us where it matters the most? Invest in your personal and professional development and acquire the skills that are vital for a global career in international development. A role in an FCS (Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations) location will be a truly impactful experience!
Fragility Conflict and Violence: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviolence
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.
Global practices & global themes
The WBG has 14 GPs: Agriculture; Education; Energy and Extractives; Environment and Natural Resources; Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation; Governance; Health, Nutrition, and Population; Macro, Trade and Investment; Poverty; Social Protection and Labor; Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience; Transport and Digital Development; and Water. The 5 Global Themes are Climate Change; Fragility, Conflict and Violence; Gender; Knowledge Management; and Infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships. The Global Practices and the Global Themes enable the WBG to achieve its twin goals by 2030:
1.End extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.90 a day to no more than 3%, and (2) Promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40% for every country.
Water global practice
The water challenges of the world are tremendous. For human development, livable cities, food security, and energy security, the need for better water resources management is growing. Even today, 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, of which 1 billion people practice open defecation. Poor sanitation, including inadequate wastewater collection and treatment, impacts health, education, the environment, and industries such as tourism. At least 800 million people lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of access to safe water and sanitation results in significant economic losses in many countries. This is further exacerbated by climate change, water pollution, and water scarcity in a fast-changing world.
Globally, the World Bank Group finances water supply and sanitation projects, as well as projects related to irrigation and water resource management. Apart from water supply and sanitation (WSS) and water resources management (WRM), the Water GP also seeks to ensure that water issues are effectively addressed in all related sub-sectors, including such as agriculture (ensuring sustainable water availability for irrigation), climate change and disaster risk management, and energy (hydropower). In each sub-sector, an integrated approach is adopted, which considers investment alongside issues such as governance, institutions, and policies. The WSS projects include rural and urban water and sanitation services, hygiene behavior, improving the efficiency of utilities, and provision of services to the poor. The WRM projects include integrated water resource management, including groundwater management, dam safety, and flood management.
The Water GP is led by a Global Director, supported by nine regional Practice Managers and a Manager for Global Solutions. In addition, the GP Leadership team includes five Global Solutions Groups (GSGs) focusing on water supply and sanitation, water security/resilience; water resources management; water and agriculture; and water, poverty, and the economy, that work across all regional programs.
Water global practice in Water for South East Asia (Water for SEA)
Water for SEA unit covers operations for the East Asia Region (Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar) and the South Asia Region (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka), as well as the Mekong River Sub-region Agenda. Its existing portfolio comprises water resource management and water supply and sanitation operations, which amounts to some $850 million, with an annual pipeline of lending projects for $500 million on average. Water for SEA has an excellent track record of effective program implementation with consistently strong disbursement performance. The water for SEA unit is also known for transformative engagements and innovative ASA work. One of the examples is the Water Platform ASA, which is to promote joint-GP engagements under a common strategic framework based on solid analytical evidence for all sectors across government agencies, development partners, and the World Bank Group which are pertinent to water agenda.
Water for SEA’s work for Myanmar, Cambodia, and Lao PDR are strongly anchored with water sector’s strong contributions to the key pillars of their SCDs and CPFs. Water for SEA strives to contribute to FCS agenda of the World Bank Group, through its contribution to the peace agenda of Myanmar. Its programs encompass both water supply sanitation and water resource management. The water resource agenda is closely linked with the two large river basins in the region, the Mekong River and the Ayeyarwady River. Regarding the Mekong River, Water for SEA plays a leading role in facilitating six riparian states in their efforts to align their development activities with long-term sustainability of the river basin from the economic, environment and social perspectives.
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
The Senior Water Resource Specialist is expected to work with the Country Management Unit, which covers Myanmar, Cambodia, and Lao PDR and any other units which are relevant to the greater Mekong River Basin agenda.
• He/She is to lead development of Water GP’s engagement strategies for Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR and for the Greater Mekong River agenda, which would contribute to preparation of their systematic country diagnostics and country partnership frameworks (CPFs) as well as to implementation of their CPFs, in coordination with the task teams working on those countries and pertinent colleagues of the CMU and other GPs.
• He or she is expected to lead business development – development of lending operations and analytical and advisory services for the FCS clients in Myanmar, and Cambodia and Lao PDR as well as for the regional agenda for the Greater Mekong River basin, in coordination with the task teams working on those countries.
• He or she is expected to coordinate collaboration with pertinent development partners working in FCS clients pertaining to Myanmar, and Cambodia and Lao PDR, or for associated greater Mekong River basin programs, in coordination with the task teams working on those countries.
• He or she is expected to assist the Practice Manager in annual work program planning exercise, financial resource management, human resource management, and knowledge management relating to the programs and teams for Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao PDR and related regional programs.
• He or she is expected to mentor other junior task team leaders and team members working on the MCL countries and on the Mekong River agenda, with focus on support under FCS context in Myanmar.
• He or she is expected to contribute to the Water GP’s global knowledge and operational platforms, with special focus on development of Water GP’s FCS agenda, allocating approximately twenty percent of his or her time.
Selection Criteria
• At least a master’s degree in water resources, hydrology, hydraulics, sanitation, environment, civil engineering, or a related discipline with a focus on water supply and sanitation;
• Recognized technical, operational, and/or policy-oriented expertise, and at least 12 years of relevant work experience. This experience may include work in governments, academia, private companies, consulting firms, and multilateral institutions;
• Knowledge of water supply and sanitation services delivery (WSS), utility/institutional reform and public-private partnerships, sector coordination and policy dialogue, private sector participation and pro-poor strategy and program development;
• Prior work experience and results on the ground and hands-on experience with Government counterpart agencies;
• Ability to think innovatively and strategically in dealing with technical and/or policy issues while maintaining a strong client focus;
• Effective verbal, analytical and written communication skills in English, and a demonstrated ability to produce high-quality documents and analytical reports;
•Sound knowledge of the water sector issues in Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR and any other units which are relevant to the greater Mekong River Basin;
• Knowledge of cross-cutting issues related to the water sector: climate change, environmental and social issues, inclusion, and poverty reduction;
• A high degree of dynamism and self-motivation, as well as the ability to work with minimal supervision;
• Excellent teamwork skills; and
• Ability to use new information technologies.
For information about WBG Core Competencies, please visit: https://bit.ly/2kbIA7O.
