Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist - World Bank

Established in 1944, the World Bank Group (WBG) is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help our client countries to reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve quality of life. To ensure that countries can access the best global expertise and help generate cutting-edge knowledge, the World Bank Group is constantly seeking to improve the way it works. Key priorities include delivering measurable results, promoting openness and transparency in development, and improving access to development information and data. Innovation and partnership bond the five institutions of the World Bank Group (WBG): the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries.

 The World Bank Group (WBG)’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity reflect a new global landscape: one in which developing countries have an unprecedented opportunity to end extreme poverty within a generation.

 Water Global Practice

Water resources are under unprecedented and increasing pressures, driven by greater climate variability, population and economic growth, land-use changes, and declining quantities and qualities of both ground and surface waters.  With cross-cutting impacts on agriculture, education, energy, health, gender equity, and livelihood, water is an essential resource for all life on the planet and is at the center of economic and social development.  Climate change expresses itself through water and sound water management lies at the heart of the resilience agenda. Successful water management requires accurate knowledge of the resource available and an assessment of competing demands for its usage. Making the best use of available supplies requires complex and sensitive economic, environmental, and socio-political trade-offs. Planning for a more uncertain and more constrained water environment in the future only makes the situation more complex. The world will not be able to meet the great development challenges of the 21st century human development, livable cities, climate change, food security, energy security, and universal access to services unless we ensure a water-secure world for all.

The WBG is in a unique position to help governments take such an integrated and strategic approach to solve water supply, sanitation, water resource, hydropower, and irrigation problems through partnership, finance, and knowledge.  The Water Global Practice is poised to deliver on a Water Secure World through an approach that focuses on Sustaining Water Resources, Delivering Services and Building Resilience. The WTR GP also has strong external partnerships and houses the Global Water Security and Sanitation Program (GWSP), the 2030 Water Resources Group and several regional transboundary programs.  The GP has a strong leadership structure, with a Global Director, 10 Practice Managers, 2 Global Program Managers and Global Leads for Water and the Economy, WSS Service Delivery, Water in Agriculture, Building Resilience and Water Resources Management.  The LT also works closely with other GPs and the SD Regional Directors.  Increasingly, while staff may specialize in one sub-sector, they are encouraged and supported to address the full water agenda in terms of analytical, policy and operational work. The GP, through its fully integrated GWSP Trust Fund, places the highest priority on global knowledge into local implementation, as well as in deploying staff to both regions and globally.

DUTIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES

The assignment requires an extensive understanding of the state’s issues, as well as a solid base of experience in working with global, regional and country clients and partners. Under the supervision and guidance of senior water and sanitation specialists, the Senior Water Specialist will work as part of the country and task teams with a specific focus on:

Strategies, Planning and Policies:

• Assist in the process of formulation of country sector strategies in the water and sanitation sector. Participate in the reviews of different sector policies, legal and regulatory frameworks for the water and sanitation sector;
• Assist in the identification and preparation of projects;
• Liaise with and support teams from other GPs of the World Bank (e.g., human development, urban, environment, energy, agriculture) with the aim to ensure that water-related issues are addressed consistently across various programs in the Bank;
•  Participate in policy dialogue, together with other development partners, with key stakeholders in the country;
•  As appropriate, with the Bank team, advise government counterparts on policy, institutional, and technical matters associated with the Bank’s water program; and
•  Prepare reports, summaries, briefs and talking points on water-related projects and programs, business plans and strategies.

Projects implementation

•  Participate in the design, preparation and implementation of water activities in Nigeria which will include incorporating key cross-cutting issues such as gender and climate change;
•  Participate and assist multidisciplinary supervision missions covering all phases of the project cycle;
•  Identify implementation issues related to projects/programs in the sector;
•  Working closely with client institutions to support effective implementation of WB supported programs;
•  Maintaining effective relationships with relevant governmental, non-governmental, donor and other stakeholders;
•  Carry out the planning and organization of workshops on Bank procedures and deliverables; and
•  Encourage clients to use disruptive technology and ICT to speed up project implementation.

Institutional and analytical work

•  Support the design, preparation and implementation of sector strategies, studies, analytical work, policy work, and advisory activities;
•  Staying informed on the status of the water sector and its institutions, as well as relevant donor, private sector and NGO initiatives;
•  Participating in and eventually leading task teams for production of analytical studies and preparation and implementation support to investment and policy-oriented projects;
•  Identifying and sharing with client, relevant expertise and examples within and outside the World Bank; and
•  Identifying and supporting water sector linkages to the Bank’s country strategy and the work of other sectoral teams.
• Monitoring & Evaluation
•  Monitor and assess the implementation of sector portfolio;
•  Ensure prompt preparation of quality and consistency related to sector portfolio management, including quality control; and
•  Prepare timely reports on project implementation and progress.

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 10 years of relevant work experience. This experience may include work in governments, academia, private companies, consulting firms, and multilateral institutions;
• Knowledge of water resources management (WRM) and 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 Ghana;
• 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