Senior Environmental Specialist - The World Bank

The Senior Environment Specialist will be based in Accra, Ghana will principally be leading and supporting a broad and evolving portfolio of lending and policy dialogue in all ENB business lines. He/she will also support operations in Watershed Management, Sustainable Landscapes, Biodiversity, Forestry, Climate Change, Blue Economy, and Brown/Pollution.

The Selected candidate will work under the supervision of the Practice Manager for SAWE4 based in the WB’s Washington Office.  He/she will have the following main duties and responsibilities:

ENB Ghana CMU Program Support:

• Support the ENB managed tasks;
• Prepare briefs and talking points on key ENB issues and report, as needed to CMU and PM, on progress of ENB activities;
• Represent ENB at workshops and events;
• Lead and/or contribute to inputs from ENB on government’s strategic planning; and
• Participate in CMU and SD Team meetings.

Lending:

• Lead or co-lead preparation and implementation of complex and multi-sectoral operations with investment in Watersheds, Landscapes, Forests, and involve diverse range of stakeholders and departments.
• Co-lead or be a technical team member on operations led by other GPs and PGs including development policy operations and IPFs.
• Conduct timely project preparation, implementation support missions, and reporting; catalyze project disbursement; and provide technical support on ENB related topics.
• Coordinate operations with development partner activities to prioritize ENB and Climate Change Actions.
• Support the Government of Ghana in Coordination with a development partner to meet the objectives of Ghana’s NDC.

Non-Lending: 

• Mobilize grant co-financing for IDA operations or standalone grant financing.
• Task lead the preparation and implementation of complex grant-financed operations.
• Task lead programmatic ASAs or CEA Zone Management
• Co-lead or be a technical specialist on the PASAs or ASAs led by other GPs and PGs.

Environmental Safeguards/Environmental and Social Framework:

Perform environmental risk management ESF/safeguards function by providing technical input and advice to sector projects and programs and ensuring compliance of the operations with the Bank’s environmental safeguard policies and objectives of ESF;

Support effective environmental risk management and sustainability by managing risk at the project level and creating opportunities to advance sustainable development, in part through the implementation of the Bank’s environmental policies.
Support and build the capacity of the client Bank’s environmental safeguard policies and objectives of ESF;

Country and sector engagement dialogues: 

• Engage in the preparation of country strategy products (SCD and CPFs);

• Provide strategic leadership and participate in sector dialogue and business development relative to, NRM, Watershed, Landscapes, Forestry, Biodiversity, Pollution Management, Environmental Health and the Circular Economy, Blue Economy, Climate Change and overall environmental agenda;
• Support in-country environmental risk management reviews and thematic supervisions, prepare reports, and disseminate lessons learned.
• Maintain effective communication with government counterparts (and development partner community and NGOs), and other local agencies and organizations on the World Bank activities on relevant topics and provide local perspective and insights;
• Advise clients in the Government and staff on environmental and natural resource policy and technical matters; and
• Assist in the coordination, design and delivery of knowledge management and training activities.

Tasks:

• Facilitate, engage in, and shape policy dialogues, identifying clients’ priority needs for lending, analytical support, and advisory services in relation to natural resource economy, including fisheries and forestry.
• Supervise the implementation, in collaboration with Task Teams, of investment projects in Ghana’s Environment and NRM portfolio including land degradation and restoration, forest management, community strengthening in natural resource management, rural development, landscapes management, climate change and NRM.
• Provide strategic support to team leaders of projects on safeguards and ESF both during preparation and implementation and engage with client on upstream dialogue to build client capacity.
• Identify and participate in knowledge exchange opportunities focusing on above mentioned issues between Ghana and other countries in the Africa region.
• Lead and/or assist the teams working in the landscape portfolio in Ghana maximize the value of blue economy, sustainable landscapes, biodiversity, and natural resources.
• Review and provide advice for operational and analytical work on blue economy, fisheries, landscapes, NRM and the links to poverty reduction and development in Ghana.
• Contribute to ENB and corporate tasks related to blue economy, fisheries, forests, Climate Change, Biodiversity and Nature-based tourism.
• Participate in project implementation support missions, elaborate mission aide-memoires, ISRs and ensuring timely execution of mission’ action plans.
• Contribute to NRM portfolio related business and pipeline development (e.g. policy lending, program for results, prevention of conflict and resilience investment program, regional integration programs, etc.), as well as donor dialogue, private sector engagement and identification of additional funding opportunities.
• Promote, through ongoing and future portfolio, community-based approaches, and planning processes.
• Explore and promote approaches for equitable, productive, and sustainable natural resource management outcomes in conflict affected and sensitive areas.
• Proactively participate in other key GP dialogues (agriculture, urban water etc.,) and represent ENB in such dialogues.
• Share technical knowledge with clients and partners on different environment and NRM topics (blue economy, brown issues, climate change, forestry, agroforestry, biodiversity, etc.,).
• Build relationships and facilitate effective communication with other development partners, NGOs, the private sector, and other stakeholders.
• In coordination with the ENB coordinator, support the CMU and the GP in NRM country dialogue and corporate commitments. This includes participating in developing and implementing sector strategy and assist in country-specific policy work (CEA, SCD, CPF, etc.,)
• In coordination with the ENB coordinator, represent the Bank in discussions with governments, donors and other stakeholders on Watershed Management, Landscapes, Blue Economy, Climate Change and NRM and Brown/Pollution issues.

Selection Criteria

• A Master’s degree or above in environment and/or natural resource management, watershed management, sustainable landscape management, forestry, agronomy, climate change, marine and coastal zone management, fisheries, economics, environmental policy or geography, or similar relevant disciplines.

• A minimum of 8 years of full-time relevant professional experience in the environment/natural resources management field.
• Deep knowledge of natural resources sectors, policies and institutions, including forestry, Sustainable land management, and/or fisheries.
• Field experience in project preparation and supervision.
• Demonstrated ability to lead high-quality analytical tasks that include environment related data and information, linking those analyses to country development priorities and economic impacts.
• Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in the environment and natural resources management sector, including proven experience in watershed management, integrated landscapes, environment, fisheries, marine and coastal zone management, forestry, dryland development, climate change, and biodiversity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Familiarity with the World Bank Group’s organizational structure, processes, guidelines and procedures will be desirable.
• Strong client orientation with the ability to build an understanding with implementing agency counterparts on the value-added of Bank products
• Good team player who can work as a member of multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team, ability to function independently, with a degree of motivation, flexibility and reliability.
• A drive for results while working with limited supervision and under tight timelines;
• Understanding of the programmatic approach to forests, climate change and natural resources management (in the context of multi-sectoral approaches and the national development plan and using various sources of financing.

WBG Core Competencies

• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena – Understands policy making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
• Policy Dialogue Skills – Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
• Integrative Skills – Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.
  Environmental Policy, Strategy and Institutions – Familiarity with environmental policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
• Environmental Sciences – Depth in at least one area: water; ecosystems; forests; conservation; agriculture concerns, etc.
• Lead and Innovate – Develops innovative solutions.

• Deliver Results for Clients – Proactively addresses clients stated and unstated needs.
• Collaborate within Teams and Across Boundaries – Collaborates across boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly receives diverse perspectives.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge – Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
• Make Smart Decisions – Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward.

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