Lead Urban Specialist - The World Bank - Washington, DC

Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2014, the WBG committed $65.6 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $22.2 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally.

The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). IBRD and IDA are commonly known as the World Bank, which is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions, and – as of July 1, 2014 – has introduced fourteen Global Practices (GPs) as well as five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs) to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.

GLOBAL PRACTICES & CROSS-CUTTING SOLUTIONS AREAS

The 14 GPs are: Agriculture; Education; Energy and Extractives; Environment and Natural Resources; Finance and Markets; Governance; Health, Nutrition and Population; Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management; Poverty; Social Protection and Labor; Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience; Trade and Competitiveness; Transport and ICT; and Water. The 5 CCSAs are: Climate Change; Fragility, Conflict and Violence; Gender; Jobs; and Public-Private Partnerships. The new operating model is part of a broader internal reform aimed at delivering the best of the World Bank Group to our clients, so that together we can achieve the twin goals of (1) ending extreme poverty by 2030, and (2) promote shared prosperity for the bottom 40% of the population in every developing country.

THE “SOCIAL, URBAN, RURAL AND RESILIENCE” (SURR) GLOBAL PRACTICE

Urbanization is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Cities generate 80% of global GDP and are key to job creation and the pursuit of shared prosperity. Yet one billion city residents live in slums today, and by 2030 one billion new migrants will arrive in cities. This concentration of people and assets will exacerbate risk exposure to adverse natural events and climate change, which affects the poor disproportionately. The absence of secure land tenure underpins deprivation and is a major source of conflict in the urban and rural space. One and a half billion people live in countries affected by repeated cycles of violence. In the absence of services, participative planning and responsive institutions, these trends will result in increased poverty, social exclusion, vulnerability and violence. Finally, avoiding a 4-degree warmer world requires drastically reducing the carbon footprint of cities.

The WBG is in a unique position to support national and sub-national clients to: harness urbanization and enable effective land management in support of both growth and poverty reduction; foster social inclusion of marginalized groups; support the responsiveness and fiscal, financial, and management capacities of local governments – cities, municipalities, and rural districts – to deliver local infrastructure and decentralized services; strengthen resilience and risk management related to natural disasters; reduce conflict and violence; scale-up access to finance for sub-national governments; and reduce the carbon footprint of cities. The WBG brings a combination of lending ($7-8 billion in annual lending to cities), analytical and advisory services (e.g., social inclusion flagship, urbanization reviews, Sendai dialogue), its growing portfolio of reimbursable advisory services, its convening power (e.g., understanding risk and the land conferences), its leveraging capacity (e.g., guarantees and risk mitigation), and its ability to work with the private sector to tackle the challenges at scale and to effect.

The SURR GP covers a wide gamut: (i) developing green, inclusive and resilient cities; (ii) addressing the social inclusion of the poor, vulnerable and excluded groups through accountable institutions, and ensuring compliance with social safeguards; (iii) enhancing urban and rural development through supporting and managing the urban-rural transition, assisting local development through developing land tenure, management and information systems; and (iv) assisting in disaster risk management through issues of risk assessment, risk reduction (including flood management, urban drainage, coastal management, and retrofitting of infrastructure), disaster preparedness (including hydromet services, early warning systems, and civil defense), risk financing (including CAT-DDO), and resilient reconstruction (including post-disaster damage and loss assessment).

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

REGIONAL CONTEXT

The World Bank Group serves more than 20 client countries in the Latin-American and the Caribbean (LCR) region. Clients range from middle-income countries (MICs) such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, with demand for cutting-edge knowledge services and technical assistance in addition to lending, to IDA countries like Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, with an emphasis on poverty reduction and programs that support equitable and enhanced access to social and economic opportunities.

With over 75 percent of the population living in urban area, LCR is the most urbanized region of the developing world. Moreover, some 60 percent of the Region’s poor live in cities and towns that range from remote Andean and Amazonian municipalities to the sprawling mega-cities of Mexico City and Sao Paulo, two of the world’s largest cities. It is estimated that about one third of these urban residents live in slums where they suffer from limited access to basic services and transportation networks, substandard housing, insecure land tenure arrangements, environmental degradation, and severe social problems, including unemployment, and crime and violence. Urban areas are also the drivers of growth and innovation in the Region and consequently represent both an opportunity and a challenge for sustainable urbanization, achieving the vision of green cities, and poverty reduction. In this way, sustainable development in the region is critically dependent on sustainability in urban areas.

As LCR started its urbanization process much earlier than other developing regions, the experiences and lessons learned from LCR are considered valuable to other regions that are undergoing a rapid urbanization. Therefore, drawing lessons learned, sharing experiences and promoting south-south collaboration with other regions is an important agenda for the World Bank.

In Latin America and the Caribbean the World Bank works with national and local governments and with communities to reduce urban poverty, expand access to services for all, especially the poor, and make cities more economically productive, environmentally sound and livable and resilient. These objectives are pursued through: (i) financing investments, (ii) providing technical assistance, and (iii) undertaking non-lending analytical and policy advisory work, in response to client demands.

To support the growing demand for integrated urban service improvement from our clients, the unit is seeking a highly qualified and motivated Lead Urban Specialist to support the Practice Manager in leading the urban team, and developing and managing the urban program in the region. Lead Technical Specialists play an important leadership and strategic role in the technical areas of the GP. They are expected to provide technical leadership to team members, and have a role complementary to that of Practice Managers, in areas such as technical quality enhancement, technical learning, technical mentorship, and innovation. Lead Specialists will be expected to take a leading role in knowledge management to ensure global best practices and lessons learned related to sustainable urban development are reflected in the relevant operations or technical assistance activities.

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 2 year term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities:
1. Intellectual, strategic and technical leadership in urban development

• Enhance innovative and transformative practices in urban development. Develop and contribute to knowledge products and training activities that improve best practice in and outside of the Bank.


• Strengthen the Bank’s best practice, as well as work to enhance the capacity of our clients to respond to management of urban areas.


• Develop/strengthen the Unit’s business lines.


• Promote integration of activities and alignment with department and sector strategies.


• Provide intellectual, technical mentorship to junior specialist in the urban sector.

2. Business development, policy dialogue and client engagement

• Lead business development through innovative use of financing instruments and modalities for delivering assistance required by client countries and in line with the Bank’s country sector strategy and in close collaboration with other GPs.


• Contribute to the development of work program agreements for the urban sector across the region.


• Contribute to the development of new reimbursable advisory services with a focus on strategic clients and innovative business lines that can leverage Bank knowledge and expertise.


• Represent GP in external fora and interactions with external clients, and lead the coordination of selected partnerships with external organizations.

3.Program and project management

• Lead and contribute to the preparation of priority or flagship AAA and thereby support the Unit in credibly delivering high visibility advisory services that may result in innovating or scaling-up the unit’s investment and analytical and technical assistance program.


• Manage and contribute to priority lending projects under preparation and supervision in the sector including complex, multi-sector operations and participate in multi-sector activities led by other GPs.


• Provide operational and technical leadership to urban staff in the unit at each stage of the project cycle for lending operations and AAA, and in particular for those with less experienced TTLs, in addressing complex analytical and implementation issues.


• Provide leadership to operationalize the various innovative initiatives that have been developed in the region in recent years.

4. Knowledge management and dissemination

• Lead strategic communications, outreach activities and knowledge management to ensure best practices and lessons learned are reflected in the unit’s operations.


• Sponsor/contribute to knowledge exchanges and dissemination across the Bank in the area of urban development.


• Peer review/cross support to other units/regions in sector lending, analytical activities, and strategic sector documents.

5. Contribution to sector management

• Support GP Management on selected strategic staffing issues, including identification and grooming of staff with potential for growth in the sector.


• Support Practice Management with quality enhancement reviews and oversight, monitoring and supervision of deliveries and the portfolio of analytical and advisory and lending activities;


• Represent the GP at corporate meetings and act for the Practice Manager.

Selection Criteria:

• Advanced degree (PhD or Masters) in a field relevant to urban development such as economics, urban or regional planning plus sustained record of achieving high-quality substantive results over an extended period (typically at least ten years in positions of increasing responsibility).


• Prior work experience and results on the ground in more than one region (including both pre Bank and Bank experience). A corporate assignment (e.g. network anchor) may substitute for experience in another region.


• At least 10 years of directly relevant experience. Operational and analytical experience in the urban sector in developing countries is required.


• Experience working in large middle-income countries with high capacity counterpart agencies. Proven track record of innovation in Bank operational work in responding to the less traditional and more demanding needs of middle income clients.


• Exceptional ability to identify long-range goals and objectives, develop strategic approaches, and conceptualize technical projects.


• Excellent and effective command of English and Spanish.


• Ability to function effectively in multi-disciplinary teams within a matrix management environment.

Extensive knowledge and experience in at least two of the following areas:

• Urban Policy, Strategy, and Institutions – Comprehensive understanding of urban policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.


• Urban Economics – Deep understanding of most of the economic concepts relevant to urban, with significant experience in applied knowledge.


• Urban Services Delivery – Comprehensive understanding of urban services delivery as well as depth in one or more subtopics, including municipal management and decentralization.


• Urban Poverty and Slums – Comprehensive understanding of urban poverty as well as depth in one or more subtopics; can lead high-level client discussions as well as deeper technical dialogue and application.


• Land and Housing – Comprehensive understanding of land and housing policies and applications as well as depth knowledge in one or more subtopics, with ability to lead high-level client discussions as well as deeper technical dialogue and application.


• Urban Environment and Solid Waste – Extensive experience in at least one subtopic (cities and climate change; brownfields; water resources management; solid waste; etc.), with ability to mitigate risk or overcome difficult challenges.


• Urban and Regional Planning – Broad understanding of urban and regional planning as well as depth in one or more subtopics; can lead high-level client discussions as well as deeper technical dialogue and application.


• Urban Infrastructure – Extensive experience in urban infrastructure operations, with ability to apply knowledge to policy-related decisions and advice.

Competencies:

• Integrative Skills. – Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.


• 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.


• Urban Policy, Strategy, and Institutions – Familiarity with urban policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.


• Urban Services Delivery – Foundational knowledge of urban services delivery, with ability to apply to operations and analytical work.


• 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.