E T Consultant

Job #: req22934

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Urban

Grade: EC1

Term Duration: 1 year 0 months

Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Location: Brussels,Belgium

Required Language(s): English

Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 6/13/2023 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

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.

THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRACTICE GROUP

The Sustainable Development (SD) Practice Group (PG) helps countries tackle their most complex challenges in the areas of Agriculture and Food, Climate Change, Environment, Natural Resources & Blue Economy, Environmental and Social Framework, Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience & Land, Social Sustainability and Inclusion, and Water.

THE “URBAN, RESILIENCE AND LAND” (URL) 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 URL Global Practice covers a wide gamut of issues including: (i) supporting the development of green, inclusive, resilient and productive cities, including harnessing urbanization to contribute to growth and poverty reduction, and strengthening local governments’ capacity to plan, finance and deliver services and infrastructure investments; (ii) promoting efficient, well-coordinated spatial and territorial development processes including strengthening rural-urban linkages and developing lagging regions; (iii) strengthening disaster risk management policies, institutions and regulations and mainstreaming resilience across development sectors including risk assessment and mapping, risk reduction (including urban flood management, stormwater 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 and recovery (including post-disaster damage and needs assessment); (iv) post-conflict reconstruction and recovery; (v) strengthening land tenure, management and information systems; and (vi) supporting the development of national and sub-national spatial data infrastructure and supporting the development of geospatial information.

COUNTRY CONTEXT

The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Urban and Disaster Risk Management (SCAUR) Team engages in a range of disaster risk management (DRM) projects in countries across ECA countries, including lending projects (e.g. Romania, Croatia), Reimbursable Advisory Services (RAS) program (e.g. Bulgaria, Romania), Rapid Damage and Needs Assessments (e.g. Ukraine but also other countries in need), and technical assistance funded by the World Bank or the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) or by the European Commission (e.g. DG ECHO).

The World Bank is engaged in regional technical assistance and analytics, including a technical assistance project Economics for Disaster Prevention and Preparedness (EDPP2) with the European Commission which includes several case studies. Building on the results from previous phase, and in response to the demand for knowledge on disaster prevention and preparedness, Phase 2 of this analytics program will provide evidence and good practice to inform scaling up disaster and climate resilience efforts relevant for EU member states and participating states of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). This analysis focuses on civil protection sector and includes several case studies, including Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and others. In parallel, preparation of a potential next phase of the EDPP work is underway.

In Ukraine, the World Bank SCUAR has been coordinating and providing technical assistance with respect to the assessment of the war impacts. In 2022, an Assessment of Physical Damages in Ukraine through adaptation of the Global Rapid Post Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) Approach was conducted, considering data as of 31 March 2022 (link) which informed the WB’s approach paper on Ukraine that was presented at the WBG 2022 Spring meetings. Also, a rapid damage and needs assessment (RDNA) was conducted, in collaboration with the Government of Ukraine (GoU), and the European Commission. Considering impacts of the war as of June 1, 2022, the report was presented in September (link) and provided the first overarching assessment of damage, loss, and needs informing GoU, the World Bank and donors/partners discussion. A second RDNA2 was conducted between January and March 2023, in collaboration with the GoU, the EC, as well as the United Nations agencies, and was launched on March 23, 2023 in Kyiv. Planned activities will focus on dissemination of the findings and lessons learnt from the completed assessments as well as ongoing technical deep dives that started, continuation of the deep dives and monitoring of situation, based on needs, potential future damage, loss, and needs assessment(s) and/or support for recovery and reconstruction planning.

In Croatia, World Bank provides financing to the Croatia Earthquake Recovery and Public Preparedness Project and conduct implementation support. Between July 2022 and December 2024, the World Bank is implementing a technical assistance (TA) program with support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)/Japan Program for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries Program. The objective is to support the Government of Croatia to improve institutional capacity for resilient and green reconstruction and to improve the knowledge base for scaling up risk reduction, preparedness, and financial resilience against multiple natural hazards. As part of the TA, analytics and lessons learned will be developed to help inform the reconstruction process, future risk reduction/preparedness investments, and financial resilience decisions, as well as generate risk-informed knowledge to inform the policy dialogue with key government counterparts related to risk reduction, preparedness, and risk financing.

POSITION

The Urban, Resilience and Land Global Practice (GPURL) is seeking to recruit a highly qualified and experienced Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Analyst to work in its Europe and Central Asia unit (SCAUR). This ETC1 position will be based in Brussels, Belgium.

The DRM Analyst will work on DRM, climate change, urban development and land issues through existing and future lending operations, technical assistance and analytical work. She/he will be an integral part of the GPURL’s GP’s wider work on resilience and sustainable urban development and will report to the Practice Manager of the SCAUR unit.

Roles & Responsibility:

The Disaster Risk Management Analyst is expected to work under the supervision of the ECA Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist and provide technical and operational/project management support to implement and develop the DRM portfolio in the region. The ETC is expected to carry out the following main duties and responsibilities, but not limited to:

•  Support task team leaders and participate in/coordinate with task teams throughout the implementation of DRM activities, including the implementation of program’s activities, monitoring and evaluation thereof, and liaison with government counterparts
•  Participate and contribute to the development and implementation of policy/knowledge products, including technical aspects related to DRM, such as policy notes, DRM strategies, diagnostic report, rapid damage and needs assessment, contributing on specific sections, etc.
•  Participant and contribute to the delivery of RAS projects, including preparation of output reports prepare update reports, quality review and consolidating various inputs into single report, quality and peer review process and finalization of delivery reports
•  Contribute the preparation and implementation of lending operations and the execution of trust funded projects and, including: (i) participate in missions and developing mission documents; (ii) develop and review Trust Fund Proposals; (iii) contribute to Project Concept Notes (PCNs), Project Appraisal Documents (PADs), and other related project preparation documentation; (iv) prepare and review terms of reference; (v) prepare implementation status and results reports; (vi) prepare project briefs; (vi) and technical and corporate presentations.
•  Support monitoring of progress under projects, action plans and any other documentation or materials required. Support follow up on actions specified in Progress Reviews, Aide Memoire and Intermediate Status Reports (ISRs).
•  Conduct research and analysis related to DRM and specific countries/aspects, as well as World Bank operations/technical assistance or RAS projects, and summarize findings/lessons learnt and relevant good practice in different formats – briefs, inputs to reports, presentations, etc.
•  Provide technical support to teams, as needed, in an event of a natural disaster affecting specific countries, for example by preparing situation updates/briefs, monitoring situation, preparation of communication, and so on
•  Coordinate with task teams and other WB teams in the implementation of donor-funded activities supporting the strengthening of disaster and climate risk governance for national and sub-national DRM stakeholders
•  Contribute to maintaining liaison and dialogue with development partners, research institutions, government counterpart, non-Government organizations, the private sector, and other sector-related institutions
•  Participate and support communication, knowledge sharing or dissemination activities across countries in the region.
•  Provide any other assistance needed for the day-to-day coordination of activities.

Selection Criteria

•  Advanced Degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in science, economics, international relations, policy or engineering (or related field) and at least 3.5 years of directly relevant experience.
•  Relevant professional experience or research related to the field of disaster risk management, urban development and/or climate change.
•  Professional experience in countries of interest will be considered an asset.
•  Operational experience in Investment Project Financing, Reimbursable and Analytical and Advisory Services and Trust Fund management will be considered an asset
•  Highly organized with understanding of good project management practices. Ability to work independently
•  Work independently, seeking guidance and instruction on new, unusual or complex assignments.
•  Proven analytical and problem-solving skills and proven ability to apply these in carrying out research and operational tasks, identifying issues, presenting findings/ recommendations and contributing to resolution of sector and country issues; analyzes and identifies portfolio cross-cutting issues.
•  Proven capacity to work with a wide range of stakeholders, including, municipalities, national government agencies, international organizations, academics, development agencies, and NGOs.
•  Strong oral and written presentation/communication skills, as well as creativity and problem-solving skills. Excellent fluency in English is a must.

Competencies:

•  Ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments and adjust to a variety of complex evolving tasks to meet tight deadlines.
•  Outstanding verbal and written communications skills in English.
•  Ability to support preparation and supervision of investment operations in DRM and related sustainable development work program as it may develop.
•  Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making – Gathers inputs, assesses risk, considers impact and articulates benefits of decisions for internal and external stakeholders over the long term.

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.