Extended Term Consultant for the City Resilience Program at the World Bank
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org.
Infrastructure Vice Presidency
Globally, one billion people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 685 million people lack electricity, and nearly 4 billion people lack internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure (INF) Vice Presidency within the World Bank is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. It consists of four global departments: Energy & Extractives (EEX); Transport (TRA); Urban, Resilience and Land (URL), and Global Infrastructure Finance Department. It oversees the Bank's work across energy and transport sectors, urban development, as well as efforts to promote energy transition, low-carbon transportation, livable cities, disaster risk resilience, land management, and quality infrastructure services through public-private partnerships. Infrastructure represents around $110 billion of the Bank’s portfolio. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/infrastructure
The Global Unit for Disaster and Climate Risk Management (IDURM) supports low and middle-income countries to understand, manage, and reduce their risks from natural hazards and climate change. The City Resilience Program (CRP) is one of 14 IDURM Global Technical Programs, under the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery umbrella trust fund, which provide grant financing and technical assistance to the most vulnerable countries and communities where it will have the greatest positive impact and draw in larger disaster and climate resilience investments. Working with World Bank client-facing Task Teams, the CRP empowers cities to better understand climate and disaster risks, identify viable investments, and mobilize key partners and financing. Cities are often held back from pursuing necessary resilience investments because they lack the technical expertise and/or the access to capital to finance them. CRP fills these gaps by leveraging the World Bank Group’s (WBG) broad set of sectoral expertise in designing urban resilience projects and by better connecting cities to necessary financing. For more information: https://www.gfdrr.org/en
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
The E T Consultant’s primary objective is to support CRP’s planning technical line of work and enhance its assistance to cities in increasing their capabilities and access to tools and technical support for effective planning for resilience. The E T Consultant helps the CRP integrate urban resilience into the technical assistance and operations of World Bank Task Teams. The E T Consultant will work closely with the Task Team Leader for CRP Planning, under managerial supervision of the Unit Manager, IDURM.
Specific responsibilities and duties will include (but not be limited to) the following:
• Assist with the creation of CRP’s City Scan product to a high-quality standard, including organizing data, preparing maps, graphics, and narrative writeups, ensuring product cohesion, and helping to customize the product as needed.
• Assist with the development of new analytical components to incorporate into the City Scan; identify, research, test, and analyze different data sources and methods available on the market, develop outreach and relationships with providers, and make recommendations for product enhancement
• Help develop CRP’s technical capacity in machine learning and geospatial analysis on urban resilience and climate risks, in order to extract deeper and more nuanced insights from the interaction of various geospatial and other data that can be applied in a scalable way to Task Team needs.
• Help incorporate and elevate disaggregated data on gender, socioeconomics, informal settlements, etc., that pertain to urban resilience; ensure a focus on marginalized populations in CRP analytics wherever possible to inform resilience best practices.
• Provide other urban resilience- or climate change-focused geospatial and analytical support to Task Teams for operational inputs, as needed.
• Assist with building CRP’s institutional knowledge on resilience and climate data, analytical tools, geographical and climate models, and policy expertise on urban resilience and climate risks.
• Help prepare CRP technical and Resilience Planning Workshops, including assisting with organization, logistics, content development, and interfacing with implementation partners.
• As needed, support CRP colleagues by assisting with the implementation of CRP resilience planning technical assistance engagements, including research, writing, mapmaking, and review of deliverables.
• Assist with the operation of CRP Framework Agreements, including interfacing with Task Teams and firms, tracking progress and results, maintaining relevant outputs for reporting, helping to prepare assignments, and identifying measures to enhance efficiency across implementation.
• Illustrate CRP advancements through contributions to publications, blogs, papers, etc.
• Conduct CRP Planning Pillar monitoring and tracking of program engagements and results; contribute to programmatic reporting and identify and implement measures for stronger integration of Planning and Finance pillar tracking, collaboration, and coordination.
Selection Criteria
1) Advanced university degree(s) (at least Master’s) in a field relevant to urban development, infrastructure, and service delivery, such as urban planning, political science, public administration, engineering, or a related field, with an excellent understanding of cities and government operations.
2) Technical proficiency in programming (e.g., Python, R) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), particularly related to climate change and urban resilience.
3) Knowledge of remote sensing tools and products, particularly related to climate change and urban resilience.
4) A minimum of 2 years of full-time work experience including project management and implementation.
5) Background in urban planning, urban climate and disaster resilience, post-disaster reconstruction, urban poverty reduction, or other related fields.
6) Strong oral, written, and visual presentation skills.
7) Excellent written and spoken English. Knowledge in either French or Spanish is a plus.
Link to job posting: https://worldbankgroup.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home/requisition/32281?c=worldbankgroup