Senior Energy Officer at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/18/200
Location: Africa
Grade: LP5
Position N°: 50076445

The Complex
The Vice Presidency for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery is responsible for operational relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the Bank Group’s operational programs, and activities. This will ensure that the Bank operates successfully across its Regional Member Countries and oversee the full implementation of all aspects of the Bank’s Regional Directorates.

The Hiring Department

• Within the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex (RDVP), the Bank has five (5) Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery (RDIBD) Directorates, one in each region of Africa: North, South, East, West, and Central. Each Regional Directorate is headed by a Director General (DG) and is staffed with the relevant sectoral functions and administrative capabilities for rapid delivery of services to client countries.
• The Regional Directorates provide overall strategic direction to country offices within the regions and are responsible for the Bank’s operations, business development, project management and overall effective delivery of the Bank’s High 5s of ‘Light up and Power Africa,’ ‘Feed Africa,’ ‘Industrialize Africa,’ ‘Integrate Africa,’ ‘Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa.’
• The country offices were created to strengthen the strategic dialogue between the Bank, governments and other stakeholders, it also seeks to strengthen the operational functions of the Bank Group, including the energy sector, by supporting project/programme identification, start-up and monitoring with a view to enhancing portfolio quality and to coordinate aid with other development partners in Africa.

The Position

• The Senior Energy Officer is responsible for the origination, processing, supervision and general portfolio management of energy sector projects, as well as conducting policy dialogue on key issues in the energy sector.
• The incumbent will be in charge of project management and loan administration activities related to energy sector of the Bank Group's portfolio in Madagascar as defined in the country office functions and responsibilities, including the coordination of related programs with the Government, civil society and local bodies, private sector and development partners.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Regional Sector Manager, Energy Infrastructure, (RDGS1) and the Country Manager, the Senior Energy Officer will perform the following:

Business Development and Pipeline management:

• Provide support to the government and bank’s teams in the origination, preparation, approval, structuring and implementation of projects, both for Sovereign (SO) and Non-Sovereign (NSO) operations;
• Support and participate in energy sector identification, preparation and appraisal missions, collaborating with the sectoral team by specifically facilitating access to information and supporting the preparation of mission related documentation;
• Review the various energy sector proposals and communications sent to the Bank by public and private sector partners, including Bank’s clients, and signal to the sectoral team business development opportunities;
• Collaborate internally with colleagues towards the mobilization of additional Bank’s resources for energy projects in Madagascar, including resources from fiduciary funds and dedicated financing instruments, climate-finance funds and project preparation facilities.
• Liaise with other development partners and maintain, under the guidance of the country manager, an institutional dialogue conducing to the identification of co-financing opportunities and other partnerships;

Portfolio Management:

• Monitor the Bank’s pipeline of projects within the country’s energy sector, both private and public sector projects, overseeing its execution.
• Lead project implementation in the energy sector, providing expertise for preparation of terms of reference (TORs), requests for proposals (RFPs), tender documents to procure goods and/or services in line with the Bank’s procurement rules;
• Undertake the supervision of the Bank’s portfolio of power sector investments, review of relevant monitoring and evaluation reports and field inspections as necessary; and proffer measures for resolving material operational weaknesses;
• Ensure portfolio quality by tracking appropriate indicators in the corporate dashboard and taking appropriate action to ensure project portfolio quality and address blockages in project execution;
• Advise and assist energy sector project/programme executing agencies on sector issues, constraints and priorities, technical aspects of projects and Bank rules and procedures, especially with regard to the procurement of goods, works and services as well as disbursement procedures;
• Ensure timely preparation of project supervision report and project completion reports;
• Ensure the follow-up of recommendations emanating from supervision, mid-term reviews, portfolio reviews and accounts audit missions on energy projects/programmes, paying the necessary attention to project monitoring and evaluation;

Knowledge Production, Policy Dialogue and Coordination:

• Contribute to the preparation of energy sector assessments and other upstream analytical and diagnostic work;
• Advise on policy issues relating to energy sector development in Madagascar, including advice on promoting policies conducive to improving electricity as well as other areas of activity (creation of an enabling environment for private sector investments in energy projects, corporate governance);
• Support policy dialogue on key issues for the sector;
• Contribute to the preparation of policy statements, papers, briefs and various reports on energy sector issues and other areas relevant to the Energy, Environment & Climate Change Department;
• Represent the Bank at conferences, seminars and national workshops, participate in events meetings and energy sector groups on issues related to energy sector development and related issues and provide regular reports to the Country Manager and Sector Manager;
• Contribute to the strengthening of coordination and dialogue with other donors on activities related to energy projects and programmes, and participate in sector thematic groups;
• Undertake any other tasks as assigned by the Country Manager.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

• At least a Master’s degree in Economic, Finance, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering or Electromechanical Engineering or related fields. Additional training in management and / or economics is an asset.
• Demonstrate at least five (5) years of relevant professional experience and proven track record and analytical skills in the following areas: power sector strategy formulation; financing of energy projects (both public and private); structuring of financial packages for financing of infrastructure projects; management and operation of power generation, transmission and distribution utilities; electrical system planning and design; project management; contract administration; costing of infrastructure projects;.
• Experience implementing projects with public sector institutions and / or bilateral and multilateral development finance institutions; will give an added advantage for this position.
• Proven ability to operate in high level policy dialogue and in politically sensitive context;
• Strong networking skills, and an ability to coordinate diverse shareholders and interests;
• Strong team spirit and proven ability to operate across a diverse team, often based in different geographical locations;
• A self-starter, with an ability to work with relatively little supervision or guidance;
• Capacity to initiate and manage innovations and change.
• Familiarity with project management and project identification procedures in development institutions, with multilateral development banks and in particular of the African Development Bank, an added advantage
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English or French with a good working knowledge of the other language
• Good command of standard Bank commonly used software (e.g. Microsoft Office Suite for word processing, spreadsheets, databases and presentations); knowledge of SAP is desirable.