Principal Social Protection Officer - RDGC2 at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/18/219
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50001080

The Complex

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

The Hiring Department/Division

• Within the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery (RDVP) Complex, the Bank has five (5) Regional Hubs, one in each region of Africa: North, South, East, West, and Central. Each Regional Hub 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 Hubs provide overall strategic direction to country offices within the regions and are responsible for the Bank’s sovereign operations, business development, project management and overall effective delivery of the Bank’s High 5s, notably ‘Industrialize Africa’, ‘Feed Africa,’ ‘Light up and Power Africa’, ‘Integrate Africa’ and ‘Improve the Quality of Life of the people of Africa’.

The Position

• The Principal Social Protection Officer will contribute to the elaboration of poverty reduction and social projects/programs in support of Regional Member Countries’ (RMCs) development strategies.
• He/ She will  supervise the implementation of social projects/programs financed by the Bank Group in their architectural, procurement and financial costing dimension.
• He/ She will participate in the general coordination of Bank Group activities in the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection sector with other international and bilateral agencies.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall supervision of the Regional Operation Manager-Agri, the incumbent will perform the following:

• Undertake the preparation and appraisal of innovative social protection projects and programs for possible Bank funding;
• Supervise on-going projects in social protection and poverty reduction to monitor procurement of goods and services; review tender documents; evaluate the work of consultants and contractors; process disbursement requests; and contribute to the preparation of project completion reports' and portfolio performance documents;
• Prepare poverty, social protection, and MDG -related documents as requested by Senior Management for the Boards for information and approval, especially as it relates to the ongoing efforts to mitigate the adverse impact of the financial, food , and climate change crisis on the welfare of the poor and vulnerable groups;
• Advise Country Teams engaged in the preparation of Results-Based Country Strategy Papers (CSPs); Economic and Sector Work (ESW), and applied research to articulate poverty reduction and social protection issues in favour of the achievement of the MDGs and promote pro-poor growth in Regional Member Countries (RMCs);
• Undertake ESW on poverty reduction and social protection including the preparation of poverty profiles, poverty assessments, vulnerability analysis , labour market analysis, etc. in order to strengthen the Bank’s knowledge base in the area of social protection in RMCs;
• Occasionally represent the Bank at poverty reduction and social protection-related conferences, workshops, and seminars organized by its development partners;
• Mobilise financial resources from bilateral agencies to support non-lending dimensions of work on poverty reduction and social protection including organization of conferences and seminars, poverty and vulnerability- related studies, and dissemination of best practices;
• Collaborate with multilateral organizations, bilateral agencies, the UN system, and regional entities such as the AU, the ECA, NEPAD, and sub-regional community groupings (e.g. ECOWAS, SADC) in the preparation of national, regional and continental reports on poverty, vulnerability, social protection and the MDGs.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master's Degree in Economics, Agricultural Economics, Sociology, Development Studies or related fields;
• Have a minimum of six (6) years of experience the field of development with specialization in rural development and social protection;
• Private sector experience will be an added advantage;
• Knowledge and experience related to rural development and employment policies and programmes
• Experience in supporting policies, programmes and analyses related to public and private and mixed rural institutions that mediate access to markets and social protection, particularly for small producers, family farmers and farmers and the rural poor in developing countries;
• Experience in the preparation, editing and revision of technical/scientific documents and in organizing meetings and workshops;
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, in complex organizations and ability to deliver quality results while meeting deadlines under shifting priorities;
• Excellent project management and contract administration skills;
• A good understanding of the Bank’s Environmental & Social policy requirements;
• Good knowledge of utility governance, regulation, operations, maintenance and management, client relationship, billing, financial management of utilities;
• Highly developed strategic thinking skills allied to an ability to translate strategic concepts and direction into the implementation of workable and sustainable policies and regulations;
• Excellent spoken and written English or French, with a working knowledge of the other language;
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office Suite applications.