Lead Social Safeguards Officer, SNSC at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/18/160/2
Location: Côte d’Ivoire
Grade: PL2
Position N°: 50093568

The Complex

• The Senior Vice-Presidency (SNVP) is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve its strategic objective and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results.
• The SNVP provides effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions. The SNVP leads senior management discussions, decision-making processes and the implementation of key Board and Management decisions.

The Hiring Department

• Located within the SNVP Complex, the Environmental and Social Safeguards and Compliance Department is responsible for mainstreaming environmental and social development considerations into Bank financed operations in the public and private sectors through the implementation of the Integrated Safeguard System (ISS).
• The Department will provide cross-sector E&S operational support to all operations in the regions in conducting the necessary E&S due diligence and implementation support across all stages of the project development cycle. The Department will also design and/or provide capacity-building support to ensure that not all of the Bank’s projects and programmes are only compliant with the ISS but also enhance opportunities for the sustainability of Environment and Social development outcomes.

The Position

• The Lead Social Safeguards Officer will work under the general supervision and guidance of the Safeguards and Compliance Director.

Duties and responsibilities

• Lead social development and safeguards due diligence of Bank operations in the regions under her/his coverage;
• Perform quality assurance review of high-risk safeguards instruments subject to public disclosure as of the ISS requirements.
• Contribute to the development and revision of policies, strategies, guidelines, formats/manuals, tools and procedures, in particular the Integrated Safeguards System (ISS) in order to provide Bank staff, Regional offices and RMC clients with the ability to quickly assess and recommend measures to address environmental safeguards issues in projects and programmes.
• Identify and prioritize knowledge needs of the department; Lead and provide oversight to the development of knowledge products in the Safeguards and Sustainability Series and the collection of and dissemination of lessons learned.
• Lead the quality assurance process for knowledge products and their management.
• Develop and implement capacity-building program for the Bank, RMCs, private stakeholders, sponsors and consultants, executing agencies, through e-learning modules, workshops, etc.
• Contribute to knowledge sharing and harmonization efforts through conferences, external knowledge management publications and others.
• Provide expert leadership for the development and implementation of best practices and innovative approaches related to sustainability and risk management.
• Participate in strategic partnerships and networks with other entities such as the UN Agencies, Bilateral and Multilateral Agencies, including MDBs.
• Provide strategic guidance and close liaison with E&S officers in operation.
• Lead social inputs required to provide appropriate and timely management responses to complaints lodged with the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (BCRM)/Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) and ensure subsequent follow up on a regular basis.
• Oversee the preparation of management responses to audit, independent evaluation, compliance and review mechanism, etc.
• Perform other duties commissioned by the Director.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master’s Degree or equivalent in Sociology, Geography, Development Studies, Law, Economics, or in an equivalent social-related discipline.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience related to environmental and social assessment (ESA) practices, land management, resettlement of displaced people, social inclusion, etc. Having worked with international organizations or Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) will be an advantage.
• Analytical Tools for Social Sustainability - Extensive experience conducting to social assessments and development of effective tools; ability to coach others in te application of the tools
• Strong inter-personal and team working skills, as well as ability to provide strategic guidance
• Ability to work independently with little supervision as well as part of a multicultural team.
• Ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relations with colleagues.
• Communicate and write effectively in French or English.
• It would be desirable to have a working knowledge of the other language, or even communicate and write effectively both in French and English.
• Competence in the use of standard software applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, SAP etc.)