Lead Public Sector Specialist at World Bank

Job #: 171219
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Job Family: Public Sector Management
Job Type: Professional & Technical
Grade: GH
Recruitment Type: International Hire
Language Requirement: English [Essential]

Global Practices & Cross-Cutting Solutions Areas

• The 14 GPs are: Agriculture; Education; Energy and Extractives; Environment and Natural Resources; Finance and Markets; Governance; Health, Nutrition and Population; Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management; Poverty; Social Protection and Labor; Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience; Trade and Competitiveness; Transport and ICT; and Water. The 5 CCSAs are: Climate Change; Fragility, Conflict and Violence; Gender; Jobs; and Public-Private Partnerships.
• The new operating model is part of a broader internal reform aimed at delivering the best of the World Bank Group to our clients, so that together we can achieve the twin goals of (1) ending extreme poverty by 2030, and (2) promote shared prosperity for the bottom 40% of the population in every developing country.

The Global Practices specifically will:

• Define Strategic Direction: (i) define strategic priorities to deliver solutions and achieve results based on country and regional demands and interactions and global priorities; (ii) define/implement integrated resource strategies, (iii) engage in selected, high priority partnerships, and (iv) establish robust monitoring and reporting systems.
• Develop and Deploy Expertise Globally: (i) lead the development and delivery of solutions to clients by deploying the right technical staff where and when needed; and (ii) invest in developing technical talent.
• Deliver Integrated Solutions: (i) deliver operations, while Regions ensure fit for purpose; (ii) develop public-private integrated solutions that draw on GPs, CCSAs, MIGA and IFC; and (iii) hold the “Concurrence” role in all project/AAA approval steps, ensuring that all technical quality, safeguard and fiduciary requirements (if applicable) are met.
• Capture and Leverage Knowledge Effectively: (i) ensure knowledge is used effectively to deliver solutions to clients; (ii) assign staff roles and accountabilities in creating, capturing, sharing and using knowledge’ (iii) reward knowledge sharing and learning, in performance management and career development; and (iv) develop knowledge base around key development challenges and solutions sets.

The Governance Global Practice

• An effective and accountable governance framework, in the form of functioning institutions, is a necessary precondition for sustainable poverty reduction.  Fragile, ineffective or inexistent institutions have long been put forward as explaining the relative underperformance of economies.
• Furthermore, poor governance and structural deficiencies in public and private institutions are often prevalent in fragile and conflict affected states. On the other hand, cross-country empirics have confirmed that higher institutional quality is correlated with higher levels of per capita income and greater economic growth. Thus, governance mechanisms and institutions are critical to sustained growth and poverty alleviation.
• The Governance Global Practice (GGP) comprises a variety of different professional disciplines working on public institutions, including public sector management, governance and anti-corruption, procurement, financial management, social accountability and justice reform.

The GGP has the following four thematic areas:

• Public Sector and Institutions (PSI) Group that focuses on key areas that underpin public sector and institutional reform. This group also focuses on high priority cross-cutting issues such as revenue mobilization, global tax issues and fiscal decentralization, open government, and justice for the poor.
• Solutions and Innovations in Procurement (SIP) Group that focuses on advancing modern and open procurement systems, integrity in procurement and its fiduciary functions.
• Financial Accountability and Reporting (FAR) Group that focuses on transparency, financial accountability, and financial Reporting in the private and public sectors. This also includes accountability of institutions, oversight bodies and regulators, as well as financial management functions of Bank-funded operations.
• The GGP interventions range from diagnostics, technical assistance, and advisory services, learning, innovation and knowledge management and sharing, creating peer learning platforms, lending and reform project implementation, and monitoring and reporting.
• An important part of its responsibilities is to deliver operational support to other Practices, including through inputs for policy-based operations, hands-on implementation advice and direct fiduciary due diligence of investment financing.

Duties and Accountabilities

• The objective of this assignment is to lead the Bank’s Public Sector and Institutions program in Nigeria.
• Specific focus areas relate to public financial management, domestic resources mobilization, governance of service delivery (with special emphasis on water, agriculture and/or energy and extractives), and corporate governance of state-owned-enterprises, decentralization, institutional strengthening and civil service reform, capacity building, anti-corruption and fragility and conflict environments.
• This position would help to sustain the reform programs supported by the Government, Bank, donor initiatives, and other stakeholders.

Duties/Activities
The specialist will have the following duties and accountabilities:

• Provide strategic leadership of the operational work in Nigeria on the PSI program leading the supervision and design of Program-for-Results, investment operations and development policy financing,
• Advise the Country Director, Practice Manager and Program Leaders on these issues, preparing engagement strategy notes, position papers and briefs and systematically following developments;
• Develop strong links with key officials in the Nigerian Government and other stakeholders (e.g., CSOs) and foster a policy dialogue and sharing of appropriate international practice;
• Collaborate closely with the Program Leaders from the three Practice Groups (SD, HD and EFI) and with the Task Team Leaders and specialists across the Nigeria portfolio;
• Ensure the effective implementation of Bank-funded and -administered support programs, which include program-for-results investment lending, development policy lending. This involves developing and implementing the engagement strategy and reform programs and ensuring supervision in compliance with World Bank procedures and processes.
• Lead task teams delivering innovative lending and analytical products in the PSI thematic areas.  Prepare, appraise and supervise projects and/or project components;
• Assist task teams in other sectors to integrate issues of effective public financial management, decentralization, and civil service reform, among others, in their own programs;
• Develop and maintain close working relationships with the other development partners, including
• the IMF, EU, and DFID, and others raising and managing trust fund resources required to deepen the Bank’s engagement with key clients;
• Contribute to the Bank’s dialogue on potential policy interventions linked to PSI thematic areas as part of programmatic loans and other policy studies and works in the region;
• Keep abreast of international trends in PSI thematic areas, their applicability to public sector interventions in Nigeria, as well as good practices to be able to evaluate/develop appropriate
• advice and assistance to Bank clients;
• Contribute to the department’s knowledge agenda, by ensuring that experiences from Nigeria are made available to the rest of the region.

Management and reportin:

• The specialist will be managed by the GGP-PSI Practice Manager for AFR2.

Selection Criteria
Competencies:

• The successful candidate will be a professional with solid operational experience on public sector lending and non-lending Bank instruments, including TF. Specifically, the successful candidate will be selected on the basis of the following competencies:

General Competencies:

• Written and Verbal Communication - Delivers information effectively in support of team or workgroup
• Client Orientation - Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.
• Drive for Results - Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results, and has the personal organization to do so.
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team's work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner.
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others' work.
• Public Administration - Understands the overall dimensions and structures of the mechanics of government and its public administration, especially tax administration.

Other Selection Criteria

• Advanced Degree in Public Policy and Administration, Economics, Political Science, Finance, or other related field.
• At least 12 years of relevant experience.
• Experience in at least 2 regions.
• Experience in public sector with a focus in one of the following areas: civil service, decentralization, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation, tax administration, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, and public finance.
• Knowledge of general governance issues including transparency and accountability; demand side governance; and political economy.
• Strong track record and experience in Bank operations (preparation and supervision).
• Experience in DPF and result-based lending, and knowledge of RAS would be an advantage.
• Experience in quality control of reports and consultants.
• Strong team player with the ability to work independently and effectively both remotely and face-to-face.