Energy Specialist at World Bank

Job No.: req18084
Sector: Energy
Grade: GF
Term Duration: 4 years 0 months
Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Description
Western and Central Africa:

• Western and Central Africa is a region with diverse cultures, beliefs, languages, and lifestyles – marked by contrasts of stability and conflict; affluence and poverty.  Home to about half a billion people, it encompasses 22 countries stretching from the westernmost point of Africa across the equator and partly along the Atlantic Ocean to the Republic of Congo in the South. 
• The sub-region is rich in resources and brimming of opportunities. It made impressive progress in regional cooperation and includes two monetary and economic cooperation unions - the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) that cover 13 countries between them and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which includes 15 member countries and headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria.  
• Yet these vast opportunities are tempered by persistent gaps in education, health, and skills, which have Africa only reaching forty percent of its estimated potential. Moreover, conflict, food insecurity, population growth, and the disruptive forces of climate change threaten to curtail or even reverse the progress that has been made over the past decades. 
• The COVID-19 pandemic has brought back to the forefront the risks posed by weak health systems and poor surveillance. Many countries in the region that learned difficult lessons from the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014 are applying some of the lessons and using all existing instruments and expertise to curb the pandemic while prioritizing the poorest and most vulnerable people. 
• The World Bank Western and Central Africa Region, comprised of approximately 1,139 staff mostly based in about 22 country offices, is committed to helping countries to realize their considerable development potential and become more competitive in the global economy by focusing on the following priorities:
• Creating Jobs and Transforming Economies: We are working with countries across Africa to stimulate job creation and economic transformation by leveraging all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions to promote investment.
• Building up the Digital Economy: We are supporting Africa’s vision to ensure that every African individual, business, and government is connected by 2030.
• Institutions more Efficient and Accountable: Our support is helping governments strengthen public policy processes, manage resources effectively, and reinforce fair and reliable delivery of public services.
• Investing in People: We are at the forefront of helping African countries accelerate human capital gains and empower women by improving their access to education and skills acquisition, sexual and reproductive health services, and employment opportunities.
• Supporting Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption:  In the face of increasing climate-related risks, we are working with African countries to advance efforts to adopt renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and green infrastructure.
• Addressing the Drivers of Fragility, Conflict and Violence: Given the cross-border nature of conflicts in Africa, we are employing an approach that simultaneously focuses on the drivers of fragility while also supporting well-targeted regional initiatives to create opportunities for peace and shared prosperity.
• Building Partnerships and Working across the African Continent: We are scaling up our work on regional integration, taking a holistic view of the continent that covers both North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The World Bank is a dedicated partner for Western and Central African countries, helping them deliver strong development outcomes for their people. A brighter future for the region is a better future for the world.

Unit Context

• The Energy & Extractives Global Practice of the World Bank Group is made up of more than 300 professionals, a lending program in the order of US$5-7 billion a year, an active portfolio of some $40 billion, and a rich program of Advisory and Analytical Work. 
• The EEX GP focuses on: providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to meet the needs of fast growing economies and to ensure universal access to modern energy services for people in client countries; and, strengthening policy and institutional frameworks to promote transparent and equitable growth of the extractives sectors for public benefit.   
• There is a strong emphasis on private sector resource mobilization and catalyzing financing from commercial and other sources of development and climate finance.
• The Africa energy sector grouping consists of four Units across two regions of East and Southern Africa and newly created VPU of West and Central Africa. 
• The position for locally recruited Energy Specialist is based in Abuja, Nigeria, with the primary work focus on the energy sector portfolio within the Nigeria Country Management Unit, but also providing limited cross support to the West and Central Africa region.
• The Bank is engaged in all aspects of the electricity sector – generation, transmission, distribution, rural electrification and off-grid– through program for results, investment financing support, technical assistance and guarantee operations. 
• The Nigeria Energy Sector country program is one of largest programs of World Bank in any country including operations across the energy sector value chain. This includes a variety of on-going and planned lending operations along with ambitious knowledge and analytical agenda. 
• The lending operations involve various WB lending instruments such as investment project financing, guarantees for public private partnerships, program for results, technical assistance, and development policy lending. 
• The Nigeria Energy Sector Program is also addressing the response to the economic shock related COVID-19 and oil market downturn. The Nigeria energy team also supports the implementation of interconnection projects within the West Africa Power Pool and anticipates further engagement in regional electricity interconnection projects across West Africa and Central Africa Power Pools.  In addition, the team manages a strong knowledge agenda to inform the policy dialogue in the sector.  

Duties and Accountabilities

• IAWE4 seeks an Energy Specialist based in Abuja, Nigeria to support the Africa Energy program’s strategic, advisory, and operational work. 
• Specifically, it is expected that the selected candidate will be undertaking dialogue on strategic issues relevant to the World Bank Nigeria Energy Program, leading task teams on project preparation and implementation, providing required technical contributions in preparatory and analytical work to be carried out by other teams, making necessary inputs into technical and corporate reporting outputs, supporting donor coordination and liaising with local and international counterparts (including the private sector), as necessary. 

The responsibilities of the selected candidate will include:

• Lead supervision of selected ongoing projects’ implementation;
• Identification and preparation of new transformational, strategically important energy projects in Nigeria; 
• Actively participate in overseeing World Bank-supported energy country program in Nigeria with the aim to enhance quality and pro-poor focus and accelerate implementation;
• Undertake policy dialogue on complex sectoral issues (power sector financial sustainability, improving operational performance of the power sector, turning around operational and financial performance of distribution utilities, Nigeria energy transition, etc.);
• Develop relationships based on trust with various levels of Government officials to ensure progress as well as sustainability of the broad energy sector reforms;
• Create relationships with Nigerian public and private stakeholders as well as partnerships with donors to facilitate strategic cooperation in implementation of energy sector interventions ; 
• Facilitate collaboration within the World Bank Group in development as well as implementation of energy sector interventions;
• Work with IFC and MIGA for a WBG collaboration on potential PPP opportunities in Nigeria;  
• Support teams on strategic regional energy issues and implementation of the sub-region’s access agenda including implementation of Nigeria Electrification Program, efforts to turnaround financial performances of utilities, maximize finance for development, increasing the participation of the private sector in energy;
• Keep abreast of developments in the energy sector;

Selection Criteria

• A Master's level Degree in Engineering, Energy Planning, Finance, Economics, Business Administration or equivalent areas;
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in the energy sector with demonstrated ability to engage credibly on a range of issues in the energy sector;
• Prior experience of having worked in Nigeria power sector; being based in Nigeria for at least two years is an essential requirement;
• Operational experience in energy sector investment finance, with good understanding of energy issues and recent technological advancements and business models;
• Operational experience in the following areas is highly desirable: energy policy and tariff regulation analysis and advisory, utility regulation, power market development and regional integration, off-grid electrification, project development and execution, utility commercialization and project finance.
• Experience in utility financial analysis and/or utility reform and ability to develop solutions (e.g. financial recovery plans, utility debt restructuring, payment collection improvement, tariff methodology and adjustment, operations performance improvement, etc.), financial modeling of utilities including working across sectors with different departments like MTI Global Practice of WB equivalent is highly desirable; 
• Hands-on project management experience, an ability to efficiently manage many activities simultaneously, a flair for problem-solving and an ability to self-navigate through complex bureaucratic environments;
• Ability to communicate complex issues in simple terms and to engage in evidence-based dialogue with clients;
• Problem solving and solution driven approach backed by a passion for cross sectoral development challenges;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, proven ability to build strong partnerships with clients, different stakeholders and colleagues across units and departmental boundaries in a multi-cultural environment with virtual teams located in different countries;
• Good written and oral communication skills in English;  
• Work experience in multilateral institutional especially in Sub-Saharan Africa would be an advantage.

Required Professional Competencies:

• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Understands policy making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
• Policy Dialogue Skills - Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
• Integrative Skills - Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.
• Energy Sector Technologies - Direct experience with depth in at least one area: power generation, transmission and distribution, renewables, energy efficiency, etc.
• Energy Policy, Strategy and Institutions - Familiarity with energy policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
• Lead and Innovate - Develops innovative solutions.
• Deliver Results for Clients - Proactively addresses client’s stated and unstated needs.
• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries - Collaborates across boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly receives diverse perspectives.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge - Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
• Make Smart Decisions - Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward

WBG Core Competencies:

• For more information on the WBG Core Competencies, please click on the below link: World Bank Group Core Competencies