Urban Resilience Specialist at World Bank

Roles And Responsibilities

The Urban Resilience Specialist’s responsibilities will include, but will not be limited to the following:

• Provide substantive contributions to engagement in Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management through existing country programs and provide technical support towards the promotion and implementation of the urban and resilience agenda, including through participation in the Bank’s dialogue with clients.
• Support project supervision for Urban/DRM investment operations, including reviewing Terms of Reference (TORs), specifications and bidding documents, and lead supervision missions and the preparation of internal report documentation.
• Supporting/providing leadership on stakeholder engagement.
• Provide operational support to government counterparts and implementing agencies by, identifying potential problems and advising on required actions as well as overall project/program implementation.
• Provide technical and substantive inputs to analytical activities as part of the Urban and DRM program in AFW, including implementation of cutting-edge analytical instruments and knowledge products. Conduct spatial/economic/statistical analysis, desk reviews, and data interpretations on urban related issues, including urban management, finance and services; reviews and interprets data.
• Support task team leaders on coordination of stakeholders in the URL activities, including development partners, government institutions, and civil society for better implementation of the Government’s urban sector and land reform program.
• Support the task team leaders in the management of Trust Fund (TF) activities including preparation and review of grant proposals, consultation on technical issues, preparation of progress reports, project briefings, disbursements and quality control of deliverables.
• Contribute to business development in the urban development, DRM, infrastructure, and resilience areas by identifying key opportunities and priority areas for engagement and by conceptualizing, preparing and implementing urban solutions both in the operational and analytical realms.
• Support the urban and DRM team members on sector dialogue and provide inputs to technical notes, synthesize comments, and help prepare review meeting packages; assist with dissemination of findings, including drafting briefing notes, talking points, power point presentations as well as coordinating workshops.
• Participate in missions and provide technical inputs, project briefs, aide memoirs, and other materials as part of The World Bank internal documentation.

This requisition is open to WBG staff as well as External candidates.

Selection Criteria

• Advanced university degree (Master or PhD) in a field relevant to urban development such as urban planning, public policy, economics, civil engineering, hydrology or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of proven experience in the urban, urban drainage/drainage sectors or in a related infrastructure field (either with a government’s authority, contractor(s), design or supervision consultant(s), or development institutions) with demonstrated ability to work on: (a) infrastructure design or planning; (b) civil works contract management and execution; (c) urban resilience policies; and (c) economic, social, and environmental impact of infrastructure investments;
• Experience in working either with the World Bank, or on programs financed by other development partners, multilateral or bilateral organizations;
• Effective verbal, analytical and written communication skills in English and a demonstrated ability to produce quality documents and analytical reports;
• Work experience in Nigeria and familiarity with the issues and problems of the Urban and Disaster risk management sectors in Nigeria are desirable;
• Familiarity with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geo-spatial analysis desirable.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and proven ability to work effectively in multi-cultural teams (with virtual teams located in different countries), and with clients, different stakeholders and colleagues across units and departmental boundaries.
• Good project management skills, an ability to work effectively on multiple activities simultaneously, strong problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to self-navigate, with minimal support, through complex bureaucratic environments; and
• Knowledge of key developments in related sectors and on cross-cutting issues affecting the performance of the sectors, such as: environmental and social impacts, gender equality, climate change, or poverty reduction;