Job # 100280
Job Title ENVIRONMENTAL SPEC.
Job Family Environment
Location Abuja, Nigeria
Appointment Local Hire
Job Posted 04-Feb-2010
Closing Date 25-Feb-2010
Language Requirements English [Essential]
Appointment Type
BACKGROUND / GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Sub-Saharan Africa, with a population of around 782 million people in 47 countries, is home to 36 of the world’s poorest countries. Making headway against poverty in sub-Saharan Africa continues to present the world with its most formidable development challenge. The Africa Region is committed to working with Africans and other development partners to make faster progress toward the MDGs, particularly cutting poverty levels in half by 2015. The Region is comprised of approximately 1750 staff members of whom over 60% are based in the Region’s 37 field offices.
Nigeria: With a population of 148 million people, Nigeria is the largest country in Africa and accounts for 47 percent of West Africa’s population.. Nigeria is also the second largest economy in Sub Sahara Africa and accounts for 41 percent of the region’s GDP. Development partner coordination in Nigeria is strong. A Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for FY10-13 has been prepared by the World Bank, DFID, USAID and AfDB to increase development effectiveness and its main components are driven by the Government’s 7-Point Agenda. In addition to support in response to the global financial crisis, the partnership will focus on three themes of: (i) improving governance; (ii) maintaining non-oil growth; and (iii) promoting human development. The International Development Agency (IDA) is the Bank’s interest-free lending arm for the poorest countries. The Nigeria portfolio currently supports twenty eight IDA projects and 2 GEF grants. Bank commitments have tripled from $1.5 billion in FY05 to $4.5 billion in early FY10. The Bank is the largest development partner in Nigeria and the country’s portfolio is the largest in terms of net commitments in the Bank’s Africa Region. The strong focus on the current portfolio is on project implementation for results. The country portfolio cuts across a range of sectors including: Infrastructure (water supply, energy/energy and transport); Human Development (health, HIV/AIDS, education and social projects), Agriculture and Rural Development; Urban Development, Public Sector Governance, Financial and Private Sector and so on.
The strategic thrust of the Environment and Natural Resources group includes sustainable land, water, forest, coastal and marine management; climate change adaptation and mitigation and related disaster risk management; environmental governance; and ensuring sound environmental design and implementation of all projects and programs in the Africa region, including addressing environmental issues in key natural resource extraction and large infrastructure projects, and protecting regional and global public goods.
The core values guiding our work are passion for our mission of sustainable development and poverty reduction, putting the needs of the client at the center of all our activities, trust and respect as a common currency, intellectual rigor and curiosity, honesty and integrity, teamwork, openness to learning and the courage to admit we do not always have the answer.
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 2 year renewable term appointment.
DUTIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES
A good understanding of environmental issues is essential to provide high quality support to our client countries in the sustainable development agenda. An Environmental Specialist is needed to join the World Bank Environment and Natural Resources Management Unit, located in Abuja, Nigeria. The Environmental Specialist primary duties are to help bring environment dimensions into the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) and into the overall dialogue with the Government on various areas of Bank involvement. He/she would contribute in particular to mainstreaming environment into the economic and sectoral development programs. This assignment is a two-year term position with a scheduled start date of April 1, 2010.
The Environmental Specialist will be under the general supervision of the Sector Manager of AFTEN. The duties and responsibilities shall include (but not limited to):
Participate in the development and review of Bank social and environmental guidelines and policies;
Prepare environmental and social screening checklists for project categorization;
Take part in the identification and preparation of sectoral projects with potentially significant environmental and social impacts, and which are likely to be categorized A or B;
Participate in project preparation and appraisal missions to identify, assess and document key environmental issues; utilizing technical background and experience to recommend mitigating measures;
Take responsibility for a variety of operational tasks (Project categorization, environmental and social impact assessments, project design, procurement);
Participate in policy dialogue with government in the area of climate change and environmental sustainability;
Draft Terms of References for Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA); Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF); stand-alone environmental studies; ESIA Executive Summaries for Category A projects and prepare and/or review the environmental sections of studies, ISDS, project preparation and appraisal reports;
Review and evaluate studies and documents from other sectors to ensure mainstreaming of environmental and associated cross-cutting issues;
Participate in training programs for the mainstreaming of environmental and associated cross-cutting issues and the integration of environmental issues in Country Partnership Strategies (CASs) Papers, policy dialogue with Government;
Evaluate the implementation of environmental management plans during project supervisions, monitor progress achieved in integrating environmental concerns in Bank operations and report on how the borrowers have effectively used Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMP) to mitigate environmental degradation;
Represent the Bank at environmental and natural resource management seminars and conferences and participate in project portfolio management (procurement, supervision, mid-term review, etc).
SELECTION CRITERIA
Have a minimum of a Master’s degree in environmental engineer, natural resource management, or economics;
Have a broad understanding of institutional and policy as well as technical issues;
Have had at least five years of practical experience in project development and AAA;
Familiar with World Bank safeguard policies;
Conversant with environmental laws and covenants in Nigeria;
Familiar with environmental institutions and their roles in environmental governance in Nigeria
Experience of environment and natural resource management;
Experience on climate change a strong advantage;
Exhibit trustworthiness, integrity, dedication, perseverance, and a “can-do” attitude;
Demonstrated record of independent analytical and research support work;
Fluency in English, including demonstrated report writing skills;
Very good time management skills and ability to multi-task and work under time pressure;
Demonstrated attention to detail and quality assurance;
Ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments, and adjust to and prioritize a variety of complex evolving tasks;
Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented, multi-cultural environment;
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to develop effective relations within and outside the Bank, and to promote collaboration within the team to meet Department and Regional objectives;
Have a problem solving approach and understand well the constraints of working within tight budgets;
Sound understanding of information technology, with experience in applying Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) as a minimum skill set.
