E T Consultant (Environmental Economist)

In West and Central Africa, the World Bank is a leading partner with a growing portfolio of 387 projects totaling more than $44.1 billion in areas such as agriculture, trade and transport, energy, education, health, water and sanitation- all to support job creation, gender equality, poverty reduction, and better lives. Across the continent, the World Bank’s program has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. By 2030, about 87% of the world’s extreme poor are projected to live in Sub-Saharan Africa, so this is where our mission to end extreme poverty and to promote shared prosperity will be achieved.

The Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy (ENB) Global Practice has five key business lines consisting of Lending and non-lending services in (1) Forests, Watersheds and Sustainable Landscapes (‘Green Business line’); (2) Marine, Coastal, Aquatic Resources and Ocean Health (‘Blue Economy Business line’); (3) Pollution Management and Environmental Health (‘Pollution Management Business line’); (4) Environmental Economics, Policies and Institutions Business line, and (5) Safeguards/ Environmental Risk Management Business line:  delivery of effective environmental risk management and sustainability by managing risk at the project level and creating opportunities to advance sustainable development. This includes provision of high-quality and timely safeguards services across the Bank, including current safeguards policies and the effective implementation of the new Environment and Social Framework (ESF) that was rolled out on October 1, 2018

The ENB Global Practice in Sub Saharan Africa consists of four units: Two in West and Central Africa Region, and two in East and Southern Africa Region. SAWE4 covers parts of West and North. The unit manages operations in a variety of areas such as natural resources management, coastal zone management, forestry, pollution, climate change, landscape, and terrestrial and marine natural resources. In addition, the unit, like other ENR GP units provides environmental safeguards and ESF services across all sectors and projects.

Duties and Responsibilities:

SAWE4 is seeking to hire an ETC- Environmental Economist with strong analytical skills and operational experience in the areas of Environment and Natural Resources, the Blue Economy, Sustainability, and Climate Change. The Environmental Economist will be based in Washington D.C. and report to the SAWE4 Practice Manager.

Your key responsibilities will be to:

• Assist the Team Leader i.e. the climate focal point for the AFW regional climate action agenda, and work jointly with other team members staff across the Practice Groups (including HD, EFI, INF, and SD) to ensure strong delivery of climate action, in support of the Corporate Climate Change Action Plan and countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Provide technical guidance and contributions to core and non-core Analytics and Advisory activities including Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCD), Country Partnership Framework (CPF), Country Economic Memorandums (CEM), and Climate Change Development Reports (CCDR) for all SAWE4 countries to ensure that the climate issues are clearly articulated in the development of country-specific and innovative work programs through new projects and analytical work.
• Support the development of a strong analytical and Technical Assistance work program reflecting regional and country-specific analytical demands on the climate agenda and strategic opportunities for Bank engagement, including communicating with donors and through mobilizing Trust Funds.
• Provide technical support to operational teams to strengthen project design and implementation performance to ensure strong integration of climate, for the development of innovative engagements through Development Policy Operations (DPO), Program for Results (PforR), Investment Project Financing (IPFs), Reimbursable Advisory Services, and other instruments.
• Provide technical assistance and support in the delivery on the corporate climate commitments through AFW’s pipeline of activities (DPOs, PforRs, IPFs) specifically in relation to the achievement of the Region's climate co-benefit targets, through systematic monthly and quarterly tracking, delivery of capacity building, and sensitization of management and teams on early engagement and end-to-end delivery.
• Contribute to GP-wide flagship studies, reports and engagements  - including a focus on climate, natural resources, and economics nexus -  coordinating and collaborating with CMUs and across the Sustainable Development (SD) Practice Group. Contribute to quality assurance of lending and analytical and advisory services in SAWE4.
• Support strategic dialogue and business development in countries covered by SAWE4, working across all ENB business lines and at the nexus of climate change. Provide support to client and counterpart organizations and Bank Management concerning national and climate change policy and operational issues.
• Interact with the relevant research communities inside and outside of the World Bank and network with academics and practitioners as well as other thought-leaders in the Africa Region.
• Liaise and coordinate closely with the ENB, and other PG/GP Global Leads.

Selection Criteria

• MS or PhD in Economics, Applied Economics, Environmental Economics, Climate Finance or related field is the minimum requirement. There is a strong preference for candidates holding a PhD.
• Rigorous quantitative training in economics, econometrics or quantitative economic modeling is required.
• Candidates with microeconomics training focus on environmental management problems are encouraged to apply.    
• Candidates with macroeconomics and fiscal management training focused on environment and natural resources policy are also encouraged to apply.
• Minimum of 5 years of full-time relevant professional experience post Masters Degree on research or applied work as an economist on environmental issues (time in a PhD program counts toward this professional experience).
• Excellent in English communication skill is required (writing, speaking, listening and reading).
• Proven teamwork and successful experience working with multi-disciplinary teams.
• A strong sense of teamwork and ability to work independently with limited supervision.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Willingness to travel extensively, including to remote rural areas.