THE WORLD BANK GROUP’S VISION AND STRATEGY
The global development community is at an auspicious turning point in history. Thanks to the success of the past few decades and favorable economic growth, developing countries now have an unprecedented opportunity to end extreme poverty within a generation. This is the vision of the WBG: to eradicate extreme poverty by reducing the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day to 3 percent by 2030, and promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40 percent in every country.
To achieve this vision, this year the WBG Board of Governors approved a strategy for the organization. This strategy leverages, for the first time, the combined strength of the WBG institutions and their unique ability to partner with the public and private sectors to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world class knowledge and convening services. The strategy has three components: (1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.
The architecture underpinning the strategy and instrumental to its success is the establishment of fourteen Global Practices and five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas that, in concert with the WBG Regions, will design solutions that address clients’ most pressing developmental challenges, and ultimately, enable the WBG to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
The WBG seeks to recruit a dynamic professional as a World Bank Group Director for Fragility, Conflict & Violence, to be based in Nairobi, Kenya, under a 4 year renewable term appointment.
Desired Skills and Experience
THE ROLE OF THE WBG IN FRAGILITY, CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE
Currently, more than 1.5 billion people live in countries or regions affected by fragility, conflict, or extreme violence. At the current pace of poverty reduction, the number of extreme poor in fragile and conflict-affected countries is expected to increase by 2030 and will constitute between 40-60% of the global poor. In addition to the 36 countries and territories that are classified as fragile or conflict-affected by the Harmonized List of Fragile Situations, extreme poverty in LICs and MICs is increasingly concentrated in fragile areas such as lagging regions and urban slums, where violence is a prominent factor. Moreover recent relapses of domestic conflict in a number of LICs and MICs (e.g. Mali, Egypt) demonstrate that decades-long gains in poverty reduction can be quickly reversed. Such relapses often have a region-wide impact on other well-performing countries (e.g. Syria on Lebanon and Jordan, Somalia and Sudan on the Horn of Africa).
Demand for WBG expertise and operational engagement on the nexus of fragility, conflict, violence and development has grown considerably in the last several years and will increase in the future. Some regional integration strategies, such as for the Great Lakes region and the Sahel, are incorporating activities to address the regional drivers of conflict and fragility.
To achieve the full potential of WBG engagement on issues of fragility, conflict and violence (FCV), the WBG will focus on the following areas: (i) maximizing the role of the private sector for inclusive growth and job creation; (ii) integrating Fragile and Conflict Affected States (or situations) (FCS) considerations into country partnership frameworks and projects; (iii) building a knowledge base on development interventions that support the clients’ transition out of fragility, conflict and violence; (iv) building appropriate front-line staffing and skills, a security and support infrastructure, and exploiting flexibility in the robust policy framework; (v) working with countries and partners on analysis and support for adequate public financial management, macro and fiscal frameworks; and (vi) enhancing existing and forging new and closer partnerships with a wide range of external actors who have both the mandate and comparative advantage to engage on all sides of the complex political, social and security questions. While the Bank’s current FCS portfolio totals US $12 billion, the share of IDA allocations for FCS could increase by up to 50 percent going forward. Moreover, IFC plans to increase investments in FCS to US $806 million (a 50% increase over the FY12 level).
The Director will provide intellectual and strategic leadership to the FCV agenda for the WBG, working across technical, geographic and institutional boundaries to support the delivery of development solutions to a diverse range of clients. S/he will be supported by a small team and leverage relevant expertise located across the World Bank Group. Furthermore, as the position is located in Kenya, the Director will be able to draw upon the Center on Conflict, Security and Development, located in Nairobi, which acts as a support hub on FCS issues. S/he will report to the two Global Practice Vice Presidents.
Details for this vacancy are available in the World Bank Careers site: www.worldbank.org/careers,Vacancy Number 132497. All applications must be submitted through this website. The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. Closing date is December 5, 2013.
