Water & Sanitation Specialist

Innovation and partnership bond the five institutions of the World Bank Group (WBG): the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), which together form the World Bank; the International Finance Corporation (IFC); the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA); and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help our client countries to reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve quality of life. To ensure that countries can access the best global expertise and help generate cutting-edge knowledge, the World Bank Group is constantly seeking to improve the way it works. Key priorities include delivering measurable results, promoting openness and transparency in development, and improving access to development information and data.

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) is an international partnership to help the poor gain sustained access to water supply and sanitation services. Administered by the World Bank with financial support from several bi- and multi-lateral and private donors, WSP is a decentralized partnership and operates through offices in Africa, East Asia, Latin America and South Asia. A major thrust of the programs is to help its clients prepare for and implement actions towards meeting the water and sanitation (WSS) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In pursuing their mission, WSP staff provide advisory support to projects and policies, help identify and disseminate best practices and lessons from experience across countries, assist clients in the implementation of pilot projects to test out new ideas and facilitate informal networks of practitioners and sector stakeholders. Additional information about WSP can be found on the program website (www.wsp.org). WSP is administratively a part of the World Bank's Transport, Water and Information & Communications Technology Department (TWI) in the Sustainable Development Network (SDN) Vice Presidency.

WSP’s FY11-15 Business Plan is based on a global strategy ‘FY2009-2018: Scaling Up Sustainable Services”, which articulates WSP’s proposed strategic response to identified sector challenges affecting the poor through capacity building, technical assistance and knowledge. The Business Plan identifies six business areas where the program could have the best opportunity to affect large-scale change in sector performance: scaling up rural sanitation and hygiene; creating sustainable services through domestic private sector participation; supporting poor-inclusive WSS sector reform; targeting the urban poor and improving services in small towns; mitigating and adapting WSS delivery to climate change impacts; and delivering WSS services in fragile states.

This Terms of Reference relates to Delivering WSS services in Fragile States Business Area.

Water supply and sanitation services underpin multiple aspects of human and economic development. They require public intervention to ensure adequate and equitable supply, benefit from economies of scale and are highly visible services. State fragility and associated conflict has held back water supply and sanitation outcomes and greatly diminished the impact of sector aid.

Restoring water supply and sanitation services is both a key component of a peace dividend and a basic indicator of state functionality. Over the past two years WSP has increased its presence in and engagement with fragile and conflict affected states including: DRC, Liberia, Nigeria, ROC, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe.

WSP’s technical assistance in fragile states is to support selected countries transition their water supply and sanitation subsectors from being dominated by donor-led, ad-hoc emergency interventions to country-led sector development programs. This aims to re-link service delivery to core country systems and to the political process, so building legitimacy of the state and enhancing the rate and reach of service delivery.

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 term appointment.

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