Back E T Consultant - Gender

 Description

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The Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) of the World Bank’s Africa Gender Impact Evaluation Unit, which is mapped to the Africa Region Chief Economist’s Office, conducts impact evaluations of development interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa, seeking to examine the gender gap between men and women when it comes to economic growth and empowerment. With the results of the impact evaluations, the GIL aims to support the design of innovative, scalable interventions to address gender inequality in productive economic sectors across Africa. The impact objective of GIL is to increase take-up of effective policies by governments, development organizations, and the private sector in order to address the underlying causes of gender inequality in Africa, and through that promote growth.

The  Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) Project, is a World Bank financed regional project covering nine countries in West and Central Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Niger), designed to empower girls and women to accelerate the demographic transition and build human capital in and around the Sahel, through integrated investments that target 10-19-year-old girls vulnerable to child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and early school drop-out. Given limited pre-existing rigorous evidence on girls and women’s empowerment in the region, the project was designed to pilot, rigorously measure, adapt and scale up, interventions that are promising or proven to move the needle on indicators of interest with the aim to (i) improve life skills and sexual and reproductive health of adolescents, (ii) keep girls in school through at least secondary, (iii) expand economic opportunity and financial inclusion for women, (iv) increase girls’ and young women’s agency and (v) improve prevention and response to GBV. The project also invests in strengthening the capacity of strategic regional partners such as the West African Health Organization (the health arm of the Economic Community of West African States) and the African Union. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) facilitates regional coordination, and many international and national NGOs and regional alliances are important implementation and advocacy partners. Additional scale-up of the project in West and Central Africa (e.g., Togo, Congo, Senegal, the Gambia) is in preparation.

The Gender Innovation Regional Learning (G.I.R.L) initiative, a joint initiative between the GIL and the Heath Nutrition and Population (HNP) Global Practice, financed by the Government of Canada, aims to complement the SWEDD project. G.I.R.L. was conceived to broaden and deepen the adolescent girls and women’s empowerment agenda and to influence policy making and legal frameworks across and beyond the Sahel. G.I.R.L. is designed to do this in three ways : (i) design and pilot innovative, potentially gender transformative interventions; (ii) expand the global evidence base on key constraints to girls’ and women’s empowerment; (iii) build national and regional capacity to design, advocate for, and implement policies and programs that advance national and regional goals related to the demographic transition and women’s empowerment. Through these activities, G.I.R.L. will test, document and build capacity to implement the interventions the most prone to create an enabling environment that is conducive to girls and women’s social and economic empowerment in and beyond the Sahel.

Background:

Institutional Context: The Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) is housed within the Africa Region Gender Impact Evaluation Unit, mapped to the Africa Chief Economist’s office.

Impact Objective: The Gender Innovation Lab has a clear and actionable impact objective:  to increase take-up of effective policies that can address the underlying causes of gender inequality in Africa, particularly in terms of women’s economic and social empowerment, and through that promote growth. GIL aims to do this by strengthening knowledge, in particular, by producing and delivering a new body of evidence and developing a compelling narrative, geared towards policymakers, on what works and what does not work in promoting gender equality.  This new evidence will deepen capacity for gender-informed policymaking throughout the Africa region, including policies created and enacted by governments, as well as common practices and program models of private firms, civil society, and development agencies.

Regional Orientation: GIL’s work is focused exclusively on Sub-Saharan Africa, where the team is currently working in 25 countries with the aim of building an evidence base with lessons for the region.

Sector Specific: G.I.R.L will involve close coordination with the Human Development (HD) Practice Group of the World Bank Group. The Operation Officer will work closely with GIL researchers and with operational staff in HD, and more specifically the SWEDD Task Team in HNP to : (i) design evidence-based pilot interventions and ensure the integration of these pilots into SWEDD projects, both, existing and in preparation, in Sub-Saharan Africa, (ii) support the design and implementation of SWEDD project interventions;

Duties and Accountabilities

The Operations Officer will work under the supervision of the Africa Gender Impact Evaluation Unit Leader, Markus Goldstein. Key responsibilities will include:

Program Design/Project Management

• Work with the SWEDD task team, SWEDD countries’ governments and SWEDD PIUs, other World Bank country and project teams, and other project partners (e.g., UNFPA) to clarify implementation modalities of key interventions to be implemented under the SWEDD project using the existing evidence. This include providing support to the project to design and implement a clear targeting methodology to reach primary and secondary beneficiaries.
• Work with GIL researchers, the SWEDD task team, SWEDD countries’ governments and SWEDD PIUs, other World Bank country and project teams and other partners, to identify and develop innovative pilot interventions that target and test potential solutions to empower adolescent girls and young women. 
• Lead the coordination and implementation of up to five pilot interventions for adolescent girls and young women in SWEDD countries, ensuring timely and effective delivery by implementation partners on the ground, and close collaboration with other World Bank Group operations, in particular other Girls and Women Empowerment operations.
• Prepare concept notes, proposals, work plans, and budgets for pilot interventions
• Facilitate technical workshops for government counterparts, project teams and other select audiences; organize training and workshop sessions and deliver selected contents.
• Ensure adherence of project interventions and activities with established World Bank policies and procedures, including policies on Environmental and Social Safeguards.

  Client Relationship Management

  • Liaise and interact effectively with an extensive network of contacts, at senior levels (internal and external), and respond effectively to inquiries and to diverse situations that require tact and pragmatic problem-solving skills.
  • Create new partnerships between GIL, HNP and external implementation partners in SWEDD countries and globally, including government agencies, non-profits, and other collaborators.
  • Conduct visits to SWEDD countries to discuss with Government and implementing agencies on project design and put in place effective plans for implementation of pilots.            

    Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting

    • Prepare/coordinate standard reports for G.I.R.L initiative and provide inputs into SWEDD project reporting, including Implementation Status Reports and other required submissions and tasks in the World Bank Operations Portal
    • Coordinate the impact evaluation of the pilot interventions across SWEDD countries to ensure that the learning agenda developed under the G.I.R.L initiative is met.
    • Respond to ad-hoc reporting and information requests from World Bank management and bilateral donors related to the G.I.R.L Initiative

      Research and Knowledge

      • Coordinate with GIL Economists and external/academic collaborators to ensure that the design of the pilot interventions is amenable to rigorous randomized trials and impact evaluations.
      • Support in the selection, procurement, and coordination of survey and research firms hired for the project.
      • Write Policy Briefs, Working Papers, or other written outputs to document lessons and key learnings of project interventions ideally with a view to publishing and widely disseminating lessons.

        Communications

        • Coordinate, manage, and deliver the SWEDD and G.I.R.L communications strategy including the writing blogs, drafting communications pieces, and coordinating with World Bank communications colleague to profile project achievements.
        • Facilitate communication between GIL and related units within the World Bank including the target global practices and the Africa Region, Gender, and Africa Chief Economist Communications and Knowledge Management teams.
        • Draft talking points and short briefs on the G.I.R.L initiative and SWEDD project as required.
        • Prepare presentations, blogs, and progress updates on a periodic basis.

          Selection Criteria

          • Minimum of Master’s degree (PhD preferred) in relevant field (Economics, International Development/Affairs, Public Policy or related field)
          • 5 or more years of relevant professional and/or academic work experience. Experience in the field(s) of public policy, international development and/or economics preferred.
          • Experience working in the areas of health, education, youth employment, adolescents’ girls programs in Sub-Saharan Africa.
          • Experience conducting impact evaluations, including survey design and implementation preferred.
          • Analytical and quantitative skills including a strong econometrics background preferred.
          • Experience working on implementing adolescent girls’ programs, education and/or health programs including partnering with ministries and/or NGOs to deliver programs in communities and schools.
          • Experience designing and implementing adolescents’ girls and/or youth employment programs to address the needs of adolescents and young women and men.
          • Experience managing external partner and funder relationships. Ability to diplomatically handle sensitive situations with target audiences and to otherwise cultivate effective, productive client relationships and partnerships.
          • Experience drafting communications products (policy briefs, blogs, talking points etc.) based on impact evaluation results and inferential research and creatively disseminating publications through social media outlets, BBL series, and relevant conferences for project teams and policymakers.  
          • Very strong interpersonal and communication skills and ability to develop effective relations within and outside the World Bank Group; to promote collaboration within the team to meet GIL objectives; capacity to interact with an extensive network of contacts at senior level
          • Entrepreneurial mindset, and ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural working environment and internationally with a diverse range of governments, donors, international and non-governmental organizations, researchers, and others.
          • Excellent workflow management and task organization skills. Strong drive for results and demonstrated ability to multitask and to exercise strategic thinking to make decisions under complex circumstances and with little supervision.
          • Ability to handle concurrent activities efficiently under pressure, with minimum supervision and to meet tight deadlines. Ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments and tasks, and to adjust to and prioritize a variety of complex evolving tasks. Highly organized, high degree of motivation, initiative, flexibility, reliability and a high level of energy.
          • Takes personal ownership, responsibility and accountability for timely response to queries, requests, or needs; and to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results; working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.
          • Strong written and verbal communication skills in English and French (required).
          • Experience living in one or more Sub-Saharan African countries preferred
          • Background in gender issues preferred 
          • Willing and able to undertake frequent international travel.

            Competencies

            • Drive for Results - Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results and has the personal organization to do so.
            • Lead and Innovate - Contributes new insights to understand situations and develops solutions to resolve complex problems. Adapts as circumstances require and manages impact of own behavior on others in context of WBG's values and mission. Identifies and pursues innovative approaches to resolve issues.
            • Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Understands policy making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
            • Policy Dialogue Skills - Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
            • Integrative Skills - Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.
            • Written and Verbal Communication - Delivers information effectively in support of team or workgroup
            • Client Orientation - Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.
            • Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team's work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
            • Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner.
            • Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others' work. 

              World Bank Group Core Competencies

              The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

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