Environmental Engineer – Risk Management
| Job #: | req3568 |
| Organization: | World Bank |
| Sector: | Environment |
| Grade: | GF |
| Term Duration: | 3 years 0 months |
| Recruitment Type: | Local Recruitment |
| Location: | Kigali, Rwanda |
| Required Language(s): | English,French & Kinyarwanda |
| Preferred Language(s): | |
| Closing Date: | 7/24/2019 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC |
Description
Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2018, the WBG committed $67 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $24 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188-member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally.
The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions and thirteen Global Practices to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.
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Global Practice Context (Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice):
Sustainable environment and natural resources management (ENRM) is at the heart of the WBG’s poverty agenda. Biodiversity and natural resources constitute the social safety net of the poor, representing a food bank and often their only source of livelihood. Sustainable ENRM promotes a green, clean, and resilient world where natural resources – from forests to fisheries, freshwater, oceans, coastal zones and ecosystems – are managed to support livelihoods and strong economies. Sustainable ENRM builds a world better prepared for shocks and global challenges, helping countries limit their exposure to resource scarcity, more-volatile weather patterns, and the long-term consequences of climate change.
The Environment & Natural Resources (ENR) Global Practice has been set-up to deliver on the opportunities, benefits and outcomes offered by enhanced management of the environment and natural resources. The ENR GP has close to 300 operations under management, representing close to $7 billion, and a growing pipeline of new investments under active development. The practice consists of some 300 staff across the world plus numerous other staff in other Practices and Cross Cutting SAs that are professionally associated with it. ENR GP also manages the environmental risk aspects of about 2000 projects in the World Bank’s global portfolio. About 150 staff work specifically on environmental risk management safeguards.
The Environment & Natural Resources Global Practice has three broad and distinct functions:
1. Provides clients with lending and non-lending services aimed to support the GP’s three core business lines, namely: (i) Forests, Watersheds and Sustainable Landscapes; (ii) Marine, Coastal and Aquatic Resources; and (iii) Pollution Management and Environmental Health. The GP’s activities also include a focus on Clean and Resilient Growth through its work on environmental economics and support to institutional development.
2. Supports effective environmental risk management and sustainability by managing risk at the project level and creating opportunities to advance sustainable development, in part through the implementation of the Bank’s environmental policies.
3. Works closely with other sectors, including by leveraging GEF grant financing, to mainstream environmental considerations into their policies, strategies, and operations.
ENRM activities in Africa Region accounts for a substantial part of the ENR Global Practice’s business:
• delivery of about 10 operations per year, amounting to about $800 million annually;
• an active dialogue on regional issues, such as climate change, coastal and marine economies, improving governance of natural resources, watershed management, pollution management, and wealth accounting and valuation of ecosystem services; and
• about 100 active projects in the portfolio, amounting to around $3 billion.
A key characteristic of the Bank program in the Africa region is a high level of decentralization. About 50% of staff is located in the country offices (outside of the Headquarters in Washington DC), and about 50% of operations are managed and led from the country offices. The underpinning of this decentralization rests on four main pillars:
• better integration at the field level to provide greater synergies and integrated responses;
• a decentralized management structure supported by regional and global knowledge;
• provision of faster responses and management decisions to our clients; and
• ensuring environment and natural resources dimensions are at the forefront in the region given the large urbanization trend in almost all countries, the need to better incorporate environment and natural resources priorities in the fast growing economies and huge demand for infrastructure where governance issues and growing income disparities between urban centers and rural areas could undermine the growth potential.
Unit and Country Context:
The Environment and Natural Resources Unit for East Africa (one of three Environment units in Africa) has about 40 staff. Half of these staff work on environmental safeguards/environmental risk management. The other 50 percent work primarily on lending and knowledge products in client countries. About 50 percent are based in the field. The balance is based in Washington DC and travel to the region frequently. The skills of these staff include, economics, pollution management, forestry, fisheries management, landscapes management, watershed management, and natural areas protection.
The Position:
This position will be based in Kigali, Rwanda and will focus on the environmental risk management. Rwanda has a large infrastructure shortfall. As a result, the Bank has been investing heavily in infrastructure in the country. This requires staff in the Rwanda office to implement the Bank’s environmental risk management policies (including the Safeguard Policies and the new Environmental and Social Framework, or ESF). All World Bank-supported investment projects must meet ambitious environmental management standards. The Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice is responsible for providing technical support and oversight to all investment projects in order to meet these obligations.
Duties & Accountablities:
The Environmental Engineer- Risk Management will have the following key responsibilities as agreed with his/her Practice Manager based on an annual Result Agreement:
• Work closely with the Safeguards Focal Point in Nairobi, Kenya and the Regional Safeguards Coordinator for East Africa who are responsible for assigning safeguards tasks and ensuring quality of the safeguards work in Tanzania and the East Africa Region, respectively.
• Ensure the effective integration of environmental due diligence as defined by World Bank Group Environmental and Social Management Framework, safeguards policies as well as international good practice documents (e.g. Equator Principles) into the design, appraisal and implementation of WBG supported projects (environmental lending portfolio and analytical work).
• Provide expert advice to client and counterpart organizations, project teams and WBG management with regard to the preparation of environmental impact assessments, including regional, strategic and cumulative assessments; environmental management frameworks and plans, including plan for monitoring, reporting and evaluation; public consultation plans; and specific plans related to natural habitats conservation, natural resource management, pest management, forest management, dam safety and international waterways management; such advice will be based on thorough analysis of baseline conditions, project scope and impacts, requirements from national legal and institutional frameworks, and compliance with the WBG’s operational policies.
• Provide expert guidance to clients in the preparation of relevant project cycle documentation including terms of reference (ToR) for environmental safeguard instruments, such as environmental and social assessments (incl. strategic, regional and cumulative environmental assessments, environmental and social management frameworks and plans, Pest Management Plans, and supervising their implementation. Provide technical training for the EA practitioners in client countries on the WBG safeguard policies and requirements.
• Provide environmental input in project documents in accordance with the Bank operational policies including Project Concept Note (PCN), Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet (ISDS), Project Appraisal Document (PAD) and Decision/Negotiations Packages, and assist with managing timely and proper disclosure procedures and public consultation requirements for all required environmental assessment and management instruments.
• Participate as team member in the development and/or supervision of the implementation of environment or natural resources activities or components in various projects, including participation in identification missions; seeking and developing opportunities to integrate sound environmental management and policies in various investment project operations; maintaining regular dialog with the client and enhancing their capacity for understanding and compliance with on environmental policies; and contributing to mission outputs such as back to office reports (BTORs) and Aide Memoires.
• Facilitate and maintain effective communication with the local community of practice, including NGOs, academia, civil society, the private sector as well as specialized international organizations in line with the Bank’s Disclosure Policy and need to harmonize with clients and other international financial institutions in the region.
• Coordinate all environmental safeguards and enhancement activities within and between projects, share information with Task Team Leaders (Project Managers), project team members, staff/consultants responsible for projects’ social safeguards management, and other regional staff working on the environmental and NRM agenda, and in particular with the EAP regional safeguards advisor, EAP regional safeguards coordinator and the Pacific safeguards coordinator.
• Participate in and/or possibly lead natural resource or environmental management projects and the policy dialog with the government and other stakeholders on environment or natural resources aspects relevant the region, including climate change. This includes coordination with other financiers, review of sector policies, strategies, and legislation.
• Resolve project related questions from clients related to the interpretation of the Bank safeguards policies.
• Actively seek to learn World Bank Group procedures, and contribute to their improvement, by participating in training offered, by developing a personal training program, keeping abreast of research and development knowledge in the environment and natural resources sector, and relevant safeguard management process. This will become especially important over the coming 1-3 years during the Bank’s transition from the current framework of safeguards policies to a new environmental and social framework (ESF) which constitutes a radical overhaul and modernization of the Bank’s policies, standards and implementation procedures.
• Coordinate and carry out other tasks as requested by the relevant Manager such as for example, contribute to the organization of training or knowledge sharing events, and help the country office staff with various tasks specific to the management of the office.
Selection Criteria
In addition to meeting Bank-wide Grade GF level positions (see below), it is expected that the successful candidate will meet the following selection criteria:
The following are required:
• Advanced degree (PhD or Masters) in environmental engineering, civil engineering, or related field, with a strong preference for candidates with good technical training in engineering and experience in environmental risk management related to large scale civil engineering or industrial engineering projects, pollution management, solid waste management, or soil, water and groundwater remediation and clean-up.
• A minimum of 3 years of full-time relevant professional experience in the engineering risk management or environmental management sector is required.
• Fluency in English is required (writing, speaking, listening and reading)
• Fluency in French is required (writing, speaking, listening and reading)
• Fluency in Kinyarwanda is required.
• Proven teamwork and successful experience working with multi-disciplinary teams.
• A strong sense of team work and ability to work independently with limited supervision.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Willingness to travel extensively in Rwanda and possibly to other countries is necessary, including to remote rural areas.
The following would be an advantage but not required:
• Knowledge and experience in environmental assessment and management of investment projects involving large scale civil works, extractive or industrial activities would be a strong advantage, especially the experience in the preparation of environmental safeguard/risk management documents.
• Experience working in developing countries, like Rwanda, understanding the institutional and political context and exposure to the national environmental policy challenges would be an advantage.
• Demonstrated project management / operational skills, including occupational health and safety management would be an advantage.
• Experience working with contractors that have weak implementation capacity in the area of environmental risk management would be an advantage.
Competencies (Level GF, Environmental Engineer)
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena – Translates technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies; interacts with clients at the policy level.
• Policy Dialogue Skills – Anticipates needs and requests in the field and conducts independent policy discussions with representatives of the government and non-government partners.
• Environmental Engineering – Good technical training and some experience applying knowledge in engineering to environmental engineering and infrastructure projects.
• Environmental Safeguards and Risk Management – Some experience successfully applying the environmental safeguard policies and risk management to a least moderate risk projects, with minimal supervision.
• Environmental Policy, Strategy and Institutions – Understanding of environmental policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
• Environmental Sciences – Understanding of fundamental concepts of natural science (soil science; water; ecosystems; conservation; agriculture concerns, etc.).
• Biodiversity – Broad knowledge of biodiversity with ability to apply knowledge to projects and analytical work.
• Environmental Economics -Understanding of fundamental economic concepts relevant to environment.
• Project Design for Impact and Sustainability – Investment Lending – Contributes to the design of projects and programs, based on an understanding of the country and sector context.
• Sector Dialogue – Investment Lending – Able to conduct a dialogue with the client on familiar topics, with a narrow scope, based on a solid understanding of the sector.
• Operational Project Management – Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of project management tools & methodologies, resource management, and stakeholder communications.
• Team Leadership – Team member who achieves challenging outcomes.
• Client Orientation – Maintains client relationships in the face of conflicting demands or directions and provides evidence-based advice and solutions based on sound diagnosis and knowledge.
WBG Competencies
• Lead and Innovate – Develops innovative solutions.
• Deliver Results for Clients – Proactively addresses clients’ stated and unstated needs.
• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries – Collaborates across boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly receives diverse perspectives.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge – Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
• Make Smart Decisions – Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward.
The World Bank Group values diversity and encourages all qualified candidates who are nationals of World Bank Group member countries to apply, regardless of gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability. Sub-Saharan African nationals, Caribbean nationals, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.