Senior Energy Specialist at World Bank: (Deadline 29 June 2023)

 Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org

Eastern and Southern Africa

Home to about half a billion of Africa’s people, Eastern and Southern Africa is a geographically, culturally and economically diverse region of 26 countries stretching from the Red Sea in the North to the Cape of Good Hope in the South. Children under 18 make up almost half of the total population. The subregion boasts of some of the world’s richest human and natural resources and, apart from South Africa, the countries are predominantly raw material exporters.

The subregion harbors some of Africa’s protracted conflicts, rendering many of its countries fragile, while significant gaps in education, health, and skills development continues to keep people from reaching their full potential. This creates a huge development challenge, impacts heavily on the lives and livelihoods of people, and hinders regional integration and trade. But it also creates an opportunity to work closely with country leaders, civil society, development partners, and young people to chart a brighter course for the future.

The World Bank’s Eastern and Southern Africa Region, comprised of approximately 1,207 staff, mostly based in 26 country offices, has been helping countries realize their considerable development potential by focusing on the following priorities:

• Creating Jobs and Transforming Economies: We are working with countries across Africa to stimulate job creation and economic transformation by leveraging all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions to promote investment.
• Building up the Digital Economy: We are supporting Africa’s vision to ensure that every African individual, business, and government is connected by 2030 – a vision that, if realized, can boost growth by up to 2 percentage points per year, and reduce poverty by 1 percentage point per year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.

• Institutions more Efficient and Accountable: Our support is helping governments strengthen public policy processes, manage resources effectively, and reinforce fair and reliable delivery of public services.

• Investing in People: We are at the forefront of helping African countries accelerate human capital gains and empower women by improving their access to education and skills acquisition, sexual and reproductive health services, and employment opportunities.
• Supporting Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption:  In the face of increasing climate-related risks, we are working with African countries to advance efforts to adopt renewable energy for both electricity and cooking, climate-smart agriculture, and green infrastructure.
• Addressing the Drivers of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence: Given the cross-border nature of conflicts in Africa, we are employing an approach that simultaneously focuses on the drivers of fragility while also supporting well-targeted regional initiatives to create opportunities for peace and shared prosperity.
• Building Partnerships and Working across the African Continent: We are scaling up our work on regional integration, taking a holistic view of the continent that covers both North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Bank is a dedicated partner for Eastern and Southern African countries, helping them deliver strong development outcomes for their people. A brighter future for Africa is a better future for the world.

UNIT CONTEXT

The Energy & Extractives Global Practice of the World Bank Group is made up of more than 300 professionals, a lending program in the order of US$5-7 billion a year, an active portfolio of some $40 billion, and a rich program of Advisory and Analytical Work. The EEX GP focuses on: providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to meet the needs of fast growing economies and to ensure universal access to modern energy services for people in client countries; and, strengthening policy and institutional frameworks to promote transparent and equitable growth of the extractive sectors for public benefit.   There is a strong emphasis on private sector resource mobilization and catalyzing financing from commercial and other sources of development and climate finance.

The Africa energy sector grouping consists of four Units across two regions of East and Southern Africa and newly created VPU of West and Central Africa. The position is based in Kigali, Rwanda supporting the East Africa unit (IAEE1).

The Bank is engaged in all aspects of the electricity sector – generation, transmission, distribution including off-grid, and rural electrification – through development policy financing, program for results, investment financing support, technical assistance and guarantee operations. Assisting the government with policy reforms to attract investments in generation and renewable energy along with the promotion of the regional energy trade in the Eastern Africa Power Pool, modernizing the electricity network for the needs of a modern economy and increasing energy access are among the key areas of the Bank’s deepening engagement in the sector.

The World Bank on-going portfolio in Rwanda  includes support for power generation projects (Especially renewables such as Hydro Power), transmission network development and grid distribution including last mile electrification; support for off-grid stand-alone solar systems for households and communities, improved cookstoves for households and institutions, solar mini-grids and solar water pumping in the underserved counties; technical assistance and capacity building of sector institutions; and interconnection with neighboring countries as part of the efforts to enhance the connection to the regional EAPP electricity network. As a member of the energy team, the selected candidate is expected to co-lead the design and implementation of the on-going and future World Bank support in energy in East and Southern Africa in general and in Rwanda in particular.

Duties & Accountabilities

The East Africa unit (IAFE1) of the World Bank seeks a Senior Energy Specialist to be a key member of the Rwanda Energy Team to support the Government of Rwanda in its efforts towards provisioning of clean, affordable, and sustainable energy.  The work entails strategic, advisory, and operational work. The main responsibility of the candidate will be to support the ongoing sector dialogue, implementation of the investment lending operations, preparation of pipeline, as well as analytical work in the energy sector. The candidate will be based in Kigali but may travel frequently to the neighboring countries.

A core part of the work will be to continue the dialogue how to reform energy sectors to enable a Green, Resilient, and Inclusive economic recovery from the negative economic impact of the COVID pandemic. This would focus on regulatory and structural reform of utilities, eventual removal of subsidies, accelerating Access expansion aligned with SDG7 and policies for universal access to electricity and clean cooking, as well as to support the emerging work program on IPP/PPPs in renewable energy and regional integration of energy markets.

The selected candidate will participate in overseeing implementation of energy operations with the aim to enhance quality and accelerate implementation, and will play an active role in Bank’s policy dialogue with the authorities, development partners, and other stakeholders on strategic energy issues and implementation of ongoing energy sector reforms.

The selected candidate will also lead teams, provide guidance and mentoring to junior staff on operational, policy dialogue and analytical activities.

The AFR Energy team is a key contributor towards the WBG strategy for “Maximizing Finance for Development (MFD) with the objective to help countries maximize their development resources by drawing on private financing and sustainable private sector solutions. The Senior Energy Specialist is expected to actively seek opportunities to apply MFD principles in our work program and build a strong internal WBG partnership with IFC and MIGA, as well as network with private sector partners that can contribute to the achievement of our development objectives.

The responsibilities of the selected candidate will include:

The Sr Energy Specialist, based in Kigali, Rwanda, will lead part of the Bank’s energy engagement in with focus on Energy Access and Utility reform. The Sr Energy Specialist would be expected to: (i) advise a range of Governments on energy policy and strategy, with particular focus on Energy Access and reform dialogue; (ii) lead the supervision and implementation support of the existing portfolio; (iii) build a pipeline of new investments supported by quality analytical work; (iii) build on existing partnerships with development partners and other stakeholders to drive the broader regional energy.; and (iv) liaise with the CMU, other GPs, and WBG on energy Access as well as climate change and resilience aspects. Knowledge on Climate mitigation/adaptation strategies and CCDRs is considered an advantage.

Other responsibilities will include technical support to lending and non-lending programs:

• Lead or co-lead energy sector strategy development and policy dialogue;
• Lead the development of new lending, preparation and supervision of investment operations in the energy sector with the aim to enhance quality, efficiency and pro-poor focus and accelerate implementation;
• Lead the preparation of analytical   and advisory reports and studies on utility reform, transmission and distribution, renewable energy, climate change,  energy efficiency, and potentially other regional energy programs, as well as inputs to report management
• Lead the drafting and inputs for sector and country briefings, analytical and advisory reports and studies on utility reform, transmission and distribution, renewable energy; energy efficiency, and other programs within the AFR Energy portfolio.
• Support the AFE Regional energy programs, particularly regional interconnectors and regional Hydro development such as Rusumo and Ruzizi Hydro Power plants and potential other regional project under the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP);
• Support the unit’s analytical agenda on improving access to energy services in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Assume an active role in the Rwanda energy team with the aim to ensure adequate and appropriate integration of relevant aspects of the energy development agenda in core Bank products, including the country partnership framework, strategic country diagnostic, country economic memorandum etc.;
• Participate in the dialogue with relevant representatives of the private sector in order to keep abreast with issues related to the business investment climate and identify possible areas of collaboration through public-private-partnerships;
• Develop strong working relationships with the staff of other donor and financing agencies and co-operate with them in the preparation and supervision of projects; and
• Lead the organization of large events and high-level sector roundtables

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in engineering, energy planning/economics, business administration, or equivalent areas relevant for energy sector development;
• At least 8 years of combined experience in the World Bank, other international institutions and/or companies, government agencies, and/or power sector utilities with demonstrated track record of successful engagement with relevant developmental programs and projects;
• Demonstrates proven understanding of energy policies, technologies or strategies, private sector participation, utility reform, and institutional development needed to support development and for the success of project and analytical work.
• Strong experience in planning, designing, and implementing power infrastructure projects including renewable energy generation, transmission, distribution and improving commercial performance of utilities;
• Experience leading and/or playing key roles in policy dialogue with clients and stakeholders.
• Experience developing and implementing national electricity access programs is desirable;
• Experience working on/with World Bank or other International Financial Institutions (IFIs) I) lending and non-lending operations is desirable;
• Demonstrates active listening skills and the ability to influence the audience (such as counterparts in government, international partner organizations, academia, and Bank colleagues, senior staff and managers).
• An excellent track record in carrying out high quality and timely analytical reports and activities would be advantageous;
• Hands-on experience with infrastructure projects with power sector utilities, especially regional cross-border projects will be a distinct advantage;
• Experience working with large global teams, to produce high-quality results and outputs with minimal supervision is required;
• High level of motivation, ability to work independently, taking initiative, and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and proven ability to build strong partnerships with clients, different stakeholders and colleagues across units and departmental boundaries in a multi-cultural environment with virtual teams located in different countries;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, able to communicate complex issues in simple terms and to engage in evidence-based dialogue with clients; and
• Demonstrates strong understanding and able to translate technical analyses into policies, operations and/or research of at least one of relevant thematic business lines such as Energy Access; Economics, Markets & Institution; Oil & Gas; Energy Efficiency; Renewable Energy; Energy Finance; Hydropower; Power Systems & Technologies.

The Five WBG Core Competencies for all staff

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• 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.
• Integrative Skills – Understands relevant cross-sectoral areas how they are interrelated; able to undertake cross-sectoral work in lending and non-lending operations.
• Sector/Network Representation – Demonstrates ability to coordinate, participate in, and act as a catalyst for, strategic cross-sector dialogues within the network, across the country, among Bank colleagues and other development institutions, government, and other organizations.
• Project Design for Impact and Sustainability – Contributes to the design of projects and programs, based on an understanding of the country and sector context.

Poverty has no borders. Neither does excellence. This is why we continually search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe. We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Note: If you are currently a World Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, you will retain this status. All others will be offered a 4 year term appointment.

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.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

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