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THE WORLD BANK Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2014, the WBG committed $65.6 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $22.2 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.

Senior Urban Specialist, Cairo, Egypt

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). IBRD and IDA are commonly known as the World Bank, which is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions, and – as of July 1, 2014 – has introduced fourteen Global Practices (GPs) as well as five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs) to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.

GLOBAL PRACTICES & CROSS-CUTTING SOLUTIONS AREAS

The 14 GPs are: Agriculture; Education; Energy and Extractives; Environment and Natural Resources; Finance and Markets; Governance; Health, Nutrition and Population; Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management; Poverty; Social Protection and Labor; Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience; Trade and Competitiveness; Transport and ICT; and Water. The 5 CCSAs are: Climate Change; Fragility, Conflict and Violence; Gender; Jobs; and Public-Private Partnerships. The new operating model is part of a broader internal reform aimed at delivering the best of the World Bank Group to our clients, so that together we can achieve the twin goals of (1) ending extreme poverty by 2030, and (2) promote shared prosperity for the bottom 40% of the population in every developing country.

THE ‘SOCIAL, URBAN, RURAL AND RESILIENCE’ (SURR) GLOBAL PRACTICE

Urbanization is occurring at an unprecedented pace. Cities generate 80% of global GDP and are key to job creation and the pursuit of shared prosperity. Yet one billion city residents live in slums today, and by 2030 one billion new migrants will arrive in cities. This concentration of people and assets will exacerbate risk exposure to adverse natural events and climate change, which affects the poor disproportionately. The absence of secure land tenure underpins deprivation and is a major source of conflict in the urban and rural space. One and a half billion people live in countries affected by repeated cycles of violence. In the absence of services, participative planning and responsive institutions, these trends will result in increased poverty, social exclusion, vulnerability and violence. Finally, avoiding a 4-degree warmer world requires drastically reducing the carbon footprint of cities.

The WBG is in a unique position to support national and sub-national clients to: harness urbanization and enable effective land management in support of both growth and poverty reduction; foster social inclusion of marginalized groups; support the responsiveness and fiscal, financial, and management capacities of local governments – cities, municipalities, and rural districts – to deliver local infrastructure and decentralized services; strengthen resilience and risk management related to natural disasters; reduce conflict and violence; scale-up access to finance for sub-national governments; and reduce the carbon footprint of cities. The WBG brings a combination of lending ($7-8 billion in annual lending to cities), analytical and advisory services (e.g., social inclusion flagship, urbanization reviews, Sendai dialogue), its growing portfolio of reimbursable advisory services, its convening power (e.g., understanding risk and the land conferences), its leveraging capacity (e.g., guarantees and risk mitigation), and its ability to work with the private sector to tackle the challenges at scale and to effect.

The SURR GP covers a wide gamut

• developing green, inclusive and resilient cities;
• addressing the social inclusion of the poor, vulnerable and excluded groups through accountable institutions, and ensuring compliance with social safeguards;
• enhancing urban and rural development through supporting and managing the urban-rural transition, assisting local development through developing land tenure, management and information systems; and
• assisting in disaster risk management through issues of risk assessment, risk reduction (including flood management, urban drainage, coastal management, and retrofitting of infrastructure), disaster preparedness (including hydromet services, early warning systems, and civil defense), risk financing (including CAT-DDO), and resilient reconstruction (including post-disaster damage and loss assessment).

A key responsibility of the GP is to provide professional expertise and operational support to other GPs to implement the WBG social policies (the WB’s safeguard policies and the IFC’s Performance Standards) to deliver sustainable development results that ensure that any adverse impacts of WBG interventions are limited and mitigated. The World Bank’s work in urban development aims to build sustainable cities and communities through an urbanization process that is inclusive, resilient, productive, and livable, in line with the World Bank’s goals to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. World Bank-supported operations and technical assistance contributes to the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goal No.11 to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

The Bank’s urban development work is structured around three main pillars

1. Strengthening city finances, planning, and governance systems;
2. Improving different dimensions of living conditions for people – infrastructure services, tenure, housing, and neighborhoods; and
3. Supporting urban transformation through improved urban and land-use planning, management, and implementation of integrated investments in infrastructure and service delivery in a manner that can improve urban space and impact city form over the long run, through reducing sprawl and enhancing livability, resilience, and productivity.

These pillars are in turn organized under six business lines

• Cities and economic growth
• Urban poverty and inclusion
• Municipal infrastructure and services
• Affordable housing and land
• Urban management, finance, and governance
• Cities and urban environment

REGIONAL/COUNTRY CONTEXT

The Middle East and North Africa Region (MNA) at the World Bank serves 21 client countries with a total population of about 335 million. Clients range from upper middle income countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which are more interested in the Bank’s Reimbursable Technical Assistance, analytical and advisory services; to IBRD middle income countries such as Egypt, Iraq and Morocco, and two IDA countries, Yemen and Djibouti where more traditional Bank services are required. Hence the range of needs for advice, support and cross-fertilization of experiences is wide and challenging.

The MNA Social, Urban and Disaster Risk Management Unit (MNA SUR) consists of 30 team members including in four country offices (Cairo, Sanaa, Riyadh and Jerusalem).

The portfolio comprises a diverse set of projects under supervision and has an active lending pipeline which is poised for further growth. In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the MNA Region is undergoing radical transformations with impacts throughout the Region. Given the ongoing fragility and conflict in the region, the World Bank Group has prepared a new regional strategy for the Middle East and North Africa. Instead of taking conflict and violence as given and working around it, this new strategy, entitled – ‘Economic and Social Inclusion for Peace and Stability in the Middle East and North Africa

A New Strategy for the World Bank Group’ – puts the goal of promoting peace and social stability in the MENA region at its center. The strategy is built around four pillars (‘the 4 R’s’) that respond to both the underlying causes of conflict and violence as well as the urgent consequences though development interventions that foster inclusion and shared prosperity. The four pillars of the strategy are

1. Renewing the social contract – to generate a new development model that is built on greater citizen trust; more effective protection of the poor and vulnerable; inclusive and accountable service delivery; and a stronger private sector that can create jobs and opportunities for MENA’s youth;
2. Regional cooperation – particularly around regional public goods and sectors such as education, water, and energy so as to foster greater trust and collaboration across MENA countries;
3. Resilience – to refugee and migration shocks by promoting the welfare of refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and host communities by focusing on building trust and building their assets; and
4. Reconstruction and recovery – through a dynamic approach that brings in external partners, leverages large scale financing, and move beyond humanitarian response to longer-term development wherever and whenever conflict subsides.

In implementing this strategy, the WBG will rely heavily on both deepening and expanding partnerships with national, regional, and global actors.

On the basis of the above, the MNA GSURR Team works across a complex institutional environment, in partnership with many different units within the Bank given the cross-cutting nature of the urban, social and resilience issues.

The span of work of GSURR extends to all active clients in the region, and across a variety of financial and technical assistance support.

This includes IBRD/ IDA financial and technical assistance to client countries, as well as the provision of Reimbursable Advisory Services (RAS) from the Bank to the GCC countries.

The thematic work of the MNA unit of the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Practice cover an active portfolio of over $1.5 billion, a growing pipeline for lending, and a large RAS and TF program.

The portfolio is growing to respond to the demands articulated by the MNA strategy, and covers a range of urban and social development programs, support to social safeguards and a growing risk management and resilient recovery agenda, given the vulnerability of most of MNA countries to a wide range of risks, including disasters, climate change, and most prominently, conflict. The World Bank’s urban portfolio in Egypt is expanding and it includes a diverse range of projects, analytical work and policy dialogue.

The Upper Egypt Local Development Program for Results and supporting policy dialog and technical assistance addresses issues related to service delivery, local government performance and private sector led job creation in the lagging regions of Egypt. The incipient policy dialog on decentralization and local governance, at the request of the Ministry of Local Development, is aimed at supporting the Government of Egypt fulfill the requirements of the 2014 Constitution and strengthen the local government system in the country.

Additionally, the Bank is also providing technical assistance to the Cairo Governorate and the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities to improve governance of Metropolitan Cairo Region and strengthen the office of the Governor of Cairo Governorate in issues of planning, service delivery and citizen engagement.

The MNA urban unit seeks to recruit a Senior Urban Specialist to help deliver the important urban program in Egypt. In line with the projected demand from our clients, we seek a seasoned urban professional with proven operational, analytical and policy dialogue experience in urban/municipal infrastructure and service delivery (incl. solid waste management); local economic development and lagging regions, urban and metropolitan development, land and slum upgrading, housing, and/or city competitiveness.

The Senior Urban Specialist will be based in Egypt. The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

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.

Duties and Accountabilities

The selected senior urban specialist(s) will be locally recruited and will be based in Cairo, Egypt. S/he will be expected to lead and support teams/projects and work on the urban portfolio in Egypt. In this role the candidate

• Leads and supports the preparation and supervision/support of implementation of urban lending and analytic operations and programs;
• Leads and participates in policy dialogue with relevant national and local government agencies, international agencies, non-governmental organizations and their project support teams
• Leads and contributes to studies and reports; generates ‘think pieces’ and ‘best practice’ papers; leads the development of proposals.
• Plays key role in design and implementation of practice and sector strategy; contributes to Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCD) and Country Partnership Framework (CPF), advises borrowers and colleagues on technical matters, supervises the work of consultants and technical specialists to ensure consistency and conformity to Bank standards; evaluates studies and practice-related project documentation.
• Contributes to practice and sector policy; makes recommendations on strategies and policy options drawing from relevant international experience; leads the interface with government and agencies in policy reform and addressing key sectoral challenges.
• Conducts regular and as needed missions related to lending project preparation and implementation support and analytical/policy advisory work.
• Coordinates day-to-day Bank activities in the urban sector in Egypt including investments, institutional development, capacity building and analytical and advisory assistance.
• Works independently under general direction of unit manager, and guides and mentors more junior staff. Contributes to business development together with manager and lead specialists. Works closely with Country Office staff and collaborates effectively with other Global Practices.

Selection Criteria

• Advanced degree (PhD or Masters) in urban planning/development, engineering, economics/finance or related field with 8 years experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Sought after areas of experience include: urban/municipal infrastructure and service delivery (incl. solid waste management); local economic development and lagging regions, urban and metropolitan development, land and slum upgrading, housing, city competitiveness.
• Past experience in lending operations/investment projects in urban issues in the area(s) of focus is required.
• Past experience in policy dialogue in complex urban issues and in the area(s) of focus is required.
• Past experience in analytical work in urban issues in the area(s) of focus is required.
• Excellent organizational and task management skills, with appropriate attention to details and ability to prioritize work among multiple competing demands, and under tight deadlines.
• Strong team skills and demonstrated ability to work with diverse clients and stakeholders.
• Written and spoken fluency in English and Arabic is a must. . Competencies:
• Integrative Skills – Understands relevant cross-practice areas how they are interrelated; able to undertake cross-practice work in lending and non-lending operations.
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena – Translates technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and practice 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.
• Urban Policy, Strategy, and Institutions – Solid understanding of urban policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
• Urban Infrastructure and Municipal Services Delivery – Deep and broad understanding of urban services delivery; can draw conclusions and make key recommendations.
• ESW/TA Policy, Strategic and Technical Analysis for Country/Sector Issues – Experienced in using key relevant sector/theme analytical tools and able to translate theoretical concepts into practical approaches for Bank AAA work.
• Lead and Innovate – Develops innovative solutions with others.
• Deliver Results for Clients – Achieves results and identifies mission-driven solutions for the client.
• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries – Initiates collaboration across boundaries and broadly across WBG, and brings differing ideas into the forefront.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge – Creates, applies and shares knowledge from across and outside WBG to strengthen internal and/or external client solutions.
• Make Smart Decisions – Recommends and takes decisive action.
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making – Gathers inputs, assesses risk, considers impact and articulates benefits of decisions for internal and external stakeholders over the long term.