World Bank Group Vacancies 2017

THE WORLD BANK GROUP IS COMMITTED TO ACHIEVING DIVERSITY IN TERMS OF GENDER, NATIONALITY, CULTURE AND EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND. INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES ARE EQUALLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY. ALL APPLICATIONS WILL BE TREATED IN THE STRICTEST CONFIDENCE

Agriculture is an essential pathway to meeting the World Bank Group’s (WBG) twin goals—eliminating extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity. Food production must increase by at least 35 percent to meet the needs of the rising global population. Thus, ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity cannot be achieved without more and better investment in agriculture, food security, and nutrition. Meeting today’s challenges on the food and agriculture agenda will require major strides in agricultural innovation and climate smart agriculture, efficiency in food production and distribution systems, promoting environmentally and socially sustainable production practices, strengthening agricultural policy and institutions, supporting agribusiness value chains, and joint private and public sector action. The Agriculture Global Practice (GP) of the WBG, working closely with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), supports a Global Vision for Food and Agriculture with agriculture able to feed every person, every day, in every country with a safe, nutritious and affordable diet, and where jobs and income gains in the food system are sufficient to meet poverty reduction targets.

Job Description

Job Title: Senior Agriculture Economist

To help the achievement of the twin goals, the strategic focus of the Agriculture GP, as reflected in the Agriculture Action Plan, is to help client countries on the issues mentioned above. Our current work program (150+ operations) consists of engagement in policy dialogue, investment, and forging partnerships across the globe seeking to (i) raise agricultural productivity, (ii) link farmers to markets and strengthen value chains, (iii) support rural non-farm income, (iv) reduce risk, vulnerability, and gender inequality, and (v) enhance environmental services and sustainability.
The Agriculture GP is led by a Senior Director, who has overall responsibility for the GP. The Senior Director is assisted by the Director, who serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Practice. The Agriculture GP Management Team, which is the group that leads and manages the GP, consists of the Directors mentioned above and ten Agriculture Practice Managers, who manage the roughly 280 staff working on Agriculture in all six Regions and on global programs. About a third of the staff are located in Country Offices.

The Agriculture GP works with and across multiple sectors, in recognition of the fact that Agriculture outcomes often depend on actions that lie outside the Practice, and the GP actively contributes to work managed by other Global Practices. Accordingly, a capacity to work across GP boundaries, forge coalitions and influence multi-practice solutions is essential for achieving the major objectives of improving agriculture outcomes.

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 3-year term appointment.

Duties And Accountabilities

The primary responsibility of the Senior Agriculture Economist/Specialist will be to provide technical and strategic support to the development and implementation of GFADR’s work program in Ghana (and other countries in the Country Management Unit, including possibly Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso).

The Senior Agriculture Economist/Specialist will report to the GFADR Practice Manager in charge of West Africa, who is based at World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, and assist him in the delivery of the work program, assurance of quality, interaction with internal and external clients, including the government and private sector, and partnerships across the countries in the Country Management Unit.

In addition, the Senior Agriculture Economist/Specialist will work under the day to day oversight of the Country Director and the relevant Program Leader, who are based in Accra, Ghana.

In particular, the Senior Agriculture Economist/Specialist will:

• Serve as a team member and occasionally lead activities as Task Team Leader, both in agriculture and multi-sectoral operations, assuring quality in all stages of the project cycle;

• Serve as an advisor to colleagues who are themselves Task Team Leaders of demanding operations, providing them with advice and support;

• Work with the relevant Program Leader, staff of the Agriculture GP to identify opportunities for addressing agricultural issues in Ghana as part of the World Bank’s Systematic Country Diagnostic, Country Partnership Framework, country policy dialogue, sector investment operations, budget support operations, and other multi-sectoral projects;

• Promote a strategic approach to support agricultural growth and effectively communicate that to the country team;

• Identify innovative opportunities or ways to address existing needs in the agricultural sector, including bringing in experience from other countries within Africa or elsewhere;

• Remain current with relevant major pieces of analytical work in the profession. Lead or participate in analytical activities in Ghana or on a sub-regional level, and work with teams engaged in analytical work relevant to GFADR’s work program Ghana;

• Represent the World Bank in fora involving the community of development partners. Provide support, either explicit or implicit, to the work of the development partners in the sector;

• As necessary, represent the World Bank and GFADR management at events with sectoral focus that take place in the field;

• Develop strong client relations and partnership, including with the International Finance Corporation, on operational matters and policy dialogue;

• Work with other Global Practices in representing Ghana specific issues in regional and corporate strategies;

• Initiate and maintain a high level and quality of engagement and dialogue with key stakeholders, including government, civil society, private sector and research/academic community on strategic and policy issues concerning agriculture and food security in Ghana.

The selected candidate will report to the GFADR Practice Manager for West Africa. S/he will coordinate closely with the AFCW1 Country Management Unit, especially the Sustainable Development Program Leader for AFCW1 and other GFADR senior staff located in Accra.

Selection Criteria

Selection Criteria:

• Masters, MBA or PhD in Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Economics, or in a relevant discipline;

• At least eight years of experience on agricultural development issues;

• Strong technical and analytical skills in the range of issue of relevance to agriculture;

• Recognized substantive leadership in one or more of the strategic/ technical areas noted above;

• Familiarity with the institutional context of Ghana and African agricultural development;

• Demonstrate considerable experience of undertaking field-based activities and missions;

• Excellent interpersonal, problem-solving and team skills with ability to find balanced, pragmatic and implementable solutions also in a multi-disciplinary context;

• High level of energy, ability to work under pressure, and willingness to travel extensively and work under challenging conditions;

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, including the ability to present complex issues to World Bank management and senior Government representatives, as well as to non-specialist audiences.

Competencies:

• 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.

• Agricultural economics or other agriculture technical skills – Deep understanding of concepts used in agriculture, with significant experience.

• Agriculture Policy, Strategy and Institutions – Solid understanding of agriculture policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.

• Project Design for Impact and Sustainability – Contributes to the design of projects and programs based on an understanding of the country and sector context.

• Sector Dialogue – Able to conduct a dialogue with the client on familiar topics, with a narrow scope, based on a solid understanding of the sector.

• 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.

• Drive for Results – Identifies the needed resources to accomplish results involving multiple stakeholders and finds solutions to obstacles affecting

key deliverables.

• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion – Shows leadership in ensuring the team stays organized and focused, and actively seeks and considers diverse ideas and approaches.

• Knowledge, Learning, and Communication – Leads in the sharing of best practice, trends, knowledge and lessons learned across units and with clients and partners, articulating ideas verbally and in writing in a clear and compelling way across audiences of varied levels.

• 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.