World Bank Social Protection Specialist in Dhaka

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

The SPJ Global Practice is seeking a Social Protection Specialist to be located in the Dhaka Country Office with excellent analytical, technical, and policy skills and significant operational experience in the design and implementation of social protection programs to support the Government of Bangladesh in the implementation of the national social protection strategy. The Social Protection Specialist will report to Social Protection Practice Manager for South Asia.

World Bank Context:

The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help countries reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve quality of life. To ensure that countries can access the best global expertise and help generate cutting-edge knowledge, the World Bank Group is constantly seeking to improve the way it works. Key priorities include delivering measurable results, promoting openness and transparency in development, and improving access to development information and data

VPU context (GP, Region):

In a world filled with risk and potential, social protection and labor policies and programs help people and families find jobs, improve productivity, cope with shocks, invest in the health and education of their children, as well as the protection for the aging population.

Social protection programs, which comprise social assistance (such as cash transfers, school feeding, targeted food assistance and subsidies), social insurance (such as old-age, survivorship, disability pensions, and unemployment insurance), and social services for vulnerable groups are a powerful tool to reduce poverty and enhance households’ resilience. They can have a direct, positive impact on poor families by building human capital and strengthening their productive inclusion. Jobs, too, are critical for reducing poverty and promoting prosperity. All countries, regardless of income, face challenges creating and sustaining adequate job opportunities for their citizens.

The World Bank supports social protection and jobs programs in developing countries as a central part of its mission to end extreme poverty and foster shared prosperity. The Social Protection & Jobs (SP&J) Global Practice of the World Bank delivers operational approaches and evidence-based solutions to help individuals and families manage risk, cope with chronic/transitional poverty, and access better livelihoods and jobs. These include:

1) Strategy, analysis, financing and design of programs delivering social safety nets/social assistance in the form of cash transfers, public works programs, and fee waivers.

2) Advisory and analytical services on design and delivery of contributory transfers (including old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, disability and survivor benefits), and their fiscal sustainability (including budget support for transitions).

3) Analysis, design and delivery of labor market and youth employment programs (with a focus on supply side interventions and intermediation policies), as well as policy advice on labor market regulations and interventions.

4) Strategy, analysis, financing and design of integrated social protection delivery systems (e.g., payments, identification, registries, systems assessments) as underpinnings of effective social programs that can help cope with climatic shocks or underpin fiscal reforms.

Unit context (Department / Country):

The objective of the Social Protection and Jobs engagement is to enhance the impact of what the Government of Bangladesh is doing in the identified priority areas through better Allocation, greater Coverage, and improved Efficiency.

On the Allocation front the SPJ team working with the GOB to align policies and budget with priorities; improve links between policy, planning and budgeting; allocate funds in line with poverty, life cycle and geography and consolidate programs and reduce institutional fragmentation.

In terms of Coverage the engagement focuses on expanding to address emerging priorities (urban, youth and migration); promote employability and productivity, especially for youth and females; invest early in human capital of poor, leveraging existing programs, and build shock-responsive safety net systems.

Concerning Efficiency, the SPJ global practice is working with the GOB to develop a smart and integrated service delivery platform. This includes, accessible and effective payment systems; reduce redundancies through the use of common platforms for identification, payment and citizen engagement; streamlining citizen and beneficiary monitoring and management through digitization of records through the use of MIS, and interoperability of relevant administrative databases for

The current Bangladesh SPJ portfolio include the following major operations:
The Safety Net Systems for the Poorest project (SNSP) supports the Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief in improving efficiency and shock-responsiveness of its major safety net programs (EGPP, VGF, TR, GR & FFW). Additionally, it supports the Bangladesh Burau of Statistics to improve the targeting capacity of government programs through the establishment of the country’s social registry, National Household Database (NHD).

The Income Support Program for the Poorest (ISPP) implemented by the Local Government Division (LGD). Its Development Objective is to provide income support to the poorest mothers in selected Upazilas, while increasing the mothers’ use of child nutrition and cognitive development services and enhancing local level government capacity to deliver safety nets.

The Cash Transfer Modernization project (CTM) supports the Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), which administers the Old Age, Widow, and disability Allowance cash transfer programs, to improve its efficiency. This includes improving accessibility of program interphases to apply, receive payments or submit grievances; improving digitization of beneficiary records; rollout of electronic payments and implement the NHD to assure equity.

The pipeline Recovery and Acceleration of Informal Sector Employment (RAISE) to be implemented by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and the Wage Earners Welfare Board has the objective of providing services that can enhance earning opportunities for low-income urban youth, urban youth impacted by COVID, and returning migrants.

Additional to the Investment Project Financing operations (IPF), the SPJ team, is working in Advisory Services and Analytical (ASAs) tasks on issues which are strategic to the current and future work of the GP in the country, such as: adaptive social protection, economic inclusion, migration, youth employment, payment systems, etc.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

The responsibilities of the staff member will be to advance the World Bank’s social protection and jobs policy dialogue in Bangladesh, support ongoing operations and technical assistance, and support collaboration with other WB practices to identify and exploit synergies. The specific responsibilities are as follows:

Support the team by conducting analytical activities and providing technical assistance on issues related to social assistance, jobs and migration, and human development more generally.
Carry out technical assessments (country briefs, analytical pieces, technical reports, manuals, and methodological notes on ongoing and pipeline Bank projects and ASA).
Provide technical feedback on relevant Terms of Reference, studies and other materials.
Organize and contribute to policy dialogue and dissemination activities.
Support the day-to-day operational needs of projects.
Contribute to monitoring and evaluation of projects and programs.
Participate and organize missions to provide technical inputs and guidance to counterparts.
Work closely with financial management/procurement team to support implementation.
Provide technical assistance to counterparts, identification of TA needs, and organization of workshops and meetings.
Supervise local consultants hired to produce analytical pieces in support to the program.
Support technical dialogue with development partners.
Provide cross-support to other teams in South Asia.
Undertake other tasks related to social protection and jobs activities in Bangladesh, as relevant.

Selection Criteria

This position requires an individual with maturity, judgment and diplomatic skills, and the ability to work well with teams within the Bank, donor partners, and with senior government officials and also to work independently. Key requirements for this position are:

Master’s degree in relevant field discipline (e.g. economics, social sciences, public policy or related field);
At least five years of relevant work experience; previous experience with government or development partner projects (with specific experience in social protection) a plus;
Demonstrated experience in policy dialogue on social protection and jobs issues;
Experience in implementing program evaluations, including study design, preparation of survey instruments, conducting key informant interviews and focus group discussions, and statistical analysis;
Demonstrated strong knowledge of development, political, social and cultural issues in Bangladesh;
Good understanding of implementation issues around social protection and jobs programs in Bangladesh, including overall government structure, decision making bodies and bureaucracy;
Demonstrated operational skills from implementing programs;
Experience working with clients to build capacity and engage in dialogue on social protection and service delivery;
Demonstrated ability to work efficiently as part of a multidisciplinary team;
Excellent interpersonal skills, with proven ability to work in a team and intercultural environment;
Demonstrated ability to work independently, handle multiple tasks, meet changing priorities and deliver high-quality analysis and work on-time;
Ability to share and convey complex technical issues in accessible format;
Familiarity with social protection data and information derived from both administrative sources and household surveys;
Strong analytical and writing skills;
Willing to travel to remote areas in Bangladesh and field experience.

Poverty has no borders, neither does excellence. We succeed because of our differences and we continuously search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe.

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