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Title

Chief Technical Specialist for Climate Change Adaptation

Posted
Reference 101857  (Please mention Stopdodo/Environment Jobs in your application)
Sectors
Location District of Columbia - America North
Town/City Washington
Type Fixed Term and Permanent Roles
Status Full Time
Level Senior Level
Deadline 17/10/2010
Company Name World Bank
Contact Name Personnel
Website Further Details / Applications
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Description

Climate change is an issue of great importance to World Bank clients and one that touches almost every aspect of its operations.  While reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally and identifying national low carbon development paths is an imperative of great technological, financial and political proportions, of more grave and pressing importance to Bank clients is the challenge of adapting to climate change, including identifying and securing financing to address the additional costs it brings.  Climate change is predicted to hit the poorest hardest, by increasing existing risks across sectors, introducing new risks and increasing the costs for governments of achieving their development goals and the MDGs.  In some cases, it threatens to roll back hard fought development gains and throw large segments of humanity back into poverty, putting livelihoods and in many cases lives at risk.

The World Bank’s Sustainable Development Network (SDN) Vice Presidency serves as the central source of technical expertise for the World Bank’s global work on climate change. This work is jointly led by the Vice President for Sustainable Development and the Climate Envoy. While climate change actions are undertaken across World Bank Group units, the Environment Department in SDN is responsible for overall coordination and houses the World Bank’s core climate change team, the Carbon Finance Unit, and the Climate Investment Funds Administrative Unit.  The coordination is largely achieved through the Climate Change Management Group which brings together senior staff from across the WBG who work on climate issues (about 50 staff) to discuss work programs, challenges, and outcomes. In addition, support on adaptation is provided to regional operations through the Adaptation Global Expert Team (A-GET) comprised of experts from across the Bank Group. This group is tasked with providing just-in-time and state-of-the-art operational and policy advice to both clients and Bank Group staff on the ground, and ensures quick turnaround of that advice and guidance into knowledge products to be shared and disseminated widely, both internally with Bank Group Staff and externally with key partners, clients, stakeholders and the development community at large (http://knowledge.worldbank.org/get/climate-change-adaptation).

The World Bank is seeking a Chief Technical Specialist for Climate Change Adaptation (CTS-CCA) to lead the Bank's efforts in addressing this challenge.  The CTS-CCA will liaise with senior management and senior technical staff across the SDN Network, Regions, other Networks, Treasury Department, World Bank Institute, the IFC and MIGA, chiefly through the Climate Change Management Group (CCMG), to guide and inform implementation and elaboration of the Bank Group's Strategic Framework on Development and Climate Change (SFDCC) and regional and sectoral climate change strategies and business plans.  The CTS-CCA will lead the workplan development, management and activities of the Adaptation Global Expert Team. She/he will also be a key resource person for the World Bank Climate Change for Development Professionals (CCDP) training program and its web-based platform.  In addition, the CTS-CCA will, in close collaboration with the ENV Director and under the direction of the SDNVP, provide timely technical advice and support to the Climate Change Envoy.

Supporting the VP and Climate Envoy, and working with the Director of the Environment Department, the CTS -CCA provides advice and leadership on the overall direction of the Bank strategy and operations in adaptation to climate change.  The CTS-CCA brings to the Bank a high level of global expertise on Climate Change Adaptation and provides intellectual leadership within the Bank, contributes to strengthening the technical quality of the program and staff technical skills, and engages with the Bank’s clients and partners in the development of business in this area.

The CTS-CCA is a key spokesperson for the institution on adaptation to climate change. In collaboration with relevant operational departments across the Bank, he/she is responsible for guiding the development of the knowledge base and providing operational guidance for climate change adaptation. This includes providing intellectual and operational leadership to the community of practice on adaptation to climate change involving staff in the Anchor and the Regions, as well as the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Development Economics (DEC) teams, including specialists working on Environment, Energy, Transport, Water, Agriculture, Rural and Social Development, and other relevant areas.

There are five major functions the selected candidate is expected to fulfill: Thought Leadership, Business Development and Operational Support, Knowledge Adaptation through Client Engagement, Collaboration through and with External Networks, and Mentoring of Emerging Talent.

Thought Leadership:
•    In collaboration with the relevant departments across the Bank, he/she is responsible for guiding staff on adaptation to climate change.  An important component is advising the Climate Change Adaptation Global Expert Team (GET) to achieve its priority functions and periodically reviewing its performance and advising the ENV Director on needs for shifting directions. This will include supporting the GET in :
o    Prioritizing GET activities in order to optimize operational support, strengthen internal and client capacities in developing a comprehensive approach to addressing adaptation needs in development planning;
o    Enhancing the quality and optimizing use of analytical work and knowledge in practice by providing expert advice, cutting-edge just-in-time knowledge to inform operations and client dialogue, direct support to task teams, including participation in missions when needed, and
o     Providing a platform for catalytic cross-sector and cross-agency interaction and innovation and cost-effective application of new knowledge while helping avoid duplication;
•    Serves as the senior-most authority in the Bank on climate change adaptation and leads consultations at the highest policy levels, represents the Bank on key issues related to climate change adaptation and provides broad oversight on the quality and direction of the adaptation elements in the Bank’s portfolio.  Where required, he/she participates in and represents the Bank in high impact, high level international meetings and conferences and works with key interlocutors to further the Bank’s agenda on climate change adaptation.
•    Together with the Vice President, SDN, Special Envoy and other key WBG managers, provides guidance and advice to the President, Managing Directors and other Senior Managers in the Bank on all issues related to climate change adaptation.  


Business Development and Operational Support:
•    In collaboration with the anchor and regional units, the CTS-CCA provides direct operational support and high level policy advice and help in the elaboration of the Strategic Framework for Development and Climate Change, related regional climate change strategies and business lines. This will involve, guiding and advancing the Bank’s operational strategy and agenda, working with operational staff focused on business development, ensuring climate resilience and adaptation investment opportunities are identified and developed, improving the quality of the portfolio, and influencing and assisting country governments in making transformational changes required for achieving climate resilient development. It will require delivering high impact policy advice and operational support and engagement in state of the art approaches with clients as requested by Country Directors and their teams, as well as guiding and coaching the specialist teams.
•    The CTS-CCA is not be expected to lead tasks per se, but help in resolving issues as needed.
•    Provides 50% operational cross-support to front line teams across the Bank.
Knowledge Adaptation through Client Engagement:
•    Ensures knowledge sharing across the WBG and deliver high-impact policy analysis and operational advice that will influence clients' and shareholders' perspectives on economically justified adaptation to climate change.
•    Guides and motivate a team of specialists who work in various regional and anchor units, IFC and MIGA to ensure the creation of knowledge products that would have a lasting effect on capacity and ensure knowledge sharing across the Bank Group. Further, the CTS-CCA is expected to deliver high-impact policy analysis and operational advice that will influence clients' and shareholders' perspectives on responses that can rapidly scale up the use of Bank products in the area of climate change adaptation.
•    Facilitates the transfer of Bank generated knowledge to partners and staff within the Institution and throughout a global network comprising counterparts in Government and Civil Society.  In particular, the WBG has recently completed a major study on the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC) that comprises a global study and several country case studies and is a lead implementing agency for the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) under the Climate Investment Funds.  The CTS-CCA is expected to lead the dissemination of the findings of EACC and the operational lessons from PPCR to client countries, in collaboration with operational partners, and to other relevant development partners and would oversee the development of learning materials, to be incorporated into the Climate Change for Development Professionals learning program.
•    Works with relevant WBG training programs to deliver major learning events of relevance to the WBG on Climate Change Adaptation; to understand what is relevant to the Bank’s policy and strategy and to ensure that state of the art knowledge and relevant information is brought into and shared internally in the Bank.

Collaboration through and with External Networks:
•    Promotes and coordinate partnerships with external networks of professionals and the academic community and help task teams in locating relevant expertise and building a vibrant network of professionals.  
•    Participates in and represent the Bank (as agreed with the ENV Director) in high impact/high level international meetings/conferences across the globe to further the agenda of adaptation to climate change resilience and associated topics.
•    Develops and maintain a network with relevant high-level contacts of special interest for the WBG in key stakeholder groups, in particular the UNFCCC, but including key private sector organizations, NGOs, UN agencies, academia, the media, bilateral agencies and facilitate to transfer of Bank-generated knowledge.

Mentoring of Emerging Talent:
•    Provides support that focuses on building and strengthening the community of practice across the Bank and groom the generation of technical experts in the field.
•    Supports the operational units at the Bank to strengthen their capacity to include a greater content of Climate Change Adaptation in its lending programs based on client needs.

•    Recognized global expertise and leadership in Climate Change Adaptation both inside and outside the Bank and a recognized authority in the subject by the professional development community based on high level engagements, research, publications, and credibility with clients and partners.
•    Demonstrated experience leading and managing complex, large-scale programs.
•    Demonstrated expertise in analysis and presentation to high level audiences of adaptation to climate change, addressing their implications for development policies; as well as the ability to shape the intellectual agenda of highly complex environments with a clear vision that is easily understood by different stakeholders.
•    Proven strategic leadership and ability to develop creative solutions, and advise at the policy, strategy and technical levels.
•    Demonstrated authority on Climate Change Adaptation including relations with the community of experts and institutions leading the international technical and policy dialogue•    Demonstrated experience in placing issues on the public policy agenda and capacity to influence organizations, governments and civil society, and lead on the adaptation to climate change (key issue in the field).
•    Extensive experience in providing advice and technical assistance, managing or implementing development programs or corporate strategic programs dealing with adaptation to climate change.
  •    Demonstrated capacity for negotiating and managing trade-offs at senior level with diverse and demanding internal and international stakeholders.
•    Demonstrated ability to lead and motivate a diverse, high-quality and experienced team and willingness to work in a matrix environment.
•    Outstanding and persuasive communication skills in English; additional language abilities desirable but not essential.
•    Highly developed mentoring and advisory skills to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and skill.
•    Ability to:
•    Understand how climate change adaptation work cuts across other sectoral issues and how it fits within the broader public policy, strategic and political agenda
•    Provide leadership across the institution on cross-cutting development themes linked to adaptation to climate change (e.g. agriculture, water management, energy policy, transport);
•    Adapt to a large and complex organization, including matrix management, and to function effectively at the highest level in a multicultural environment;
•    Demonstrate sustained leadership in meeting client needs and strengthening partnerships, and influencing relationships within and outside the Bank Group; and,
•     Sustain high motivation and contribute to effective team work across the institution.

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.

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