Grade: PL4
Position N°: 50083907
Reference: ADB/20/016
Publication date: 07-Feb-2020
Closing date: 20-Feb-2020
Duty station: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Objectives
THE BANK:
Established in 1964, the African Development Bank Group (the Bank) is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified, namely: ‘Light up and Power Africa,’ ‘Feed Africa,’ ‘Industrialize Africa,’ ‘Integrate Africa,’ and ‘Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa’.
THE COMPLEX:
Within the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex (RDVP), the Bank has five (5) Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Directorates, one in each region of Africa: North, South, East, West, and Central. Each Regional Directorate is headed by a Director General (DG) and is staffed with the relevant sectoral functions and administrative capabilities for rapid delivery of services to client countries. The Regional Directorates provide overall strategic direction to country offices within the regions and are responsible for the Bank’s operations, business development, project management and overall effective delivery of the Bank’s High 5s agenda.
THE HIRING DEPARTMENT:
The Transition States Coordination Office (RDTS) oversees the implementation of the Bank’s Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in its Regional Member Countries (RMCs). It also coordinates lending and non-lending activities of fragility and resilience experts stationed in the various Regional Directorates and Country Offices.
Over the past decade, Africa has seen enormous growth and transformation that has expanded opportunities and improved living conditions for millions of people. More than two-thirds of African countries have strengthened their quality of governance, improved basic services, and expanded economic opportunities. Yet, there are significant risks that this momentum could be undermined by important pressures—continuing patterns of exclusion and poverty, unemployment, high migration, rapid urbanization, climate change and poor management of natural resources—that threaten to overwhelm existing institutional capacities for managing political, economic, social and environmental challenges. These pressures are making every single African country more vulnerable.
The mandate of RDTS is to place the Bank at the center of Africa’s efforts to address fragility and pave the way for a more resilient and inclusive development trajectory. A major part of RDTS’ activities involves the identification of the main drivers of fragility, including economic, social, political and environmental dimensions. RDTS also plays a crucial role in mainstreaming fragility considerations in the Bank’s strategies and programs, both at country and regional level, towards sustainable and inclusive development. Central to RDTS engagement is the systematic application of a fragility lens in Bank Group programming.
THE POSITION:
Under the supervision of the RDTS Director, the main responsibility of the Principal Institutional Capacity Development Officer entails the development and the implementation of internal and external capacity building activities around the Bank’s agenda for addressing fragility and building resilience in Africa. Her/his responsibilities also include preparation of analytical papers, fragility lens application, partnerships, resource mobilization and advocacy.
Duties and responsibilities
The Principal Institutional Capacity Development Officer will work closely with RDTS team members on the operational implementation of the Bank’s fragility agenda. Her/his duties are:
- Under the operationalization of the Bank’s strategy for addressing fragility and building resilience, prepare, implement and maintain a comprehensive capacity development plan around the Bank’s operational approach for tackling fragility, its fragility analytical tools, its financing instruments, as well as the fragility lens application.
- In coordination with appropriate Bank authorities, develop a clear and practical roadmap to foster dialogue with RMCs, assess their capacity building needs, and identify targeted entry points for building institutional resilience through capacity development programs. This includes strengthening RMCs capacities, especially those that are in conflict-affected and fragile situations, to apply the fragility lens towards the preparation of fragility-sensitive national capacity building frameworks, sectorial strategies, and development plans.
- Work with Regional Economic Communities (REC) and international development partners, as well as peace-building and humanitarian actors for the development of joint trainings and platforms of experience and information-sharing.
- Contribute to the preparation and the peer-reviewing of RDTS analytical products, including regional and national full-fledged fragility assessments, the annual Country Resilience and Fragility Assessment (CRFA) Report, Economic and Sector Work (ESW) studies, as well as briefing notes.
- Contribute to RDTS team’s efforts for institutionalizing and applying the fragility lens through an appropriate mainstreaming of fragility considerations in the Bank’s strategies and operations. In close collaboration with key Bank units, she/he is expected to participate in the preparation, peer-review, and readiness reviews processes of the Country Diagnostic Notes (CDNs), Regional Diagnostic Notes (RDNs) Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), Regional Integration Strategy Papers (RISPs), Project Concept Notes (PCNs), and Project Appraisal Reports (PARs).
- Develop approaches for integrating institutional development and capacity building more comprehensively and effectively in the Bank’s lending and non-lending activities. Among others, these include the integration, in PCNs and PARs, fragility-sensitive components in investment projects promoting policy dialogue and sectorial policy reforms.
- Provide technical inputs to improve portfolio management in order to enhance project performance (cancellation of older projects, improvement of portfolio management in consultation with implementing project agencies, maintaining a continuous dialogue with governments and other development partners, training of project units, improved projects reporting system and promoting good governance, etc.)
- Support the institutionalization of the fragility lens application through the development of internal sensitization and capacity building programs for the benefit of operational, sectorial, and corporate Bank’s staff. This includes the development of training series and training accreditation modules in coordination with appropriate units in the Bank.
- Participate in the Bank’s departmental and inter-departmental working groups and provide technical inputs that help the understanding of capacity building and institutional development issues in fragile situations.
- Devise innovative and sustainable national and regional inclusive capacity building approaches to guide the Bank’s institutional capacity development interventions in fragile situations.
- Contribute to preparing relevant issues in key documents for resource mobilization, especially of the Transition Support Facility (TSF) during the replenishment and mid-term review discussions of the African Development Fund (ADF) in close coordination with relevant Bank units.
- Undertake any other assignments and tasks as requested by the Director (RDTS) and/or the Vice-President (RDVP). Such assignments may involve working with Bank teams and/or staff within or outside RDTS.
Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:
- Hold at least a Master’s or equivalent degree in Economics, Political Science, Social Sciences, International Relations, Human Resources Management, Organizational Development, Business Administration or related discipline;
- Have a minimum of six (6) years of relevant experience in economic research, peace and state building, social cohesion, public-private dialogue, management consulting and strong experience in developing capacity building plans and delivering training programs;
- Experience in assessing, designing, developing, delivering and evaluating training and programs for staff and RMCs Officials;
- Solid understanding of adult learning and instructional design;
- Very good knowledge of training and staff development delivery mechanisms;
- Good planning and organization skills;
- Strong familiarity with the Bank’s operations, procedures and policies, and deep knowledge of macroeconomic, economic policy and development issues in RMCs;
- Demonstrated ability to multi-task and manage their time effectively to deal with multiple demands and deadlines;
- Ability to drive training programs, mobilize resource persons, apply innovative approaches, work independently and apply new methods to solve problems, while remaining efficient in a fast-paced, changing and challenging institutional environment;
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and demonstrated ability to work across institutional boundaries with various teams in a productive way;
- Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other language;
- Competence in the use of Microsoft Office software and familiarity with SAP.
THIS POSITION IS CLASSIFIED INTERNATIONAL STATUS AND ATTRACTS INTERNATIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT.
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Apply for this position
To apply for this position, you need to be national of one of AfDB member countries.
Applicants who fully meet the Bank’s requirements and are considered for interview will be contacted. Only online applications submitted with a comprehensive Curriculum Vitae (CV) and copies of the required degrees will be considered. The President, AfDB, reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level. The African Development Bank is an equal opportunities employer. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) does not ask for payments of any kind from applicants throughout the recruitment process (job application, CV review, interview meeting, and final processing of applications). In addition, the Bank does not request information on applicants’ bank accounts. The African Development Bank Group declines all responsibility for the fraudulent publications of job offers in its name or, in general, for the fraudulent use of its name in any way whatsoever.