Closing date: Sunday, 4 January 2015

Background / General description

Sustainable environment and natural resources management (ENRM) is at the heart of the WBG's poverty agenda. Biodiversity and natural resources constitute the social safety net of the poor, representing a food bank and often their only source of livelihood.

Sustainable ENRM promotes a green, clean, and resilient world where natural resources - from forests to fisheries, freshwater, oceans, and ecosystems - are managed to support livelihoods and strong economies. It shares prosperity by transferring wealth from downstream beneficiaries of ecosystem services to upstream communities who carry the opportunity costs of protecting nature. It reverses the growing trend of urban areas becoming unlivable because of waste disposal problems and air, landscape, and water pollution that threaten human health and labor productivity. It builds good environmental governance supported by credible institutions, coherent policies, and the capacity to implement them.

Sustainable ENRM builds a world better prepared for shocks and global challenges, helping countries limit their exposure to more-frequent natural disasters, more-volatile weather patterns, and the long-term consequences of climate change. It prevents ecological collapse and the large-scale descent into poverty and conflict that would follow.

The Environment & Natural Resources Global Practice (GENDR) has three broad and distinct functions

1. Provide clients with lending and non-lending services aimed to support

1. sustainable natural resources management with focus on forests, fisheries, biodiversity, watersheds, coastal areas, and oceans;
2. pollution management; and
3. environment, natural resources management, and climate change policy reforms.

2. Work closely with other sectors, including by leveraging GEF grant financing, to mainstream environmental considerations into their policies, strategies, and operations, and address policy, governance, and infrastructure failures that lead to boom and bust economies.

3. Provide technical input to other sectors to implement the Bank's environmental (safeguard) policies, ensure development interventions do no environmental harm, and develop opportunities for them to do good.

Regional Context

The World Bank Group serves 30 client countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LCR). Clients in the region range from large rapidly growing sophisticated middle income clients to IDA countries to small Caribbean states to one fragile state. Despite immense resources, dynamic societies, and an average annual per capita income of about $4,000 deep inequalities persist in most LCR countries, with nearly a quarter of the Region's people living in poverty.

The Bank's strategy in LCR is focused on five pillars:

1. stimulating growth and improving competitiveness;
2. reducing poverty and inequality;
3. making governments and institutions work for people;
4. providing a platform for tackling global issues (climate change, trade, disease, migration), and
5. reducing risk, whether from extreme weather events, climate change, crime and violence or other.

The ENR GP works with LCR clients to internalize the socioeconomic impact of environmental degradation and supports their efforts to improve natural resource management, address climate change challenges (particularly adaptation), and promote investment in sustainable infrastructure.

The ENR GP pursues these objectives by:

1. financing programs that support policy reforms and investments in environmental improvements and sustainable natural resources management;
2. providing technical assistance and advisory services (including cross support to other units and fee-for-service programs);
3. undertaking analytical work in response to client demands and needs;
4. mobilizing grant resources and innovative financing instruments to complement IBRD and IDA financing and
5. supporting teams across GPs in improving project environmental management.

In the context of the program for the Southern Cone countries-LC7 (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay), the ENR GP program includes a portfolio and pipeline of activities addressing brown environmental issues (air and water pollution, and solid and toxic waste management), green environmental issues (natural resources, forestry, and biodiversity), and climate change. The program uses a variety of funding sources, including IBRD loans, GEF, Adaptation Fund and other trust fund grants under preparation and supervision. In addition, the ENR team provides environmental management support to projects and studies managed by other units, including the application of environmental safeguard policies.

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

GENDR is seeking a highly qualified and dynamic Environmental Specialist that would contribute to develop and support the environmental business lines, especially forestry, biodiversity conservation, natural resources management, climate change and environmental safeguards policies for LC7 countries. The Specialist will be based in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will report to the Practice Manager for LCR.

The Specialist will be part of a dynamic team of environment and natural resources management specialists. He/she will also provide technical expertise on a variety of environmental issues related to investment operations, development policy loans, and other instruments, such as Technical Assistance and other AAAs, including with regard to adaptation to climate change, natural resources management and green and inclusive growth.

The Environmental Specialist will have the following main tasks and responsibilities

• Seek and develop opportunities to integrate sound environmental management and policies in different investment operations, participate as a team member in such operations and related AAA, and enhance local capacities for implementing these policies.
• Contribute to the Unit in at least one particular area of environmental expertise, such as natural resources management, forestry and biodiversity conservation, themes that are increasing in importance throughout the Region.
• Provide environmental management and safeguards policies support to selected operations.
• Lead selected operations under implementation and provide specific and continuous support, as team member, to projects under preparation and supervision (including mission travel).
• Maintain the dialogue with the Argentine, Paraguayan and Uruguayan national counterparts and coordinate with the teams working in those countries if relevant.
• Contribute to and participate in quality reviews within the Region.
• Build partnerships that will facilitate and increase the efficiency of the GP work on environmental issues in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay at national and subnational levels with an emphasis on developing long-lasting relations with Government counterparts, as well as with other relevant national and provincial institutions.

Selection Criteria

The selected candidate should have the following qualifications

• Master's degree or equivalent academic qualification in a relevant discipline, e.g. environmental science, environmental engineering, policy /institutions, biology, etc.
• At least five years of relevant professional experience including the development, implementation and monitoring of environment and natural resources management projects and programs and the analytical work underpinning such activities;
• Understanding of the institutional and political context of the four countries served by the CMU and exposure to the environmental and NRM policy challenges facing them;
• Experience working on the design and implementation of environmental and NRM projects with climate change mitigation and adaptation issues;
• Experience in identifying, preparing, appraising, and supervising operations;
• Demonstrated familiarity with Bank procedures, directives, business practices, as well as strong business development skills;
• Demonstrated experience with the application of Bank environment safeguards policies/guidelines;
• Experience working with GEF and other trust funds is highly desirable;
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and/or contribute to multi-stakeholder dialogue at the country or regional level.
• Excellent verbal and written language skills in Spanish and English.
• Ability and willingness to travel frequently within Argentina, and to Paraguay and Uruguay.

In addition the following skills and attitudes will be particularly considered during the selection process

• Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams based in multiple locations on diverse and complex tasks;
• Strong client orientation with the ability to build an understanding with implementing agency counterparts on the value-added of Bank safeguards;
• A drive for results while working with limited supervision and under tight timelines;
• A penchant for solving problems rather than merely identifying them;
• An ability to think innovatively and negotiate effectively;
• Willingness to travel

Competencies (Grade GF)

• Integrative Skills - Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Understands policy making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
• Policy Dialogue Skills - Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
• Environmental Policy, Strategy and Institutions - Familiarity with environmental policies, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
• Environmental Sciences - Depth in at least one area: soil science; water; ecosystems; conservation; agriculture concerns, etc.

Core Competencies

• Lead and Innovate- Develops innovative solutions.
• Deliver Results for Clients- Proactively addresses clients' stated and unstated needs.
• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries- Collaborates across boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly receives diverse perspectives.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge- Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
• Make Smart Decisions- Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward.

Application information: http://web.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=8454041&piPK=8454059&theSitePK=8453353&JobNo=141500&contentMDK=23158967&order=descending&sortBy=job-req-num&location=ALL&menuPK=8453611