World Bank Group Job Vacancy : Lead Agriculture Economist

Background / General description: The vision of the World Bank Group is to eradicate extreme poverty by reducing the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day to 3 percent by 2030, and promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40 percent in every country.

To achieve this vision, the WBG Board of Governors in 2013 approved a new strategy for the organization. This strategy leverages the combined strength of the WBG institutions and their unique ability to partner with the public and private sectors to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world class knowledge and convening services. The strategy has three components: maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.

The architecture underpinning the strategy is the establishment of 14 Global Practices and five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas that, in concert with WBG Regions, will design and deliver solutions that address clients’ most pressing developmental challenges, and ultimately, enable the WBG to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Agriculture is one of the 14 Global Practices and its agenda is essential for achieving the Bank’s twin goals of eliminating poverty and boosting shared prosperity: 75% of the world’s poor are rural, and most are engaged in farming. Over 842 million people go to bed hungry every day, 26 percent of all children under age five are stunted, and 30 percent suffer from Vitamin A deficiency. The world needs to produce about 50 percent more food to feed the world’s expected population of nine billion by 2050. A changing climate means that, in Africa alone, a warming scenario of 1.5 °C to 2 °C for the 2030s and 2040s will trigger a 40 to 80 percent reduction of area where maize, millet and sorghum are currently grown. Accordingly, agriculture is critical for fighting hunger, boosting food and nutrition security, improving incomes, creating jobs, providing environmental services, and stopping a ’4 °C world.’

The Agriculture Global Practice (GFADR) consists of about 280 staffs of which 36% are located in country offices. The active portfolio consists of about 240 projects representing about US$18 billion in lending commitments. There are about 200 ongoing knowledge activities. Areas of focus include, among other:

1. increasing smallholder agricultural productivity, and it’s resilience through support to improved land and water management in irrigated and rainfed areas;


2. linking farmers to markets and strengthening value chains through support for improved infrastructure, information technology, postharvest handling;


3. facilitating rural nonfarm income by improving the rural investment climate and skills development;


4. reducing risk, vulnerability and gender inequality through support to risk management mechanisms ; and


5. enhancing environmental services and sustainability. To advance this agenda, GFADR collaborates closely with numerous other GPs; it is also one of the GPs actively collaborating with IFC. To support GFADR’s growing engagement in Africa, the Practice is looking for a seasoned Lead Agriculture Economist to lead and manage important aspects of GFADR’s program in Kenya, Rwanda, the Great Lakes Region as well as on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) beyond. The position is based with the WBG in Nairobi, Kenya. The Government of Kenya is keen to enhance Bank’s engagement in the Agriculture sector and currently an Agriculture sector policy note is being finalized and a new lending operation is under preparation. In Rwanda, Bank is actively engaged in the Agriculture sector and recently a PforR operation has been approved to support the Government’s reforms in the sector.

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 selected candidate will report to GFADR’s Practice Manager covering Central and Southern Africa,. The selected candidate will work on delivering a broad agriculture sector program at the national level, i.e. in Kenya and Rwanda; at the regional level (Great Lakes Integrated Agriculture Program) and the continental level (CAADP) working closely with respective Country Management Units covering Kenya, Rwanda and Eritrea.

• Lead complex operations as TTL, both in agriculture and multi-sectoral operations, assuring good quality in all stages of the project cycle;


• Serve as a senior advisor to colleagues who are themselves TTLs of demanding operations, providing them with mentoring, advice and support;


• Work with the Program Leader(s) to identify opportunities to address agricultural issues in the CSD, CAS, country dialogue, CEMs, and multi-sectoral operations. Assure a strategic approach to support for agricultural growth and effectively communicate that to the country team;


• Identify innovative new opportunities or ways to address existing needs in the agricultural sector, by bringing in experience from other regions and with a wide range of instruments;


• Remain current with relevant major pieces of analytical work in the profession. Lead or guide key pieces of sectoral AAA;


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


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


• Develop strong client relations and partnership on operational matters and policy dialogue;


• Work with other units in the department and more broadly in the region and within GFADR in representation of country issues in regional and corporate strategies


• Represent, as needed, GFADR’s CAADP Team (based in and managed from HQ) at high-level CAADP events across Africa, in particular at the African Union Commission in Addis Abba, Ethiopia.

Selection Criteria: Candidates must meet the generic criteria for international level GH including advanced university degree (Master’s or PhD); disciplines would include economics, agricultural economics, and agricultural technical disciplines. Typically the successful candidate will have about 10 to 12 years of experience in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility.

• Demonstrated outstanding skills in managing people and operational work essential.


• Multiregional experience and demonstrated ability to integrate cross-sectoral approaches to achieve sustainable results;


• Thorough knowledge of and experience in the Bank’s operations, with track record of successful contribution in major lending operations essential;


• Experience in the Bank’s strategic agricultural work, with track record of successful contribution in key strategic products essential;


• Successful TTL-ship of major lending operations and key strategic products essential;


• Experience in country dialogue, through an in-depth and continuous involvement on difficult policy issues essential;


• Strong client orientation, diplomatic skills, as well as sensitivity to social and cultural issues as they affect development and poverty reduction;


• Demonstrated ability to lead teams to achieve results and build strong teams across the matrix;


• Excellent interpersonal skills; ability to be a team player, to work across boundaries;


• Outstanding communications skills, including the ability to speak persuasively and to write concisely;


• Experience in guiding, mentoring and coaching junior staff on substantive and procedural issues;


• High degree of discretion, ethics, tact and sensitivity in handling confidential and sensitive information;


• Ability to work under pressure while retaining perspective and humor.


• Language: English is essential and French (or Portuguese) desirable.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.

  
  

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

  
  

  Agricultural Sciences – Deep experience applying knowledge (soil, water, crops, livestock, inputs, biotech, disease control, etc.) to policy-related decisions and advice.

  
  

  Agricultural Systems – Production to Consumption – Broad understanding of agricultural value chain and depth in one or more subtopics: research, input supply, on-farm production, organizing and coordinating, processing, distribution, etc.

  
  

  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.

  
  

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