Extended Term Consultant (Transport Analyst) at World Bank Group

Extended Term Consultant (Transport Analyst)

• Job #:    req15232
• Sector:    Transportation
• Grade:    EC1
• Term Duration:     1 year 0 months
• Required Language(s):    English
• Preferred Language(s):    English/Swahili
• Closing Date:    3/10/2022 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

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. 

Home to about half a billion of Africa’s people, Eastern and Southern Africa is a geographically, culturally and economically diverse region of 26 countries stretching from the Red Sea in the North to the Cape of Good Hope in the South. Children under 18 make up almost half of the total population. The sub region boasts of some of the world’s richest human and natural resources and, apart from South Africa, the countries are predominantly raw material exporters. 

The sub region harbors some of Africa’s protracted conflicts, rendering many of its countries fragile, while significant gaps in education, health, and skills development continues to keep people from reaching their full potential. This creates a huge development challenge, impacts heavily on the lives and livelihoods of people, and hinders regional integration and trade. But it also creates an opportunity to work closely with country leaders, civil society, development partners, and young people to chart a brighter course for the future.  

The World Bank’s Eastern and Southern Africa Region, comprised of approximately 1,207 staff, mostly based in 26 country offices, has been helping countries realize their considerable development potential by focusing on the following priorities:

Creating Jobs and Transforming Economies: We are working with countries across Africa to stimulate job creation and economic transformation by leveraging all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions to promote investment.
Building up the Digital Economy: We are supporting Africa’s vision to ensure that every African individual, business, and government is connected by 2030 – a vision that, if realized, can boost growth by up to 2 percentage points per year, and reduce poverty by 1 percentage point per year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.
Institutions more Efficient and Accountable: Our support is helping governments strengthen public policy processes, manage resources effectively, and reinforce fair and reliable delivery of public services.
Investing in People: We are at the forefront of helping African countries accelerate human capital gains and empower women by improving their access to education and skills acquisition, sexual and reproductive health services, and employment opportunities. With the influx COVID-19, we are mobilizing financial support and timely analysis and advice to countries across the subregion to deal with the pandemic.
Supporting Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption:  In the face of increasing climate-related risks, we are working with African countries to advance efforts to adopt renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and green transport infrastructure. A number of East African countries are currently facing a debilitating Desert Locust infestation, threatening the already precarious food security situation. The Bank has put together a program to help affected countries deal with the scourge. 
Addressing the Drivers of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence: Given the cross-border nature of conflicts in Africa, we are employing an approach that simultaneously focuses on the drivers of fragility while also supporting well-targeted regional initiatives to create opportunities for peace and shared prosperity.
Building Partnerships and Working across the African Continent: We are scaling up our work on regional integration, taking a holistic view of the continent that covers both North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Bank is a dedicated partner for Eastern and Southern African countries, helping them deliver strong development outcomes for their people. A brighter future for Africa is a better future for the world.

The Transport Global Practice 
Within the World Bank, the Transport Global Practice (GP) is made up of more than 300 professionals who are dedicated to respond to the needs of developing countries for faster, cheaper, safer and more efficient transport solutions while addressing traffic fatalities, congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and local air pollution. Country needs are growing exponentially under the combined effects of globalization, population growth, rapid urbanization, economic development, and technological progress – making sustainable transport a vital part of the global development agenda. 

The Africa transport sector grouping consists of four units across two regions led by two Regional Vice Presidents (East and Southern Africa, and West and Central Africa). The transport units are led by Practice Managers who report to the Regional Directors, as well as the Global Infrastructure Practice Group led by a Vice President covering transport, energy, digital development, as well as infrastructure finance, public-private partnerships and guarantees.
The Transport Unit in Eastern Africa is now seeking a locally recruited Extended Term Consultant (ETC) based in Nairobi, Kenya to support the design, preparation, and supervision of lending operations and technical assistance activities and new business development in the sector. The ETC will join the transport team in Kenya and will be guided by the Practice Manager, Lead Transport Specialist, and Infrastructure Program Leader based in Nairobi. 

Duties and Responsibilities
The ETC will report to the Transport Practice Manager. S/he is expected to work across several transport modes in Kenya. The transport portfolio in Kenya is quite complex and consists of two ongoing projects and one under preparation, focusing on regional connectivity and urban mobility, in addition to a substantial analytical program. The Transport Team is also collaborating with other Global Practices on urban development, regional trade facilitation, access to health and education facilities, and agriculture integration to enhance integrated development in the country. The primary objectives of the assignment will be to:

Participate in and support the implementation of ongoing transport operations in Kenya. This includes:

1. Providing implementation support to clients
2. Preparing project reports such as Aide-Memoires, Implementation Status Reports, Implementation Completion Reports, and reports to donors 
3. Monitoring disbursements and the overall financial status of projects
4. Drafting official letters, no-objection letters and responses to requests for comments
5. Monitoring the implementation of fiduciary and safeguard aspects and advising the task teams on any action(s) required 
6. Reviewing technical reports, designs, bidding documents
7. Monitoring actions on procurement requests and advising the task teams on any action(s) required

Participate in and support the preparation of new transport projects in Kenya. This includes:

1. Providing support to project planning and processing 
2. Preparing staffing plans for clients, including drafting TORs 
3. Data collection, processing and analysis (traffic forecast, economic analysis, financial simulation)
4. Reviewing designs, consultant reports, and other technical documents
5. Contributing to concept notes, project appraisal documents, as well as other reports
6. Managing processing of packages through the World Bank system from identification to board stage

Contribute to the preparation and dissemination of research and analytical activities in the transport sector. 

1. This will include work on internal World Bank knowledge products, and external involvement with other donors/transport sector working group. A particular focus will be work related to climate change (adaptation and mitigation, GHG emissions estimates, vulnerability assessments, etc.).

Participate in field/virtual missions to supervise and prepare projects and donor coordination meetings. This will include:

1. Preparing mission records including mission announcement letters, Aide-Memoires and management letters
2. Collecting and analyzing data and implementation status reports from the client (implementation performance)
3. Contributing to mission preparations 
4. Conducting workshops to facilitate project implementation and resolve bottlenecks
5. Providing comments on technical documents
6. Supporting logistics preparations for missions in liaison with respective assistants and client team.
7. Preparing minutes of donor coordination meetings

Selection Criteria
Technical Competencies

1. The position calls for a highly motivated individual who is able to work with little supervision. The successful candidate shall have (or be studying towards) a Master’s degree or equivalent in Civil/Transport Engineering, Economics, Public Policy, Logistics, or other related disciplines with a minimum of two years of experience.  Other specific skills include:
2. Knowledge of transportation/traffic/civil works (roads/urban transport), engineering/ procurement of works and services;
3. Knowledge of economics and/or transport policy related issues and/or environmental and social issues associated with transport projects; 
4. Knowledge of climate adaptation;
5. Previous relevant professional experience in transport or infrastructure;
6. Strong project team skills, including demonstrated teamwork and activity management skills, and experience working with multidisciplinary teams.
7. Familiarity with the activities and development focus of multilateral development financial institutions such as the World Bank;
8. Work experience in developing countries, in particular, Sub-Saharan Africa;
9. Strong computer skills, with a familiarity of Geographic Information Systems and associated platforms in transport planning as an additional asset;
10. Excellent writing and communication skills in English and understanding and speaking Swahili would be an additional advantage;
11. Willingness to undertake extensive travel within Kenya.