Junior Professional Associate – Environment

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. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org

Junior Professional Associates – Program Description

The Junior Professionals Associate Program (JPA) offers an exceptional opportunity for recent graduates to embark on a professional journey, providing a three-year contract with valuable work experience within a diverse and dynamic environment and the potential of field work experience. The program is an excellent platform to sharpen your existing skills and to develop new ones, all while gaining a profound understanding of the challenges associated with reducing poverty and fostering shared prosperity on a livable planet.

We will provide you with the opportunity to gain entry-level professional experience in a premier development institution, on an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) contract with benefits. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/careers/jpa

The following are minimum requirements to be eligible for the JPA program:

– Be 32 years of age or younger

– Hold a bachelor’s degree

– Be fluent in English

The JPA program at the World Bank is a highly competitive initiative. Candidates who are being actively considered for positions may be required to present academic transcripts and professional references. The World Bank’s Human Resources team and hiring team will reach out exclusively to individuals selected for assessment and interviews.

Positions may be in any of the World Bank’s offices worldwide.

Specific Unit Description – Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice in Latin America and Caribbean Region (LCR)

Sustainable environment and natural resources management 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 environmental and natural resources management promote a green, clean, and resilient world where natural resources – from forests to fisheries, freshwater, oceans, coastal zones, and ecosystems – are managed to support livelihoods and strong economies. Sustainable Environmental and Natural Resources Management builds a world better prepared for shocks and global challenges, helping countries limit their exposure to resource scarcity, more-volatile weather patterns, and the long-term consequences of climate change.

The Environment Natural Resources & Blue Economy Global Practice (ENB GP) has five key business lines consisting of lending and non-lending services in (1) Forests, Watersheds and Sustainable Landscapes (Green business line); (2) Marine, Coastal, Aquatic Resources and Ocean Health (Blue Economy business line); (3) Pollution Management and Environmental Health (Pollution Management business line); (4) Environmental Economics, Policies and Institutions Business line; and (5) Environmental Risk Management Business line, defined as: the delivery of effective environmental risk management and sustainability by managing risk at the project level and creating opportunities to advance sustainable development. Environmental risk management includes: (a) provision of high-quality and timely services to investment projects across the Bank, including those under the previous safeguard policies, and (b) the effective implementation of the Environment and Social Framework (ESF) that has been in effect for all new investment projects since October 1, 2018.

The ESF responds to new and varied development demands and challenges that have arisen over time. It brings the World Bank’s environmental and social (E&S) protections into closer harmony with those of other development institutions, and makes important advances in areas such as transparency, non-discrimination, social inclusion, public participation, and accountability – including expanded roles for grievance redress mechanisms. The framework helps to ensure social inclusion, and explicitly references human rights in the overarching vision statement. The ESF is made up of the World Bank’s vision for sustainable development, the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Policy for Investment Project Financing, and ten Environmental and Social Standards (or ESS’s). These set out the mandatory requirements for the World Bank, in relation to the projects it supports through Investment Project Financing (IPF), and for Borrowers.

The Amazon Sustainable Landscapes (ASL) Program is a regional effort towards the conservation and sustainable development of the Amazon with a total of US$ 203.7 million in Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant funding which to date includes two phases. Under an integrated regional approach, the ASL includes national projects in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname. Together, the projects aim to improve integrated landscape management and ecosystem conservation in targeted areas of the Amazon.

The program was initially approved in October 2015 by the GEF Council with Brazil, Colombia, and Peru as participant countries. In the next GEF replenishment cycle, the Council approved a second phase with the initial participant countries plus Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, and Suriname (ASL2). Both phases include a regional coordination project executed directly by the World Bank as the program lead agency, to provide technical assistance and promote knowledge exchange opportunities to the participant countries and program partners. A third phase was approved in 2023 by the GEF Council, adding Venezuela as participant country to the seven countries of ASL2. National projects for this third phase (ASL3) are being prepared by each country government.

The ASL’s regional TA project (ASA – P173602 and P502116) aims to strengthen coordination, access to information, and capacity of the national projects’ stakeholders. It provides opportunities for south-south learning, capacity building, regional cooperation, raising public awareness, and developing portfolio-wide training and communication strategies.

This JPA position will support the ESF and ASL teams.

Duties and Responsibilities

More specifically, the JPA will assist in the following tasks, inter alia:

ASL Coordination ASA (P173602 and P502116)

Monitoring and Evaluation:

– Support the collection and aggregation of project-level data for ASL1 and ASL2.
– Support the review of trimestral and annual national project reports and preparation of the ASL program level Annual Report.
– Provide advice and monitoring towards compliance of stakeholder engagement and gender plans for the regional ASL, including its grievance mechanism.

Coordination:

– Support preparation of the Program Steering Committee, minutes of the meetings, and follow up of commitments.

Knowledge Management:

– Lead the establishment and operationalization of a gender working group for the ASL.
– Support or lead the planning and delivery of virtual knowledge events (webinars).
– Support the delivery of in-person conferences and events.
– Support the preparation and review of knowledge products and studies generated by the ASL and support the dissemination.

ESF Team Support

– Support implementation activities of the regional Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Platform, including organizing, developing training materials and supporting delivery of client trainings and knowledge exchanges on OHS risk management in the region.

– Support regional tracking of project incidents reported in accordance with the Environmental and Social Incident Response Toolkit (ESIRT), including following up with project teams to ensure incident closure, periodically reviewing data and extracting trends and lessons learned.

– Support to Overview Assessment (OA) work program, including on dissemination of completed OAs, as well as support where needed on OAs still underway.

– Support the ESF Quality Assurance Team in conducting quality reviews of Environmental and Social Review Summaries (ESRSs) and E&S instruments for Practice Manager clearance, in accordance with the E&S Directive.

– Provide support to task teams in environmental risk management aspects of project preparation and implementation of select projects, as per business needs and under the guidance of more senior environmental specialists in the team.Such support may include, for example, field missions to project sites, review of project documentation, drafting of Environmental and Social Review Summaries, Aide Memoires, Implementation Status Reports, and other project related documents.

– Support the organization of ESF workshops and team meetings.

– Conduct research and analysis to support the preparation of ESF instruments, reports, briefings, and presentations.

– Other tasks in support of the regional environmental risk management agenda, as needed.

Selection Criteria

* Bachelor’s degree in environmental and/or international development matters. Master’s degree preferred.

* At least 2 years prior work experience in conservation, natural resources management, social development or similar.

* Fluency in both English and Spanish is required. Portuguese proficiency is a plus.

* Experience in research, knowledge management, organization of local, national, and global events.

* Strong communication skills.

* Excellent teamwork and interpersonal skills in working closely and collaboratively across organizational boundaries.

* Demonstrated ability to independently work in project components under limited supervision and guidance.

* Prior experience in environmental work in Latin America is preferred.

* Prior experience in World Bank operations and environmental/social standards is preferred.

Diversity and Inclusion

The World Bank continually searches for qualified individuals with a diverse set of backgrounds from around the globe. We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability. Individuals with different abilities may be provided reasonable accommodations to perform essential functions and support in receiving other workplace accommodations.

Poverty has no borders, neither does excellence. We succeed because of our differences and we continuously search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe.