Senior Operations Officer – Gender and Economic Inclusion

IFC — a member of the World Bank Group — is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities. Our mission is to leverage the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet. 

IFC is deeply committed to advancing gender equality and economic inclusion as laid out in IFC’s 2030 Roadmap for Gender and Inclusion to deliver game-changing private sector partnerships and programs to accelerate gender equality and inclusion in emerging markets. Aligned with the new World Bank Group (WBG) Gender Strategy (2024-30): Accelerate Gender Equality to End Poverty on a Livable Planet, IFC’s Roadmap is built on six priorities offering high potential for impact in and through the private sector. These areas aim to (1) Allocate Capital that Drives Inclusion, (2) Make Supply Chains Inclusive, and (3) Remove Barriers to Employment, and Leadership (including addressing gender-based violence). Equally important are three cross-cutting themes that are foundational to achieving sustainable results across the priority areas and require action: (4) Bridging the Digital Divide; (5) Accelerating Inclusive and Gender-Smart Climate Action; and (6) Ending Gender-based Violence and Harassment.

As part of its mandate, IFC’s Cross-Cutting Vice Presidency includes a dedicated team, the Gender and Economic Inclusion (GEI) Department (GEID), that works with IFC’s investment and advisory teams to support private and public sector clients in providing all genders and underserved communities with equal economic opportunities as leaders, employees, entrepreneurs, consumers, and community members. GEID leads strategy development and implementation for the organization, provides tailored operational solutions and client advice, innovates, and incubates novel approaches, serves a thought leader and disseminator of knowledge on GEI issues, supports mobilization through impact investing and sustainable financing; and forges public and private sector partnerships with the aim of creating economic opportunities and development for all.

GEID is establishing a new operating model built around Global Operations in four Regional Gender Hubs and two new units focused on Thought Leadership and Innovation. The Innovation unit will drive initiatives to identify/generate, design, pilot, and expand new advisory and investment mechanisms to mobilize capital that incentivizes private sector action on gender and inclusion. The Innovation Center will be designed to enhance closer collaboration with industry and regional operations and investments officers, and external partners, to deliver new models/processes that enable cross-department co-creation of solutions that meet a range of client business needs and are adapted to country contexts. The Innovation Center will focus on solutions that accelerate gender equality and economic inclusion while deepening and scaling impact in alignment with the priorities of IFC’s 2030 Roadmap on Gender and Economic Inclusion.

The Supply Chains Lead will spearhead a dynamic function, influencing both the design and strategy of the first Innovation Unit for IFC’s Gender and Economic Inclusion Department (GEID). This role will focus on enabling IFC to facilitate greater access to economic opportunities for underserved individuals and businesses across corporate supply chains in emerging markets by partnering with IFC industry departments and clients to accelerate the growth of women entrepreneurs and businesses led by other marginalized groups.  The Supply Chain Lead will be responsible for generating new opportunities and identifying investment linkages for existing solutions, considering the full spectrum of debt and equity instruments.

Topics of focus will vary based on business needs and market opportunities and may include:

• Creating access to markets for women entrepreneurs as buyers, distributors, retailers, aggregators, and suppliers using blended finance instruments, including performance-based incentives and scaling up IFC’s flagship program Souring2Equal to increase procurement opportunities for women-led businesses
• Integrating incentivization schemes into supply chain financing projects to enable access to working capital for underserved women-led MSMEs.
• Addressing binding constraints, such as the lack of benchmarkable data, to advance the usage of sustainability-linked finance to advance gender equality-related outcomes in corporate supply chains through setting gender KPIs for corporate issuers and investors.
• Co-develop sector-specific advisory solutions and multi-lateral partnerships with relevant industry departments that tackle gender and inclusion gaps in supply chains and improve livelihoods with access to goods and services.
• The position will report to the Principal Innovation Officer. It will oversee a small team of dedicated professionals with specializations in areas such as gender-inclusive sourcing and liaise with specialists across IFC in trade and supply chain finance and sector specialists such as agri-tech, fast moving consumer goods and B2B digital platforms. It will work closely with the Inclusive Capital and Cross-Cutting Innovation Leads. Each Lead will manage the sourcing, incubation, and piloting of select solutions in deep collaboration with cross-departmental teams across IFC including industry, regional, GEID, and other department staff as relevant including the World Bank colleagues.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Inclusive Supply Chain Product Development:

• Scope and identify innovative gender and inclusion solutions and approaches that enable supply chain inclusion of women and other marginalized groups.
• Assess the feasibility and impact of innovative investment and advisory delivery models that aim to increase inclusion in supply chains.
• Identify and design new scalable solutions and platforms like “Banking on Women” that can be replicated across markets, increasing the impact of IFC investments and advisory services toward the WBG Gender and Inclusion Strategy KPIs and Corporate Scorecard.
• Enable cross-industry partnerships to test and launch innovative (e.g. impact-linked, results-based) financing models that support women entrepreneurs, female farmers, women-led aggregator schemes, and more. Leverage blended finance tools and performance-based incentives to promote inclusion across supply chains in select sectors.
• Collaborate with internal teams (i.e. thought leadership, corporate strategy, industries, upstream) to drive product innovation by incorporating emerging technologies and data-driven insights to optimize the performance and scalability of inclusive supply chain initiatives.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to refine and scale gender and inclusion investment advisory structures that make supply chains more inclusive such as IFC’s Sourcing2Equal program and IFC Gender-Smart Agribusiness/tech solutions.

Crowdsourcing and Co-Creation:

• Inform and lead select crowdsourcing and co-creation processes with industries and regions to identify and enable gender and inclusion-focused investment and advisory opportunities for supply chains.
• Spot game-changing trends, technologies, and business models that can help bring gender and inclusion supply chain solutions to emerging markets.
• Conduct sector-specific data analysis of various operating models to help generate ideas for new projects, new products, and platform businesses, in collaboration with Thought Leadership Unit, Corporate Strategy, and industry departments.
• Enable investment transactions that intentionally seek to address social inequalities (including gender gaps) within supply chains across debt and equity in emerging markets.

Innovation Process and Solution Lifecycle Management:

• Oversee the development and management of innovation processes and create an agile environment that encourages entrepreneurial thinking and seeks creative programming, as related to inclusive supply chains.
• Foster collaboration across departments, especially industries, and ensure the efficient deployment of staffing and resources, with a rigorous selection of solutions to pursue.
• Oversee the lifecycle of Supply Chain projects from ideation to scaling, ensuring rigorous evaluation and refinement.
• Ensure successful implementation of flagship programs by managing project teams and maintaining high standards of quality.
• Incubate high-impact projects and initiatives that require upstream development before investment.

Strategic Development of Innovation Center:

• Work closely with the Principal Innovation Officer to develop and execute strategic initiatives that drive Innovation Center goals and metrics in line with WBG/IFC Gender KPIs and overall IFC business KPIs.
• Contribute to the development of policies and frameworks that support inclusive supply chain practices.
• Collaborate closely with thought leadership unit to define pathways from research to solutions.
• Collaborate closely with regional operations teams to identify pathways/destinations for innovation solutions.
• Work across IFC teams to align upstream, advisory, and investment solutions to support companies in achieving gender equality goals within their supply chains.

 Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration:

• Foster a culture of collaboration with internal and external partners, ensuring diverse participation in inclusive supply chain initiatives.
• Monitor and support standard-setting activities, including responsible supply chain criteria and disclosure approaches, to ensure alignment with market best practices and new investment mechanisms.
• Collaborate with cross-industry teams to support gender and inclusion-related project execution and internal capacity building initiatives.
• Represent IFC at global forums, conferences, and industry events, advocating for innovative, inclusive supply chains that prioritize gender equality, social inclusion, and sustainability.
• Engage with regional and industry teams to incorporate their insights and ensure alignment with needs.
• Build and maintain high-impact partnerships with multinational corporations, development organizations, NGOs, and government entities to promote gender-responsive, sustainable, and inclusive supply chains.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders, including clients, partners, and donors.

Knowledge Sharing and Upskilling:

• Facilitate knowledge flow across GEID, IFC and the World Bank Group, and promote the adoption of new approaches and best practices as related to inclusive supply chains.
• Help build external recognition of IFC’s distinctive capabilities in innovation and gender and inclusion to catalyze a greater flow of investment and advisory opportunities
• Mentor and support junior team members working on Innovation activities, providing guidance and expertise on inclusive supply chains.
• Contribute to bespoke gender and inclusion-related training sessions and external events.
• Facilitate the development of gender and inclusion-related case studies, tools, and publications to enhance institutional capacity on inclusive supply chain topics and best practices.
• Collaborate with communications teams to promote the success of IFC’s inclusive supply chain initiatives, amplifying their impact through digital platforms and media.

Resource Mobilization:

• Contribute to fundraising efforts to secure financial support for innovation projects and the innovation center operations, including concessional seed funding to stimulate market-moving solutions.
• Allocate resources effectively, prioritizing initiatives with the highest potential impact on gender equality.

Monitoring and evaluating performance:

• Contribute to the development of Innovation Center performance metrics, value proposition and strategic communications to establish the unit under the guidance of Principal Innovation Officer.
• Establish robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks to assess the impact of inclusive supply chain innovation initiatives.
• Use data and evidence to inform decision-making and improve program outcomes.
• Report on progress and impact to GEID Leadership Team, internal and external stakeholders.

Selection Criteria

• The candidate should be a seasoned candidate with in-depth program management and consulting experience working with the private sector and across institutional structures to deliver inclusive supply chain solutions. They routinely lead staff, initiatives, programs, projects, and integrate the work of others (often multi-disciplinary). They confidently deliver quality output and can work and inspire others with a sense of urgency. They can proficiently interact with companies’ senior management, development partners and communicate with senior government counterparts and other organizations with confidence on the topic at hand. They have contributed to creating inclusive supply chains that empower women, promote gender equality, and drive sustainable development, and are eager to shaping the future of corporate value chains through the development of new products, business models, and partnerships that deliver development impact.

Education:  

• Master’s degree in economics, finance, business, or other relevant discipline required.

Professional Experience:

• At least 12 years of professional experience in private sector development in emerging markets with decision-making responsibility, ideally with a focus on gender and inclusion.
• At least 8 years of experience in supply chain finance/management, sustainability, or innovation roles, with a strong focus on gender equality, product development, and private sector engagement.
• Demonstrated experience in developing innovative programs that address social inclusion, particularly for women and marginalized groups in supply chains.
• Experience designing advisory projects, including results frameworks to capture gender/inclusion outcomes and impacts.
• Experience working with multinational companies, financial institutions, and local enterprises to integrate gender equality and inclusion into supply chains, especially in emerging markets.
• Demonstrated knowledge of global supply chains, ESG frameworks, and the role of gender equality and sustainability in business resilience.
• Proven track record in developing, successfully implementing, and scaling high-impact initiatives.
• Preferred additional qualifications:
• Experience working with IFC or similar international financial institutions.
• Familiarity with sustainability-linked finance, blended finance models, and innovative financing solutions for inclusive supply chains.
• Understanding of regulatory and policy frameworks that support gender equality in global supply chains.

Source: https://worldbankgroup.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=30207&site=1