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Introductory text: World Bank

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? 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 and promoting shared prosperity. 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, visit www.worldbank.org.

Eastern and Southern Africa

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 subregion 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 subregion 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 of 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 infrastructure. A number of East African countries recently had to deal with a debilitating Desert Locust infestation that threatened 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 Infrastructure Practice Group

Globally, 840 million people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 1 billion people lack electricity, and 4 billion people lack Internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure Practice Group is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies.

Transport Global Practice

Better transport has the potential to improve the lives and livelihoods of billions of people by facilitating access to jobs, markets, and essential services such as healthcare or education. The World Bank provides financial and technical assistance to help countries implement sustainable mobility solutions that create real, lasting development benefits. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/transport   

Overview

The  IAET2 unit of the World Bank serves 14 client countries. Clients range from middle-income countries such as South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Seychelles to low-income IDA countries such as Lesotho, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Mozambique, Madagascar and Comoros. Areas of particular interest for the transport sector in these countries include rural transport for agricultural productivity; urban transport for enhancing functioning of urban areas and improving accessibility to jobs and social services by the poorer segments of the population; regional integration corridors for facilitating trade and reducing logistics costs; investments in ports, railway, and air transport, for improving connectivity within and across countries; PPPs to bring in efficiencies in the provision of infrastructure and services; road safety interventions to reduce the high number of traffic fatalities in the client countries and addressing mobility constrains of women.

The IAET2 unit is seeking to hire a highly motivated Senior Transport Specialist (GG) to be located in Gaborone, Botswana. and reporting to the Transport Practice Manager of IAET2.

The selected specialist will be working with a broader team of specialists managing and further developing the transport program in Botswana and contributing to the regional integration work and dialogue. The role of the GG based in Gaborone is to support the day-to-day dialogue with the different stakeholders and government counterparts and lead or co-lead the activities in the program. The current program includes: (i) road sector engagement supporting investments in feeder and national roads, road asset management (including OPRC contracts and routine maintenance microenterprises), resilience and adaptation policies to address the impacts of climate change and disaster risks, road safety; (ii) urban mobility to improve access to jobs and economic opportunities to the population in urban; and (iii) regional integration initiatives encompassing the maritime sector and waterways.  

The Senior Transport Specialist will be expected to lead or co-lead several complex transport lending operations and must demonstrate a solid track record as a team leader/member with key infrastructure and transport sector knowledge. In this regard, the candidate should have:

(i) Solid operational experience to provide close implementation support to clients in the region and managing an active and diverse transport sector portfolio
(ii) Strong entrepreneurial skills and energy to develop business opportunities and a pipeline of projects in line with the Africa Transport Strategy and the RI Strategy for the southern Africa sub-region
(iii) Experience in regional integration (infrastructure, transport services, logistics, etc);
(iv) Strong analytical skills
(v) Strong communication and people skills with an ability to work in a diverse and multidisciplinary team

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage and support the supervision of transport projects covering the core elements of planning, design, procurement, construction, contract management, maintenance, and operations, while paying close attention to the design and monitoring the implementation of safeguards and other cross-cutting issues, including the opportunities for addressing women mobility constrains, road safety, green mobility, safety, expanding the incorporation of the private sector in the financing and/or provision of transport infrastructure and services.
• Manage and support identification and preparation of new operations.
• Manage and support selected analytical studies (ASA activities) or Trust Funds, particularly on issues related to the provision of transport infrastructure and services, financing options, asset maintenance and operations, climate resilience, gender, impact evaluation, and general best practices in the investment, management and delivery of infrastructure and services.
• Under the guidance of the Practice Manager, lead sector policy dialogue and institutional reforms and support the development of new business opportunities.
• Identify opportunities in coordination with multi-disciplinary units across the world bank, including Energy, Digital Development, Urban Development, Climate Change, and others.
• Contribute in cross-sectoral teams responsible for preparation of policy notes, Country Partnership Frameworks, public expenditures reviews, sectoral studies, and research and policy development activities on the topics/sections pertaining to transport, poverty reduction, environmental management, agriculture and trade and competitiveness.
• Support the Bank-wide professional community of staff engaged in the transport practice by participating in a selected number of thematic technical groups (Global Solutions Groups) and participating in drafting of technical notes in collaboration with other Global practices to enhance the creation and dissemination of new knowledge and expanding the existing knowledge base.
• Stay abreast of recent developments in the transport sector world-wide, and on cross-cutting issues, in relation to the topics of specialization for this position; identifying knowledge gaps and disseminating relevant knowledge to clients.

The Senior Transport Specialist will be based in the World Bank’s Gaborone office.  She/He will report to the IAET2 Practice Manager. Her/His activities will be identified with the Practice Manager and adjusted based on business needs. She/He will actively participate in the relevant Country Management Unit (CMU) discussions, particularly on the preparation of Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCD) and Comprehensive Partnership Frameworks (CPFs), as well as on portfolio reviews. She/He will also liaise and work with other global practices and cross-cutting solutions areas, as relevant, and ensure appropriate collaboration and partnership between Government, the World Bank Group, and other international and bilateral organizations involved in the transport sector in Botswana and the southern Africa sub-region. 

Selection Criteria

• Advanced degree (at least Masters or PhD) in transport economics, engineering, or similar discipline relevant for the assignment.
• Sustained record of achieving high-quality substantive results in the transport sector over a period of at least 8 years.
• Proven experience in the transport sector (road, railways, inland waterways, ports), with demonstrated ability to work on at least three of the following areas: (a) development of transport policy and national planning instruments (road, railways, ports); (b) policy, institutional and financing aspects of transport and the elements to encourage private sector participation in the delivery of transport infrastructure or services; (c) road sector including rural mobility; (d) regional integration, logistics, regional economic corridors.  A good working knowledge on the procurement of works, goods and services, as well as the options to harness Digital Development technologies into the transport sector initiatives and operations will be a plus.
• Experience in working with and leading cross-sectoral teams, including teams for safeguards and fiduciary aspects, and knowledge of key cross-cutting issues that impinge on the performance of the transport sector and on which the development of transport sector infrastructure and services needs to create positive effect, including environmental and social impacts, land acquisition and resettlement, gender equality, road safety, climate change, and the interplay with digital technologies for enhance transport sector performance.
• Proven track record of design and implementation of transport programs, and experience of working on programs financed by the World Bank or other development partners, multilateral or bilateral.
• High degree of dynamism and self-motivation, as well as the ability to work with minimal supervision. Proven practical experience in project development and management would be a strong advantage.
• Familiarity with the challenges facing the transport sector in Sub-Saharan Africa would be an advantage.
• Proven ability to build client relationships involving multiple stakeholders, to discuss transformative transport policies or reforms.
• Good oral and written communications skills.
• English essential. Portuguese/Spanish highly desired.

For information about WBG Core Competencies, please visit: https://bit.ly/2kbIA7O.

Poverty has no borders. Neither does excellence. Therefore, we continually search for qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds from around the globe. We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

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, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.