World Bank: Operations Analyst Vacancy - Deadline July 7, 2016

: Written/Submitted by Emmanuel Aban Nyilek; Category: Jobs; Published: 27 June 2016; Hits: 3255

JOB #161467
JOB TITLEOperations Analyst
JOB FAMILYOperational Services
JOB TYPEProfessional & Technical
GRADEGE
LOCATIONJuba, South Sudan
RECRUITMENT TYPELocal Hire
LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTEnglish [Essential]
CLOSING DATE07-Jul-2016

Background / General description:
The nearly two-years of conflict in South Sudan has eroded development gains, worsened humanitarian situations, and deepened vulnerabilities. It has left thousands dead, around 2 million people, or close to one fifth of the population displaced, with some 200,000 still residing in shelters in UN bases, and 4.6 million in ‘emergency’ or ‘crisis’ levels of food insecurity. The conflict has damaged infrastructure, destroyed propertied, limited livelihood opportunities, and obliterated personal assets. The current macroeconomic crisis is furthering exacerbating the situation with increasing inflation and the widening fiscal deficit. Consequently, the incidence of poverty has worsened. With the recent signing of the Compromise Peace Agreement, there is renewed hope that poverty and welfare indicators will improve and allow citizens to enjoy the dividends of peace. This will however require significant effort by the international community, to support government efforts towards providing coherent and effective social safety nets capable of improving the resilience of people against different types of shocks; reducing poverty and destitution; and promoting equality of opportunity through building of human capital, assets, and access to jobs. In response to this and working closely with the Government of the republic of South Sudan (GRSS), the World Bank is scaling up its development efforts through its lending, analytical work, and coordination and collaboration with other development partners. The current World Bank Portfolio commitments stand at US$ 310 million, with US$ 204 million as IDA commitments. About US$ 127 million of undisbursed financing are in eight active operations in Health, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Social Protection and Governance. The larger projects are focused on local development at the country level, social protection of vulnerable groups and rural and regional roads. The IDA portfolio is complemented by analytical work, which provides substantial information that guides World Bank’s focus areas in partnership with GRSS. The World Bank, South Sudan office, requires the services of a highly organized professional, capable of operating effectively and discreetly in a very demanding, fast-paced and culturally diverse environment, to work as an Operations Analyst. An Operations Analyst typically provide substantive operational, research, statistical and other analytic support to the Country Manager and other Task Team Members with respect to portions of the country/sector work program activities ranging from project preparation , appraisal, implementation, and supervision. S/he may also undertake responsibilities for costing, financing and disbursement aspects of projects, drafting implementation arrangements, etc. The selected individual will work under the supervision of the Country Manager in South Sudan. 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:
• Carry out substantive research and analytical tasks on a wide range of Country Management Unit (CMU) operational issues and review and interpret information/data. • Identify cross-cutting issues across the portfolio and recommend actions/solutions for consideration to the CMU. • Participate in and contribute to the country program strategy, development, planning and preview/reviews. • Provide inputs to or prepare diverse outputs/operational products (e.g. country briefings, background reports, case studies, and portfolio performance reviews etc.). • Assist in the preparation of project supervision related documents. • Support the operations staff and provide assistance in every aspect of business processing (e.g. appraisal, financial analysis, internal and external documentation, preparation of decision meetings and disbursement). • Ensure implementation of operational rules, procedures and policies and updates project teams on policy changes and provide guidance to teams operational/policy changes as required. • Track and record the development impacts of portfolio projects. • Regularly maintain updated information on portfolio projects. • Prepare minutes of meetings on the portfolio projects. • Prepare monthly portfolio performance and highlights presentation to be disseminated to country and regional management and the CMU more broadly. • Provide support to the Country Programme Coordinator (CPC) as concerns the portfolio and pipeline review meetings in a timely manner. • Participate in field supervision visits as necessary and provide a summary of findings to CMU. • Respond to adhoc task requests as required by the CMU.
Selection Criteria:
Competencies: • Client Orientation – Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success. • Drive for results – Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results, and has the personal organization to do so. • Teamwork (Collaboration) and inclusion – Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team’s work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view. • Knowledge, Learning and Communication – Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner. • Business Judgement and Analytical Decision Making – Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others’ work. Selection Criteria: • At least Bachelor Degree (Master’s degree preferred) and 4+ years of work in project development in a relevant discipline (e.g. economics, finance, business administration, social sciences, or other field related to development OR Equivalent combination of education and experience). • Outstanding inter-personal skills, client-orientation, diplomatic skills, mature judgment, ability to collaborate with others in a multi-cultural environment, and remain flexible and self-motivated in a dynamic, fast-paced work environment. • Proven ability to think independently and demonstrate political sensitivity and mature judgement, and interpret changing socio-economic trends. • Proven ability to provide inputs to or prepare diverse outputs/operational products (e.g. country briefings, background reports, case studies, portfolio performance reviews etc.) • Ability to prioritize and focus on key issues, while not losing sight of the big picture. • Previous experience with project management, understands and utilizes the basic concepts of project management, as they relate to the implementation of a project would be an added advantage. • Experience with portfolio management is an added advantage. Specifically, experience with analyzing and identifying cross cutting portfolio, assisting and/or organizing portfolio reviews, preparing portfolio monitoring reports, and following-up on portfolio review recommendations.