Chief Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Specialist: African Development Bank (AfDB)

Position title: Chief Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Specialist

Grade: PL-3

Reference: ADB/10/029

Closing date: 26/04/2010

Duties and responsibilities

Under the general supervision of the Division Manager, Division of Social Protection and Poverty Reduction (OSHD.1), the incumbent will carry out the following duties and responsibilities:

• Lead the bi-annual preparation of the lending and technical assistance programs (including co-financing arrangements with the Bank’s partners) for programs and projects in social development, social protection, and poverty reduction in the Bank’s Regional Member Countries (RMCs);
• Oversee administrative and technical responses involving social protection and poverty reduction- related questions/correspondence within the Bank and outside;
• Task-manage a selected set of poverty reduction/social protection specific projects and the preparation of poverty, social protection, and MDG-related documents as requested by Senior Management (e.g. to facilitate African Development Fund replenishments) for the Boards for information and approval, especially as it relates to the ongoing efforts to mitigate the adverse impact of the financial, food, and climate change crisis on the welfare of the poor and vulnerable groups;
• Supervise on-going projects in social protection and poverty reduction to monitor procurement of goods and services; review tender documents; evaluate the work of consultants and contractors; and contribute to the preparation of project completion reports and portfolio performance documents;
• Coordinate loan administration, disbursement, procurement, portfolio performance-related activities for social protection and poverty reduction projects ;
• Advise Country Teams engaged in the preparation of Country Strategy Papers (CSPs); Economic and Sector Work, applied research, and the identification, preparation, implementation, and supervision of programs, projects, and capacity building initiatives to articulate poverty reduction and social protection issues in favour of the achievement of the MDGs;
• Facilitate the implementation of the Bank’s policy on poverty reduction and strategy on social protection and guide OSHD’s support for the poverty and social protection dimensions of guidelines to inform the preparation of Sector Policy Papers; Results-based CSP; and the design, implementation, and evaluation of Bank interventions such as budget and sector wide approach programs and projects in the Bank’s priority sectors;
• Champion/promote work on poverty reduction and social protection including the preparation of poverty profiles, poverty assessments, vulnerability analysis, and economic and sector work involving social protection/safety nets on the basis of comprehensive household surveys with information on household characteristics and information on socio-economic activities involving agriculture, education, employment, health, infrastructure, water supply, etc in collaboration with African countries and their development partners to strengthen Bank support for Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs); the poverty aspects of applied microeconomic research and economic and sector; the global development effectiveness, harmonization, and the MDG agenda; and the development of viable, coherent, and sustainable monitoring and evaluation systems;
• Organize events for the dissemination of operationally-relevant analytical tools for poverty reduction and social protection (e.g. on poverty measurement, pro-poor growth, and pro-poor public expenditures, poverty and social impact analysis--PSIAs, ESW on social protection, etc) through conferences, workshops, and seminars to strengthen the analytical capacity of Bank staff in supporting the PRSP process, development of strategies for social protection, and the achievement of the MDGs;
• Synthesize and adopt new knowledge in poverty and vulnerability analysis obtained from the Bank and a global network of poverty reduction/social protection involving multilateral and bilateral institutions such as the AU, DFID, ECA, ILO, the IMF, the UNDP, UNICEF, the World Bank, etc to inform the poverty and vulnerability aspects of Bank’s interventions;
• Develop and organize training sessions for Bank staff and their counterparts in African countries in the analysis of the various dimensions of poverty, vulnerability and social protection to facilitate the implement the Bank’s policy on poverty reduction;
• Represent the Bank at poverty reduction and social protection-related conferences, workshops, and seminars organized by its development partners;
• Mobilise financial resources from bilateral agencies to support non-lending dimensions of work on poverty reduction and social protection including organization of conferences and seminars; economic and sector work, poverty and vulnerability- related studies, and dissemination of best practices;
• Collaborate with multilateral organizations, bilateral agencies, the UN system, and regional entities such as the AU, the ECA, NEPAD, SADC, ECOWAS, etc in the preparation of national, regional, and continental reports on poverty, vulnerability, social protection and the MDGs;
• Mentor new staff in OSHD in general and OSHD.1 in particular to enhance the poverty aspects of their programs, projects, and capacity building efforts in order to increase the Bank’s contributions to the results agenda;
• Undertake any other duties as may be assigned by the Division Manager and/or the senior management.

Selection Criteria

Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience

• At least a Master’s degree or equivalent, in Economics, Social Sciences, or related disciplines;
• Preferably a minimum of seven (7) years of relevant experience in the identification, preparation, supervision, and evaluation of social development projects in general and those dealing with social protection and poverty reduction in particular;
• Considerable experience in support for Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), related development programs of African countries, and the national as well global MDG agenda; experiences with work on multilateral institutions will be an advantage;
• Proven leadership and team leading skills; results oriented and ability to work in multi-cultural environment;
• Demonstrable understanding of regional social issues, analysis and policy formulation; knowledge of the practices of major bilateral and multilateral partner development agencies in African countries is an added advantage.
• Ability to work independently and in team; be creative and innovative; integrity;
• Good listener with demonstrated ability to present and win support for ideas as well as make effective and timely decisions;
• Highly competent in the use of standard software applications such as Word, Excel, Power Point, Access, SAS, etc;
• Ability to communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.

Only applicants who fully meet the Bank's requirements and are being considered for interview will be contacted.

Applicants will only be considered if they submit (preferably electronically, to: recruit @ afdb.org) a fully completed Personal History Form (PHF), available from the Bank’s web site, and attach a comprehensive Curriculum Vitae (CV) indicating date of birth and nationality.

The President, ADB, reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level. The African Development Bank is an equal opportunities employer and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

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