Sr Institutional Dev. Spec. (Rural)
 Water and Sanitation Program - South Asia / World Bank
 Location: New Delhi
 Last Date: June 9, 2011

 

Job #	110959
Job Title	Sr Institutional Dev. Spec. (Rural)
Job Family	Water and Sanitation
Location	New Delhi, India
Appointment	Local Hire
Job Posted	26-May-2011
Closing Date	09-Jun-2011
Language Requirements	English [Essential]
Appointment Type

Background / General description

** This is a two year coterminous term appointment**

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 2 year renewable coterminous term appointment. Internal applicants with open ended or regular appointments must obtain a re-entry to their current unit.

The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) administered by the World Bank and funded through international partnerships with a wide range of External Support Agencies, assists governments to scale up improved water supply and sanitation services and hygiene programs for poor households. A current major thrust of the Program’s business plan is helping its clients to prepare for and implement actions towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In pursuing their mission, WSP staff members provide advisory support to projects and policy dialogue, help identify and disseminate best practices and lessons from experience across countries, and facilitate informal networks of practitioners and sector stakeholders. Additional information about WSP can be found on the Program website ( www.wsp.org ).

WSP is led by a Program Manager located in the World Bank's Transport Water and ICT Departments in the Sustainable Development Network (SDN) Vice Presidency. The Program works closely with the Bank's regional operations and partners through four regional offices in South Asia, East Asia/Pacific, Latin America/Caribbean, and Africa.

The Water and Sanitation Program for South Asia (WSP-SA) currently operates through a regional office in India and country offices in Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The WSP-SA office is managed by a Regional Team Leader who is accountable to the Program Manager in Washington.

The Government of India’s national rural development programs such as the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission and the Total Sanitation Campaign recognize that the sustainability of WSS reforms depend on behavior change in communities and a conducive enabling environment developed through fiscal and institutional sustainability at local and state government level. The Government of India’s new strategies for rural drinking water and for rural sanitation set out the vision for the 12 years up to 2022, focusing on moving up the service provision ladder and to establish sustainable systems for universal access and use.

The Senior Institutional Development Specialist is required to perform a senior role as advisor (and task team leader where relevant) in the design, preparation, implementation, and supervision of WSP-SA’s high level policy support to clients and designing and implementing learning and capacity building programs with a focus on rural development. The Senior Institutional Development Specialist will provide leadership for a multi-disciplinary team of senior sector professionals in the India team in pursuing the Program’s objective of developing sustainable sector policies and programs through learning and capacity building. Tasks to be managed by the Senior Institutional Development Specialist include policy and strategic support to government and other stakeholders, sector planning, support to bilateral and multi-lateral partners in developing their programs in the sector. In all of these activities, the Senior Institutional Development Specialist will need to show innovation and strategic management in the delivery of policy and capacity support to government using the instruments of knowledge management rather than relying on traditional donor support through financial support.

Duties and Accountabilities
1. Provide professional advice to the National Government on sector reform by promoting policies and strategies to reach the poor with quality water and sanitation services.
2. Provide intellectual leadership and management and strategic guidance to the India Country team and deepen the policy and capacity role in the WSS sector in India, particularly with regard to rural development. In the process, provide leadership for managing a knowledge-based program.
3. Advise in the development of annual work plans for technical assistance to national and local government to increase provision and use of water and sanitation services, particularly for the rural poor.
4. As an active member of the global team of WSP specialists, share knowledge and experience across regions, and serve as peer reviewer of products and programs of other WSP regions.
5. Maintain up-to-date knowledge on WSP activities and global water supply and sanitation issues, particularly in the rural sector, promote cross-regional learning to ensure the integration of global knowledge in its projects and activities, strengthen WSS networking and knowledge management capacity for systematic learning and institutional strengthening on cutting edge issues impacting water and sanitation services and documenting best practices, and coordinate WSP India participation and contribution to these products.
6. Generate “think pieces” and “best practice” papers; handle complex technical, institutional and implementation issues in the sectors; lead the development of proposals for governments and agencies in developing sector programmes relating to rural WSS.
7. Liaise with government agencies, appropriate Bank divisions, bilateral and multilateral agencies on sector policy, strategy and implementation issues.
8. Provide support to the Regional Team Leader and WSP regional and international networks and provide intellectual support and comments to WSP and other World Bank activities in other countries in project preparatory and appraisal work and analytical and advisory activities, as demanded by stakeholders and approved by the WSP Regional Team Leader in SA.
9. Coordinate and integrate inputs from the regional and global thematic teams.
10. Produce major/complex reports and facilitate dissemination of experiences and lessons learnt in India.
11. Contribute to the structure of training and skill-upgrading schedules for Country Team India.
12. Report to the WSP-SA Regional Team Leader based in New Delhi, on all substantive and professional matters.

Selection Criteria
The following factors would be taken into account to select qualified candidates:
1. Postgraduate degree (Masters degree/Ph.D) or higher qualifications in a relevant discipline, such as Economics, Public Finance, Public Policy and Administration, Water and Environmental Engineering/Management or Public Health Engineering.
2. Minimum of 8 years of experience working on policy and sector issues related to service delivery in general and water and sanitation in particular in the context of multi-tiered governments. Extensive knowledge, grasp and understanding of policy, project and program related sectoral and cross- sectoral issues. In-depth knowledge on the working of bilateral/multilateral development organizations and Government systems and an advantage.
3. In-depth understanding of government policy mechanisms and proven ability to analyze, assess, and lead dialogue on how the water and sanitation sector and service delivery in general interfaces with and affects and in turn is influenced by the regulatory, macro, fiscal and local government issues in India;
4. Strong analytical skills, methodological rigor, problem-solving ability and sound understanding of the principles around service delivery in general and service delivery challenges affecting water and sanitation sector in particular.
5. Ability to lead professional teams in the design and execution of policy programs and projects; and demonstrated project management skills to function effectively in multi-disciplinary teams within a matrix management environment both as a task leader and team member;
6. Ability to deal sensitively and diplomatically in multi-cultural and politically complex environments to build effective working relations with clients and other sector counterparts;
7. Ability to produce quality work under pressure and adhere to deadlines;
8. Very effective verbal and written communication skills in English and Effective report writing/publication of reports.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

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