JOB ADVERT: E T Consultant

Job #: req813

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Education

Grade: EC2

Term Duration: 1 year 0 months

Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Location: Yaounde, Cameroon

Required Language(s): English

Closing Date: 11/15/2018 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2017, the WBG committed $59 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $19 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org
The vision of the WBG is the eradication of extreme poverty and the promotion of shared prosperity by fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent in each country. To achieve that vision, in 2013 the WBG Board of Governors approved a strategy for the organization that leverages the combined strength of WBG institutions and partnerships with the public and private sectors to deliver customized development solutions.  These solutions are backed by finance, world class knowledge and convening services. It has three components: (1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.

THE EDUCATION GLOBAL PRACTICE

Education is central to achieving the World Bank Group’s twin goals of (1) ending extreme poverty by 2030, and (2) promoting shared prosperity for the bottom 40 percent of the population in every developing country.  It is a reliable route out of poverty because it has large and consistent returns to income for individuals and because it can drive economic growth. It is also a prime vehicle for promoting shared prosperity.  The main challenge in the education sector is to achieve “learning for all, learning for life”—that is, to ensure that all children and young people acquire the knowledge and skills they need for their lives and livelihoods.  The developing world has achieved great advances in education in the past two decades, most notably in enrolling and keeping children in school and in approaching gender equality. Yet these successes in expanding access to education have highlighted the major remaining challenges:  how to remove the educational barriers faced by the poorest people and those living in fragile and conflict affected countries, and how to improve the quality of education so that schooling leads to real learning.  The WBG and the broader education development community are increasingly shifting focus to learning outcomes. Because traditional input-driven programs often fail to promote learning, the WBG’s education strategy highlights the need for a more comprehensive systems approach to education reform, investments, and service delivery. This approach is about increasing accountability and targeting results, as a complement to providing inputs.  And it also requires strengthening the knowledge base on education, to highlight where systems are achieving results, where they are falling short, and what the most effective solutions are.  These efforts are increasingly guided by the need to invest early; invest smartly; and invest for all.  Through high-quality analytical work, collection and curation of evidence, and practical know-how in these three areas, the WBG is helping its partner countries accelerate their educational progress.

The Education Global Practice (Education GP) is led by a Senior Director, who has overall responsibility for the Practice. The Education GP Management Team consists of the Senior Director, two Directors and nine Practice Managers working across regions.

EDUCATION AND THE AFRICA REGION

The World Bank Group serves 48 client countries in the Africa Region (AFR). Clients range from low-income countries, among them several fragile and conflict-affected states, to a small but growing number of middle-income countries (MICs) but with weak human development indicators. Average annual per capita income varies widely, and inequalities persist in most African countries, with most of the Region's population living in poverty. The Bank's strategy in AFR is focused on two pillars - competitiveness and employment, and vulnerability and resilience –and prioritizes cross-cutting approaches founded in governance and public-sector capacity.
In AFR, many countries have achieved considerable progress in access to basic education. But challenges persist, namely: improving the quality and relevance of education at all levels; expanding access to early childhood development (ECD), post-basic education; developing emphasis on science, technology and innovation; and improving skills development. Efforts are needed in each of these areas in order to produce a quality workforce to sustain, innovate and expand on the current economic growth in the region.
The Education GP team in the region works with client countries – at the regional, sub-regional, national and sub-national levels – to address their unique and shared challenges. We do this by addressing low quality at all levels of education, increasing the efficiency and accountability of education services, modernizing the higher end of the formal education continuum, integrating science and technology more effectively, and aligning skills formation with the needs of a fast-growing Region, including MICs. The GP aims to not only deliver high quality products but also to build capacity in client countries through collaborative interactions with country counterparts and other development partners. It seeks to bring the cutting-edge possible knowledge to bear on the practical challenges facing client countries and at the same time places a high priority on knowledge generation, including through rigorous impact evaluations of education interventions.
The Education GP is comprised of three Practice Management Units for the region. GED13 covers 17 countries in West and Southern Africa, across four Country Management Units (CMUs), and includes Anglophone, Francophone, Spanish, and Lusophone countries. In that context, the unit is responsible for policy dialogue, analytical work, and operational investments in the education sector. The unit’s growing portfolio currently includes operations for about US$2 billion, sourced from IDA, IBRD, and Trust Funds, and technical assistance (TA) products in both low-income countries and MICs.  The portfolio spans the full spectrum of the education sector from ECD to higher education as well as job-relevant skills development. The portfolio is increasingly using new lending instruments and approaches to support systemic reforms, including the program for results (PfoRs) and the multi-phased programmatic approach (MPAs). The unit produces innovative and programmatic analytical and advisory services (ASA).
Many of our operations and analytical products are based on approaches that: (i) assist countries in developing and implementing strategies for ensuring quality teaching and learning at all levels of education (ECD, basic education, secondary education and tertiary education), and in addressing the issues that face these countries' disadvantaged and vulnerable groups; (ii) ensure that education systems respond to the needs of labor markets; (iii) continue to stress the focus on results; build capacity for monitoring and evaluation of reforms, and foster knowledge sharing; (iv) promote innovative strategies, cross-sectoral linkages, and partnerships with the private sector and other development partners whenever relevant; (v) develop and scale up successful strategies for regional collaboration to leverage economies of scale; and (vi) aim to strengthen governance, accountability, and transparency in the education sector.
The AFCC1 CMU covers the countries of Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome Principe. The Bank’s education portfolio in Cameroon include the following (a) the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-funded education sector project, approved in February 2014, which aims to improve the equity and quality of primary education service delivery in Cameroon with an emphasis on disadvantaged areas; (b) an International Development Association (IDA)-financed Education Reform Support Project, approved in May 2018, which aims to improve equitable access to quality basic education, with a focus on selected disadvantaged areas, featuring results-based and performance-based financing modalities; and (c) IDA-financed Skills Development for Growth Project, under preparation, which aims to increase the supply of quality and market relevant skills in priority sectors and improving the governance and management of the skills development system. Cameroon also participates in the IDA-financed regional Africa Centers of Excellent Projects.
The World Bank seeks to hire an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) to provide analytical and operational support to the Cameroon education portfolio and related activities. This is a 12-months extended term staff position over the period December 2018 – December 2019. The term of employment may be renewed for an additional 12 months based on performance.
The selected ETC will be based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and report to the Education Practice Manager for GED13. The ETC will support the Cameroon education team located in Yaoundé and Washington DC.

Duties and Accountabilities:

• Contribution to analytical work: Participate in analytical work and provide high quality customized analytical and advisory services linked to country circumstances (including relevant lessons from international experience) on issues and policies related to education and training (including education finance, policy dialogue, governance, teacher policies, national large-scale assessments of student learning achievement, quality assurance systems, and skills development.  In addition, the successful candidate is expected to contribute to activities such as impact evaluation, feasibility study, economic analysis of education operations, public expenditure reviews and other education sector work.
• Support of operations: In consultation with the Task Team Leader (TTL), handle operational matters on a day-to-day basis.  In this context, she/he would participate in the full cycle of project preparation, implementation and evaluation. She/he will support mission preparation, contribute to mission objectives, including inputs to mission aide-memoires. She/ he will support monitoring and evaluation of project development objective and implementation progress, intermediate outcomes, and results-based financing/disbursement linked indicators, and project activities.  The main objective is to help ensure the effectiveness and timely implementation of projects, and to reporting the TTL periodically on project implementation progress and key issues/bottlenecks.
• Participation in education and human development sector work: Provide education sector input to regular Bank’s products/outputs (e.g. HD sector briefings and memos, background reports, project performance reviews, etc.).  Liaise with HD staff on integrated HD inputs and activities.  Respond to ad-hoc information requests from internal and external parties.
• Partnerships:  Participate in regular Local Education Group (LEG) meetings and contribute to its work and follow up on key recommendations.

Selection Criteria

• A minimum of a Master’s Degree (PhD preferred) in economics, education (economics of education, education policy, etc.), public policy, or a related field;
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in the education sector;
• Strong analytical and technical skills, including an understanding of the core education data sets, indicators, tools for analysis of this data, and the use of evidence for education policy.
• Strong client orientation and proven ability to work with government agencies, and with partner organizations;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to work in a team and intercultural environment with minimal supervision;
• High levels of energy, initiative and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements. Ability to juggle numerous competing demands and priorities, respond quickly to internal and external client requests, and set priorities for self and others.
• Relevant experience with policies and interventions in the education sector, familiarity with World Bank's operations and business processes will be a plus.
• Excellent communication (oral and written) skills to convey complex technical ideas to a non-specialist audience, and lead substantive policy dialogue with clients and stakeholders.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and French; and ability to work efficiently in both languages (reading, speaking and writing);
• Willingness to travel, as required by the different tasks.

Key Competencies:

• Integrative Skills: Demonstrates strong integrative thinking and ability to support project teams in developing of an integrated point of view around development challenge
• Policy Dialogue Skills: Possesses political judgment, diplomatic acumen, and negotiating skills; applies cross-country development knowledge to discussions with clients and development partners; anticipates needs and requests in the field and develop/offer relevant tools to clients.
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena: Understands policy making process and the role of own sector of expertise in that process; finds relevant information/data and examine similar policy questions in multiple regions;
• 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 skills to do so;
• Teamwork: 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;
• Education sector knowledge and experience: Possesses strong analytical and technical skills, including an understanding of the core education data sets, indicators, tools for analysis of this data, and the use of evidence for education policy.

Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two years.

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