Job Vacancies The World Bank, October 2011
Job Vacancies The World Bank
Position Human Development
Location: United States of America
Closing Date: Wednesday, 09 November 2011
Job Vacancies Background / General description
The Human Development (HD) Network is the professional alliance of staff throughout the Bank who work in Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP); Education; and Social Protection and Labor. The main HD Network objectives are to: build and apply global knowledge; renew and strengthen staff skills, enhance strategic thinking and improve the quality of products and services to client countries and partners in these sectors. The mission of the Human Development HNP Anchor (HDNHE) is to support HNP regional units, global partners and overall Bank corporate work to provide assistance to country clients in efforts to improve health, nutrition, and population outcomes particularly for poor people, protect people from the impoverishing effects of illness, malnutrition, and high fertility (financial protection), and to do so in a way that contributes to overall country competitiveness and country socioeconomic development. Sector Context HDNHE is responsible for providing technical and operational support to the HNP Family (composed of all regional HNP units, HDNHE itself, and DEC and WBI teams working on HNP) to implement the Bank’s Strategy for Health, Nutrition and Population Results approved by the World Bank Board of Directors in 2007. The HNP strategy aims at improving level and distribution of health outcomes, improve financial protection and contribute to country competitiveness through five sector strategic operational objectives renewed Bank focus on HNP results; increased support to country efforts to strengthen health systems ; further synergy between health systems strengthening and priority disease interventions; improved Bank capacity on inter-sectoral approaches; and improved strategic engagement with partners on collaboration and division of labor. By renewing the Bank’s focus on results, the HNP strategy seeks to strengthen the delivery, financing and monitoring systems in Bank programs and in partner countries, and tighten the link between financing and achieving results on the ground. HDNHE plays a key role in supporting the Bank’s regional operational units in the implementation of the Bank’s strategy and corporate priorities as they relate to the HNP sector, and HDNHE also supports the HNP Sector Board in its overall strategic stewardship of the HNP Family. Since the approval of the HNP Strategy, the HNP Family has been focusing strongly on results-based approached to achieving HNP results. This effort has been supported by the Bank’s multi-donor Health Results Innovation Trust Fund (HRITF), which supports results-based financing (RBF) approaches in the health sector for achievement of the health-related MDGs particularly MDGs 1c, 4 and 5. Started in 2007, donors to the HRITF include the Governments of Norway and the United Kingdom, with commitments totaling over US$575 million through 2022. HRITF finances activities to enhance access to and improve the quality of basic health services using a variety of RBF mechanisms, and has four specific aims:
(i) support design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of RBF mechanisms; (
(ii) develop and disseminate the evidence base for implementing successful RBF mechanisms; (iii) build country institutional capacity to scale up and sustain the RBF mechanisms, with the national health strategy and system; and (iv) attract additional financing to the health sector. HRITF currently supports 17 countries to design, implement, monitor and evaluate RBF mechanisms; 29 countries with knowledge and learning grants to support technical dialogue and learning around RBF design and implementation in IDA eligible countries; and 7 countries to support RBF program evaluation efforts to learn from successful (and unsuccessful) experiences from around the world and allow for learning in IDA eligible countries.
Job Vacancies Duties and Accountabilities
All members of HDNHE are expected to work as a team collaboratively on all aspects of delivering the unit’s work program. The primary focus of this position will be to contribute to the work program on RBF on analytical and operational work. Specifically, the position has the following main duties and accountabilities:
1. Analytic Work The Health Specialist will contribute will contribute to various analytical reports and knowledge products. The program includes a wide diversity of work, including impact evaluation, cross-sectoral analytical work on verification, and the potential use of RBF for innovations in service delivery.
2. Support to Operations and Analytic Work in Regions A central focus of HDNHE’s mission is to provide technical and operational cross support to regions in the area of RBF. The main duties in this area include:
(i) Support the implementation of the HNP strategy and scale-up of RBF, through coordination with the Regions on operational and technical support to support RBF for health;
(ii) Provide recommendations on RBF strategies and policy options to HNP colleagues across the Bank including technical review of documents as requested;
(iii) Develop and facilitate RBF workshops for Bank teams, and country clients as requested by the Regions, as well as contribute to the development of regional and in-country workshops on RBF;
(iv) Support broader RBF work program, including HRITF donor coordination and providing input into donor reporting;
(v) This component could involve extensive travel upon country teams demand; (vi) Provide technical advice on design and implementation of RBF to country teams.
3. Knowledge Management A major role for HDNHE is knowledge management. The main duties in this area include:
(i) Organize learning events, draft knowledge and policy briefs, collect and synthesize information from the Regions including best practices papers; and develop and disseminate case studies and other papers on lessons learned regarding RBF implementation. Help guide the technical content of RBF events to showcase RBF and promote deep discussion on RBF
(ii) Facilitate cross learning and sharing experiences and lessons learned among regional colleagues and staff from the different Bank departments to enhance understanding of RBF in health and its challenges and lessons learned
(iii) Liaise with other RBF programs and actors across and outside the Bank, covering all sectors where RBF is being explored or introduced, to enhance knowledge and learning
4. Corporate and Administrative Duties The Health Specialist will contribute to briefing notes for senior management, prepare terms of reference for consultants and other short-term staff, manage meetings and seminars, and contribute to oversight of trust fund activities. In addition, s/he will support coordination with the HRITF donors and provide input into donor reporting. The incumbent will report to the Sector Manager, HDNHE. The Health Specialist will be an integral part of the HDNHE team and will contribute to results-based financing underpinning policy development and operations in the region. S/he will play an active role in knowledge generation by
(i) leading and/or contributing to specific innovative analytical and research tasks for which the unit is responsible;
(ii) helping coordinate and being an active contributor to network-wide knowledge generation initiatives; and
(iii) collaborating with other HD units, DEC and the broader research community to ensure that issues critical to HDNHE get addressed in operational and research programs. The incumbent will report to the Sector Manager, HDNHE, and work under the guidance of HDNHE’s Cluster Leader for Health Economics and Financing.
Job Vacancies Selection Criteria
* Command of HNP strategic approach as defined in the Bank HNP Strategy of 2007 and a strong personal commitment to The World Bank’s mission and to our vision and HNP Strategy for carrying out that mission.
* An advanced degree (Master or PhD) in Public Health , International Development, or Public Administration, and at least 5 years of relevant experience in RBF and in a related discipline such as health system strengthening.
* Demonstrated ability to assist both the World Bank and member countries in the formulation of public policies and strategies related to health. Experience in the design and implementation of health systems , health financing, and/or results-based financing for health programs a plus.
* A track record of capacity to works in teams and sharing information with colleagues, clients, and managers, as well as promptly responding to clients requests.
* A track record of providing training and facilitating workshops.
* Knowledge of the World Bank’s operations and business processes highly desirable
* Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills in working with multicultural teams both as a team member and as a team leader and capacity to interact effectively with a range of stakeholders within and outside the Bank.
* Proven analytical skills and highly effective written and oral communications skills in English; foreign language an asset (French or Spanish preferred). 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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