Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org.

The Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation (FCI) Global Practice combines expertise in the financial sector with expertise in private sector development to foster private-sector led growth and help create markets in client countries.  FCI’s core lines of business are: (a) Financial Stability & Integrity; (b) Financial Inclusion, Infrastructure & Access; (c) Firm Capabilities & Innovation; (d) Long-Term Finance; (e) Climate & Risk Management; (f) Markets and Technology; and (g) Investment and Competition. For more information, please visit https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/unit/fci

Eastern and Southern Africa: Home to about half a billion of Africa’s people, Eastern and Southern Africa is a geographically, culturally and economically diverse region of 26 countries stretching from the Red Sea in the North to the Cape of Good Hope in the South. Children under 18 make up almost half of the total population. The subregion boasts of some of the world’s richest human and natural resources and, apart from South Africa, the countries are predominantly raw material exporters.

The subregion harbors some of Africa’s protracted conflicts, rendering many of its countries fragile, while significant gaps in education, health, and skills development continues to keep people from reaching their full potential. This creates a huge development challenge, impacts heavily on the lives and livelihoods of people, and hinders regional integration and trade. But it also creates an opportunity to work closely with country leaders, civil society, development partners, and young people to chart a brighter course for the future. 

The World Bank’s Eastern and Southern Africa Region, comprised of approximately 1,207 staff, mostly based in 26 country offices, has been helping countries realize their considerable development potential by focusing on the following priorities:

• Creating Jobs and Transforming Economies: We are working with countries across Africa to stimulate job creation and economic transformation by leveraging all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions to promote investment.
• Building up the Digital Economy: We are supporting Africa’s vision to ensure that every African individual, business, and government is connected by 2030 – a vision that, if realized, can boost growth by up to 2 percentage points per year, and reduce poverty by 1 percentage point per year in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.
• Institutions more Efficient and Accountable: Our support is helping governments strengthen public policy processes, manage resources effectively, and reinforce fair and reliable delivery of public services.
• Investing in People: We are at the forefront of helping African countries accelerate human capital gains and empower women by improving their access to education and skills acquisition, sexual and reproductive health services, and employment opportunities. With the influx COVID-19, we are mobilizing financial support and timely analysis and advice to countries across the subregion deal with the pandemic.
• Supporting Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption:  In the face of increasing climate-related risks, we are working with African countries to advance efforts to adopt renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and green infrastructure. A number of East African countries are currently facing a debilitating Desert Locust infestation, threatening the already precarious food security situation. The Bank has put together a program to help affected countries deal with the scourge.
• Addressing the Drivers of Fragility, Conflict, and Violence: Given the cross-border nature of conflicts in Africa, we are employing an approach that simultaneously focuses on the drivers of fragility while also supporting well-targeted regional initiatives to create opportunities for peace and shared prosperity.
• Building Partnerships and Working across the African Continent: We are scaling up our work on regional integration, taking a holistic view of the continent that covers both North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Bank is a dedicated partner for Eastern and Southern African countries, helping them deliver strong development outcomes for their people. A brighter future for Africa is a better future for the world.

The ETC position is based in the FCI Eastern and Southern Africa team in Dar Es Salaam with a proposed primary focus on the Tanzania work program, though work on other countries may evolve. With the largest economy and population in the East Africa Community (EAC), Tanzania reached middle-income status in 2020 but the economy was affected by the ramifications of the COVID-19 global pandemic and is struggling to revive strong private sector growth and improve economic productivity that would create enough jobs for its fast-growing youth population. Transformation to a more modern industrialized economy that would accelerate job growth and higher incomes requires the strengthening of the investment climate and conducive government policies for increasing private investment and entrepreneurship. Financially inclusive, gender-empowered private sector growth is enshrined in the World Bank Group’s (WBG’s) Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) and Country Partnership Framework (CPF) and is at the heart of the Bank’s dialogue with the authorities, who are demanding increasing assistance from FCI on this agenda.  In the context of the global pandemic the timing is critical to support the client’s commitment to structural reforms necessary to unlock economic growth, by strengthening the Bank’s engagement and expert resources around financial and private sector development and competitiveness issues.

This position offers an opportunity to be an integral part of the Bank’s engagement to support this reform process and represent FCI in a key role in the country engagement. Work includes contributing to knowledge and advisory activities following a recent private sector diagnostic conducted jointly by the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance and Planning in 2021, contributing to the dialogue with client counterparts on the private sector agenda, and contributing to and supporting any lending operations including those supporting the economic response to Covid-19.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Amongst other things, the candidate will be expected to:

• Support dialogue and work program engagement on issues relating to business environment, investment climate, competitiveness, trade, and other private sector issues as well as on financial sector development; participate or lead in specific knowledge and operational activities; coordinate and participate as a member of FCI missions (mission preparation, supervision, contribution), conduct independent discussions with client representatives on issues as needed.
• Support the FCI team in the preparation of briefing material on country program/sector issues. Produce technical notes, briefings, presentations, etc. as requested by Management.
• Work closely with the Program Leaders/Country Economists and country managers to ensure the integration of relevant private sector and financial issues in country strategies, SCDs/CPFs and work programs and country policy dialogue and engagement.
• Coordinate delivery of work and research with the FCI Global Unit, other Global Practices, IFC, and donors.
• Business Development: cultivate strategic relationships with country clients and the World bank Country Management Unit and contribute to building the FCI engagement in line with country priorities.

Selection Criteria

This job requires a seasoned Private Sector Development (PSD) professional with strong client relationship management, technical and operational skills.  The following qualifications will be considered:

• Masters level or equivalent qualification with minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in the areas of finance, business, management, economics or related discipline.
• The ideal candidate would have work experience and solid knowledge in one or more of the following topic areas: business environment and investment climate, investment policy and promotion, competitive industries and sectors, SME upgrading, entrepreneurship including digital entrepreneurship, competition policy and issues, as well as good understanding and experience of financial sector issues.
• Familiarity with Bank operational policies for lending and core analytics in the private sector development space is a plus.
• Experience working with the public sector and Government institutions and good understanding of the policy, institutional and political context in Tanzania.
• Proven capacity to engage in and influence policy discussions at the country level on private sector development, investment and competitiveness issues.
• Strong results focus, with a track record of leading teams to deliver high impact projects and activities.
• Should be a mature professional with a demonstrated ability to work across boundaries and work in a culturally diverse environment.
• Excellent writing and presentation skills in English