Environmental and Social Development Specialist

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. The WBG Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Vice Presidency is the core unit responsible for Group-wide institutional risk oversight, including establishment and monitoring adherence to risk policies and guidelines and risk assessment and reporting to the Board and executive management. Its mission is to enable and support the WBG to achieve its goals in a financially sustainable manner. The VPU assists management with identifying and managing Group-wide cross-cutting risks, enhancing risk response decisions, reducing financial and operational surprises and losses, seizing opportunities and improving deployment of capital. The WBG CRO Vice Presidency includes the IBRD/IDA, IFC, and MIGA risk teams and covers a wide range of financial and non-financial risks. To enhance accountability and credibility, the World Bank Group (WBG) has established an independent second line of environmental and social risk oversight within its Chief Risk Officer (CRO) function called CROES. While operational teams at the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA are responsible for designing and implementing projects in accordance with E S policies, the newly formed E S Risk Department—led by the WBG Global Director for Environment and Social Risk—oversees, monitors, and evaluates E S risk and performance. The department is currently seeking an E S development specialist for performing E S risk management function for regional transactions. CROES is looking for an experienced, dynamic and motivated E S development professionals with sound technical judgement and relevant experience in E S risk management and supervision. The selected candidate will work as part of a seasoned team, guided by Senior E S Risk specialists and will report to the E S Risk Manager for the Africa region. Duties and Accountabilities Work in collaboration with the Senior and Lead E S Risk Officers on E S monitoring and oversight role across the WBG. This would include: • Support in review of project E S documentation (due diligence reports, ESIA/RAP/other specialist studies), monitoring reports/site supervision visits (SSVs)/E S ratings/management responses to grievances and providing qualified technical opinions on E S matters (e.g. risk and mitigants as proposed for projects, disclosure documents, board papers, E S provisions in legal agreements, etc.). • Keep an active oversight of portfolio projects through review of portfolio projects to identify trends and issues in sectors/regions/themes etc. Support the lead/senior risk officer in assigning and reviewing E S performance risk ratings for projects. • Support in Senior Management Portfolio Reviews. • Contributing to regional supervision program reviews. • Support as technical specialist the lead/senior risk officer in complex projects together with regional E S teams. • Input to the Integrated Risk (IR) Dashboard that will provide WBG senior leadership and the Enterprise Risk Committee with a consolidated, actionable view of E S risks across all WBG operations (IBRD/IDA, IFC, MIGA). • Supporting and contributing to development of high-quality work products that clearly and logically frame and concisely communicate risks and mitigants. Grievance Response: Supporting lead/senior ESROs and the Accountability and Engagement function in monitoring projects with CAO or direct E S complaints and work with project teams, particularly the E S regional specialists in solutions and addressing non-compliances.