Practice Manager, Procurement (East & Southern Africa) - The World Bank

The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). IBRD and IDA are commonly known as the World Bank, which is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions, and – as of July 1, 2014 – has introduced fourteen Global Practices (GPs) as well as five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs) to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.
GLOBAL PRACTICES & CROSS-CUTTING SOLUTIONS AREAS
The 14 GPs are: Agriculture; Education; Energy and Extractives; Environment and Natural Resources; Finance and Markets; Governance; Health, Nutrition and Population; Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management; Poverty; Social Protection and Labor; Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience; Trade and Competitiveness; Transport and ICT; and Water. The 5 CCSAs are: Climate Change; Fragility, Conflict and Violence; Gender; Jobs; and Public-Private Partnerships.  The new operating model is part of a broader internal reform aimed at delivering the best of the World Bank Group to our clients, so that together we can achieve the twin goals of (1) ending extreme poverty by 2030, and (2) promote shared prosperity for the bottom 40% of the population in every developing country.

THE GOVERNANCE GLOBAL PRACTICE
An effective and accountable governance framework, in the form of functioning institutions, is a necessary precondition for sustainable poverty reduction.  Fragile, ineffective or inexistent institutions have long been put forward as explaining the relative underperformance of economies. Furthermore, poor governance and structural deficiencies in public and private institutions are often prevalent in fragile and conflict affected states. On the other hand, cross-country empirics have confirmed that higher institutional quality is correlated with higher levels of per capita income and greater economic growth. Thus, governance mechanisms and institutions are critical to sustained growth and poverty alleviation.
The Governance Global Practice (GGP) comprises a variety of different professional disciplines working on public institutions, including public sector management, governance and anti-corruption, procurement, financial management, social accountability and justice reform. The GGP has the following four thematic areas:  
• Public Resource Mobilization and Management to provide policy advice and support to institutions and processes across the entire cycle of public financial management, both to countries and to WBG operations.
• Public Integrity and Openness to provide policy advice, institutional support, assistance and capacity building for more transparent, honest and accountable governments.
• Public Service Performance to support a continuous and sustainable improvement in the delivery of public goods and services both from central government, local governments,  SOEs, PPPs and through regulation.
• Governance and Inclusive Institutions to support countries in building sustainable, inclusive and trustworthy governance systems, including institutions beyond the executive branch of government.
The GGP interventions range from diagnostics, technical assistance, and advisory services, learning, innovation and knowledge management and sharing, creating peer learning platforms, lending and reform project implementation, and monitoring and reporting.  An important part of its responsibilities is to deliver operational support to other Practices, including through inputs for policy-based operations, hands-on implementation advice and direct fiduciary due diligence of investment financing.

Duties and Accountabilities:

• Leads her/his team to deliver the GP's key strategic priorities and, in collaboration with Country Directors, ensures alignment with the WBG Strategy and Country Partnership Framework;
• Draws on thought leadership and implementation know-how to ensure high impact multi-sectoral solutions;
• Builds and maintains a balanced portfolio of innovative, cost-effective and demand-driven products and services;
• Works in partnership with other PMs in the GP and with other GPs, as well as public and private stakeholders, in order to find tailored and holistic solutions to complex development challenges;
• Accountable for delivering high-quality and timely results.
People/Talent Management:
• Models exemplary WBG leadership values and managerial behaviors and reinforces these qualities in own team and staff;
• Drives and inspires technical excellence within the team and the GP by creating an environment of learning and innovation that attracts and develops the best talent reflective of the diversity of our clients;
• Supports GP management in developing and implementing appropriate strategies for global staffing, deployment, talent and performance management.
Knowledge Management:
• Ensures that the GP is at the forefront of the development debate and contributes to the global dialogue in the area of expertise of the GP;
• Ensures timely flow and capture of knowledge and expertise so that clients receive the highest quality support and knowledge they need, when and where they need it;
• Promotes innovative and cross-cutting research, as well as the dissemination of technical and experiential knowledge and learning;
• Instills a culture of evidence-based, yet client tailored engagement for highest development impact.
Resource Management:
• In consultation with relevant stakeholders within the WBG, decides on the best use of internal and external resources for maximum client and developmental impact;
• Is accountable for delivering the agreed upon work program through cost-effective use of resources (human and budget) within the agreed parameters and in compliance with internal controls and policies, and ensures timely delivery and overall quality of the GP’s outputs.
Communication:
•  Development and representation of the GP “brand”;
•  Effective communication to various audiences, including key stakeholders, clients, beneficiaries, general public, internal and external partners.

Desired Skills and Experience

 • Recognized expert within WBG or among one or more of the following: academia, partners, private sector actors, and policymakers, and with track record of applying practice know-how and effective policy dialogue to achieve development results.
• Demonstrated in-depth experience working across practice and disciplinary boundaries, and with multiple stakeholders – both public and private – in building collaborative alliances for results.
• Strong written and oral communication skills with proven experience in dealing with the media, external constituencies and expert groups.
• Masters or PhD degree in relevant field (e.g. Engineering, Law, Procurement, Finance, Business, Public Administration), and typically the successful candidate will have 12-15 years of relevant experience in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility.
• Deep technical knowledge and experience in complex procurement activities and deep understanding and familiarity with the broader governance and public sector agenda. 
• Demonstrated intellectual leadership and ability to influence the design and execution of major policy and/or research initiatives; conceive, develop and promote innovations in Bank and clients procurement policies to improve operational work across sectors/sub-sectors impacting countries, groups of countries and regions. 
• Demonstrated ability to lead procurement initiatives at the regional, country, sector level to establish frameworks and approaches to knowledge dissemination and/or development of knowledge products.
• Ability to balance fiduciary oversight mandate with focus on institutional strengthening and capacity building and dialogue with clients at the country level.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in race, gender, nationality, culture, and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

For further details and to apply, please go to www.worldbank.org/careers and under “current job openings” seek vacancy number 150818. Deadline for applications May 18, 2015.