World Bank
Background
Addressing issues related to Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) is critical for the World Bank Group (WGB)’s twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner.
The demand for WBG expertise and operational engagement on FCV has increased over the last years, and it is expected to further grow in the period to come. The challenge for the WBG is to maximize the impact of its engagement on FCV issues, by: (i) mainstreaming and scaling up FCV programs across the WBG; (ii) ensuring quality and impact, including by developing new, evidenced-based business models where needed; and (iii) leveraging partnerships with other development, humanitarian organization and stakeholders. The FCV Group aims to steer and drive the FCV agenda within the WBG, and to ensure consistency, complementarity, and synergies in approaches across the WBG.
Resilience is a term that has gained increased traction and popularity in recent years amongst the policy community that deals with FCV. Yet, while the concept of resilience has matured in disciplines as diverse as psychology, the physical sciences, engineering, disaster management (including food security and drought), and climate change adaptation – its conceptual clarity with regards to FCV is still comparatively nascent. This is particularly problematic for the FCV community, as one that is primarily focused on impacting dynamics at the country-level, the hurdle of conceptual clarity has even wider implications – as the lack of a structured way to think about and approach resilience not only hinders the accurate assessment of it within diagnostics, but then also the ability to practically apply this understanding to operations, thereby preventing more meaningful progress on supporting it.
This knowledge gap has become more evident as the term itself has become more widely used, within the World Bank and throughout the FCV Strategy, thus continuing to expose itself to different interpretations and assumptions, highlighting the need for a deeper, more comprehensive, and shared understanding from both analytic and practical angles.
Objective
FCV Group has begun a research project to help fill this existing knowledge gap and to develop a more systematic approach to resilience across RRAs and other analytics, as well as the Bank’s work more broadly, to strengthen our understanding of and offer on resilience in FCV contexts. The project will explore themes and questions divided into three areas that range from the structural conceptualization of resilience to, more operationally, what this means for the way that the World Bank approaches the identification of resilience in diagnostics, and recommendations for informing country strategies and programming.
Activities and Deliverables
The team is currently looking for qualified candidates who can support the development of the necessary components of the project, providing both research and project/administrative support. Examples of expected activities include:
- Prepare a comprehensive literature review on the topic of resilience and FCV, taking into account both academic and policy research
- Participate in internal and external stakeholder consultations, prepare minutes, and ensure that ideas from these consultations are well captured and summarized
- Support the team in developing a Concept Note
- Prepare an overview mapping of existing resilience activities, projects, and programs within the Bank and of key development partners
- Contribute to research and methodological development, including of the analytic framework and case studies
- Prepare and participate in meetings, prepare periodic updates, as needed, and provide general assignment and drafting support
Administrative Arrangements
The consultant will work under the supervision of the RRA Secretariat, based in FCV Group. The consultant will be home-based.
Timing and Resources
The selected consultant will be contracted for an initial period of 30 days (trial period), with the possibility of extension, up to 150 days. The WBG will pay a competitive salary based on previous experience. The consultant will start his/her work as soon as the contract is issued.
Qualifications and Selection Criteria
- Advanced university degree in a relevant subject (economics, public policy, international development, social sciences, or administration)
- Minimum of 5 years’ experience in undertaking research and data collection and analysis in/on FCV countries/issues (or equivalent combination of work experience and education)
- Knowledge of both academic and practical research pertaining to challenges related to FCV, as well as familiarity with main data sources, databases, and other research hubs that cover relevant FCV topics
- Familiarity with stakeholder engagement, consultation processes and field research
- Ability to prioritize, summarize and synthesize large amounts of complex information
- Strong project management experience, organizational skills, the ability to multitask and to manage the delivery of assignments within sometimes tight deadlines
- Demonstrated research and drafting skills, including capacity to write clearly and concisely
- Superior writing and communication skills in English with working knowledge of French and/or Spanish, desired
How to apply
To apply, interested candidates should send their resumes and a brief (no longer than one-page) motivation letter to [email protected] by October 24 (COB). The subject line of the email should be “Application for STC Position: Resilience and FCV”.
Only successful candidates will be contacted.