This role involves serving as an Energy Specialist within the World Bank Group, focusing on investment projects, analytical work, and policy guidance across Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific emphasis on Kenya.
Duties and Accountabilities
The selected candidate will have the following key responsibilities:
- As part of project teams, prepare, appraise, negotiate, and supervise energy projects.
- Remain up-to-date with relevant developments in the country and analytical work in the sector.
- Initiate/participate in analytical and strategic work pertaining to the energy sector in East Africa in general and Kenya in particular, including work led by IAEE1 and those led by other practice groups but requiring energy staff input.
- Support the unit’s analytical agenda on improving energy access and services in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Coordinate and follow up with government counterparts and consultants, provide high-quality research and analytical support, including drafting policy notes related to energy.
- Contribute to policy dialogue on energy issues and interactions with clients and partners, and alert management (both country and sector) to issues requiring attention.
- Assume an active role in the Kenya energy team with the aim to ensure adequate and appropriate integration of relevant aspects of the energy development agenda in core Bank products, including the country partnership framework, strategic country diagnostic, country economic memorandum, etc.
- Participate in collaborative and coordination efforts with other donors and partners to optimize complementarities with Bank supported projects and programs.
- Participate in the dialogue with relevant representatives of the private sector to keep abreast of issues related to the business investment climate and identify possible areas of collaboration through public-private-partnerships.
- Draft and provide timely contributions to project documents, project implementation, and project completion reports.
- Support the preparation, completion, and follow-up of official missions including the drafting of aide memoires and official correspondence.
- Draft and provide timely inputs to sector briefings and policy notes.
Selection Criteria and Qualifications
Successful candidates must meet the following criteria:
- Master's degree in engineering, energy planning/economics, sustainable energy, business administration, or equivalent areas relevant for energy sector development.
- At least 5 years of experience in the energy sector in the World Bank, other international institutions and/or companies, government agencies, and/or power sector utilities with a track record of strong performance.
- Understanding of energy policies, regulations, technologies or strategies, private sector participation, and institutional development needed to support development and for the success of project and analytic work.
- Experience in energy access and sector reforms and experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Ability to think strategically, work independently, and multi-task complex projects effectively.
- Ability to develop, analyze, and articulate project issues and to diagnose problems and propose reliable solutions.
- Interest and experience in preparing and organizing high-level technical workshops and meetings.
- Active listening skills, excellent interpersonal skills, able to influence the audience and build positive relationships with clients, different partners, and colleagues across units and departmental boundaries in a multi-cultural environment with dispersed teams located in different countries.
- Excellent oral and written communications skills, including demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with clients and colleagues at different levels of the organization and in a multi-cultural environment.
- Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena: Translate technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies; interacts with clients at the policy level.
- Policy Dialogue Skills: Anticipate needs and requests in the field and conduct independent policy discussions with representatives of the government and non-government partners.
- Integrative Skills: Understand relevant cross-sectoral areas how they are interrelated; able to undertake cross-sectoral work in lending and non-lending operations.
Desirable Experience:
- Experience in working in the off-grid energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa will be considered an added advantage.
- Experience in working in World Bank or other International Financial Institutions (IFIs) lending and non-lending operations is desirable.
