African Development Bank Group Vacancy for Chief Environmental and Social Compliance Officer

⏲ Nov 20, 2017, 6:37 PM
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African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2013 - 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa. We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below: Job Title: Chief Environmental and Social Compliance Officer, SNSC Reference: ADB/17/484 Location: Côte d’Ivoire Grade: PL3 Position N°: 50001179 The Complex

The Senior Vice-Presidency (SNVP) is responsible for supporting the President in the day-to-day management of the Bank Group to achieve its strategic objective and drive performance culture that will align all processes and systems to deliver high impact results.
The SNVP provides effective leadership and exceptional coordination to ensure implementation and monitoring of key corporate decisions as well as the identification of necessary corrective measures and actions.
The SNVP leads senior management discussions, decision-making processes and the implementation of key Board and Management decisions.

The Hiring Department

Located within the SNVP Complex, the Environmental and Social Safeguards and Compliance Department is responsible for mainstreaming environmental and social development considerations into Bank financed operations in the public and private sectors through the implementation of the Integrated Safeguard System (ISS).
The Department will provide cross-sector E&S operational support to all operations in the regions in conducting the necessary E&S due diligence and implementation support across all stages of the project development cycle.
The Department will also design and/or provide capacity building support to ensure that all of the Bank’s projects and programmes are not only compliant with the ISS but also enhance opportunities for the sustainability of Environment and Social development outcomes.

The Position

The Chief Environmental and Social Compliance Officer will work under the general supervision and guidance of the Safeguards and Compliance Director and is primarily responsible for leading the Department’s efforts to provide policy and strategic support, capacity building, development of knowledge products and dissemination, coordination of safeguards and sustainability partnership and networks as well as in other non-operational activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Contribute to the development and revision of policies, strategies, guidelines, formats/manuals, tools and procedures, in particular the ISS in order to provide Bank staff, Regional offices and RMC clients with the ability to quickly assess and recommend measures to address environmental safeguards issues in projects and programmes.
Contribute to the review and update of Bank’s policies and strategies to mainstream environmental and social sustainability into bank operations;
Provide expert leadership for the development and implementation of best practices and innovative approaches related to sustainability and risk management.
Coordinate strategic partnerships and networks with other entities such as the UN Agencies, Bilateral and Multilateral Agencies, including MDBs.
Provide strategic guidance and close liaison with the team managing the Integrated Safeguard System.
Identify and prioritize knowledge needs of the Department; leading and providing oversight to the development of knowledge products in the Safeguards and Sustainability Series and the collection of lessons learned.
Establish and implement quality assurance process for knowledge products and their management.
Develop and implement capacity building program for the Bank, RMCs and executing agencies, key stakeholders, and staff, through e-learning modules, workshops, etc.
Contribute to knowledge sharing and harmonization efforts through conferences, external knowledge management publications and others.
Provide environmental inputs required to provide appropriate and timely management responses to complaints lodged with the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (BCRM)/Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) and ensure subsequent follow up on a regular basis.
Oversee the preparation of management responses to audit, independent evaluation, compliance and review mechanism, etc.
Perform other duties assigned by the Director.

Selection Criteria Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

Hold at least a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Natural Science, Environmental Economics; Ecology or related discipline.
A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant professional experience, gained in international organizations or Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). More than five (5) years are required in the area of environmental policy work and practical experience of safeguards implementation.
Achieving results and problem solving - (e.g. consistently seeks more effective and practical ways for the Departmental delivery of services, products, and processes, Proposes new ways to improve the quality and relevance of products and services).
Strong inter-personal skill and ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relations with colleagues.
Knowledge and experience in operationalizing and coordinating the implementation of the ISS through the review and supervision of Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs), Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs), Strategic Environmental and Social Assessments (SESA), Environmental and Social management Framework (ESMF) and Environmental and Social Management Systems (ESMSs), including social aspects of development projects (e.g. health and safety, involuntary resettlement components), operations monitoring and evaluation, and compliance assessment.
Demonstrable knowledge and practice of the operational safeguards policies, procedures and practices of major bilateral and multilateral partner development agencies in regional member countries, particularly with respect to infrastructure projects.
Analytical Tools for Environmental Sustainability - Extensive experience conducting environmental assessments and development of effective tools; ability to coach others in the application of the tools.
Mainstreaming Skills - demonstrated skills in mainstreaming environmental and social, as well climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in lending and non-lending operations.
Communicate and write effectively in English and/or French.
It would be desirable to have a working knowledge of the other language, or even communicate and write effectively both in French and English.
Competence in the use of standard software applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, SAP etc.)