Governance Specialist

World Bank Group

4d•Onsite

About The Position

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership of five institutions driven by a bold vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, we help solve the world’s greatest development challenges. When you join the World Bank Group, you become part of a dynamic, diverse organization with 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide. We work with public and private sector partners, invest in groundbreaking projects, and use data, research, and technology to bring tangible and transformative change around the globe. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org. Climate change will greatly affect the poorest people in the world, who are often hardest hit by weather catastrophes, desertification, and rising sea levels and least able to respond. In some parts of the world, climate change has already contributed to worsening food security, reduced the predictable availability of fresh water, and exacerbated the spread of disease and other threats to human health. Helping the most vulnerable countries and communities adapt to increasing challenges of climate change is an imperative for the international community, requiring significant resources to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The Adaptation Fund is an innovative financing mechanism set up by the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the purpose of financing concrete climate change adaptation projects and programs in developing country Parties. At the request of the COP, the GEF is providing secretariat services to the Adaptation Fund Board (the Board) on an interim basis, through a dedicated team. Since becoming fully operational in 2010, the Board has approved over 190 projects and programs worth more than USD 1.2 billion in over 100 countries. Launched under the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC, the Adaptation Fund has been formally serving the Paris Agreement since 2019. The Adaptation Fund is implementing its second medium term strategy (2023-2027) that rests on the three pillars of adaptation action, innovation and learning/knowledge management. The Adaptation Fund supports country-driven projects and programs, innovation, and global learning for effective adaptation. All of the Adaptation Fund’s activities are designed to build national and local adaptive capacities while reaching and engaging the most vulnerable groups, and to integrate gender consideration to provide equal opportunity to access and benefit from the Fund’s resources. They are also aimed at enhancing synergies with other sources of climate finance, while creating models that can be replicated or scaled up. The Governance Officer will primarily be responsible for developing and coordinating the delivery of the Adaptation Fund’s policy, risk, and legal work for the Secretariat and Board. This involves acting as the main custodian of the Fund’s policies, risk framework, and legal documents, such as grant agreements. The Governance Officer will report to Lead for the Governance and Operations team within the Adaptation Fund Secretariat.

Requirements

Master's degree in law, public policy, or a related field.
At least five years of work experience in coordinating legal and policy work of a similar fund or an international development organization.
Strong overall knowledge of the policy and legal requirements and implications of the institutional arrangements of a fund administratively hosted by the World Bank.
Experience with end-to-end project management of policy work, including the analytical assessment and review, drafting and updating, and implementation of changes to an organization’s policies, including awareness of external stakeholder management, securing internal buy in, and engagement with board level approval processes.
Experience with drafting, interpreting, and guiding internal teams on the application of project legal agreements for the administration of grant funding by external partners.
Experience with negotiating policies and legal agreements.
Experience with analyzing, reviewing, updating, and managing the implementation of an institution wide risk framework, including linkages to the legal, policy, program implementation, and results monitoring functions within an organization.
Experience with the basics of board and committee governance processes and decision making.
Excellent written and spoken English.
Superior analytical, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Basic knowledge of the position of the Adaptation Fund in the international climate finance context.
Experience working with a wide range of external stakeholders, including government officials, development partners, and/or government agencies.
Ability to effectively interact with internal and external clients at all levels in a multicultural environment and to exercise judgment and discretion in dealing with sensitive matters. Ability to communicate technical information understandably and concisely to a nontechnical audience.
Excellent sense of initiative, drive for results and client orientation, coupled with strong planning and organizational skills.

Nice To Haves

Fluency in another official World Bank language would be a plus.

Responsibilities

Participate in all aspects of work to analyze, review, design, and implement Adaptation Fund operational policies and guidelines, including updates to key policies and/or their action plans, such as the Fund’s Environmental and Social Policy, prevention of Sexual Abuse, Harassment, and Exploitation policy, the Operational and Policy Guidelines, Civil Society engagement policy and guidelines, and Gender Policy, working closely with other teams who may own the policy content.
Contribute to the amendment, interpretation, and application of the Fund’s legal agreements used by its grant implementing entities.
Contribute to the review and updating of the Fund’s risk framework.
Provide analysis of and inputs to the application and use of Adaptation Fund policies and project legal agreements by the Fund’s implementing entities.
Participate in the negotiation of the project legal agreements with the Fund’s implementing entities.
Provide analysis of and inputs to the Adaptation Fund’s interface with the UNFCCC, including analysis of decision text of meetings of the Parties as it concerns the Adaptation Fund, the Terms and Conditions of Trustee services and Secretariat services to the Adaptation Fund Board.
Serve as a key first point of response for the Fund’s Ad Hoc Complaint Mechanism in support of the Lead for Governance and Operations and the Head of the Fund.
Perform other duties as required to achieve the role’s objectives.