E T Consultant

Contract

This is a World Bank Group grade: EC2 contract. More about World Bank Group grade: EC2 contracts.

E T Consultant

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org

The South Asia Region Context

The South Asia Region comprises eight countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) that range in size from India (with a population of over 1 billion) to Maldives (with 0.3 million people). The region has experienced a long period of robust economic growth, averaging 6% a year over the past 20 years. It was the second-fastest growing region in the world in the aftermath of the global crisis. This strong growth has translated into declining poverty and impressive improvements in human development. The percentage of people living below the poverty line fell in South Asia from 56% to 16% between 1981 and 2013. Still, the region remains home to a third of the world’s poorest, with 216 million people living below $1.9/day.

The South Asia Region: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/sar

The World Bank Group (WBG) supports the Sustainable Energy for All initiative and is committed to working towards accomplishing the initiative's three goals by 2030: i) universal access to electricity and clean cooking fuels; ii) doubling the share of the world's energy supplied by renewable sources from 18 percent to 36 percent, and iii) doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency.

The Infrastructure Practice Group is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. As part of the Infrastructure Practice Group, the Energy & Extractives (EEX) Global Practice (GP) focuses on providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to meet the needs of fast-growing economies, ensure universal access to modern energy services for people in client countries, strengthen policy and institutional frameworks to promote transparent and equitable growth of the extractives sectors for public benefit. There is a strong emphasis on private sector resource mobilization and catalyzing financing from commercial and other sources of development and climate finance.

UNIT CONTEXT

The World Bank’s South Asia Region (SAR) Energy Unit contributes to addressing the challenges of sector reform, transitioning to a clean, low carbon energy system, and the continuing need for modernization and expansion through its strong lending and knowledge management program in the region. The SAR Energy Unit manages a large and diverse portfolio of active projects in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The SAR Energy Program has grown rapidly in the last few years with a portfolio of more than US$9 billion and expected annual lending of more than US$1 billion going forward.

The SAR Energy Unit’s engagements in the region cover reforms (sector and corporate governance, energy security and the environment, regional energy trade, public-private partnerships, energy efficiency), and investment support in power generation, power and gas transmission and distribution, rural energy electrification, renewable energy development, and low-carbon and climate friendly initiatives. A particular area of growth has been investments in power systems and electricity transmission and distribution networks, renewable energy systems, including hydropower, and policy reforms in the power sector, with sizeable activities and a strong pipeline of projects in several countries.

The SAR energy program uses a variety of instruments, including investment lending, guarantees for public private partnerships, program for results and development policy lending. In addition, the team manages a strong knowledge agenda, supported by a large trust fund portfolio, to inform the policy dialogue in the sector.

PAKISTAN PROGRAM

Energy is the largest segment of the overall Pakistan lending portfolio, comprising $3.8 billion across nine projects, with a strong pipeline focusing on policy reforms, demand-side energy efficiency, renewable energy, and transmission & distribution. The portfolio contains globally significant investments in new hydropower capacity, two major projects financing transmission system expansion, a solar project in Sindh, a new project targeting the distribution sector, and the first of a series of energy sector DPLs titled Program for Affordable & Clean Energy (PACE). The Pakistan Country Climate & Development Report (CCDR), due to be published by the end of 2023, places the transition to sustainable energy as a key priority, with recommendations across five pillars: i) displacing fossil fuels through renewable energy and related investments; ii) improving supply-side efficiency, including sector reform and greater private sector participation in the distribution sector; iii) a greater focus on demand-side efficiency, which has been neglected for many years in Pakistan; iv) industrial and transport sector decarbonization; and v) ensuring just transitions, including closing the remaining gap on energy access and efforts to retrain those whose jobs will be threatened by the transition. The team envisages the lending portfolio evolving across these five pillars, including diversification away from a sole focus on the power sector recognizing that electricity makes up just 17% of total energy consumption. While federal projects will continue to be important, the team also expects to see a shift towards greater provincial lending, recognizing the important role of the provinces in energy sector delivery and reform. The team’s Analytical Services & Advisory (ASA) portfolio is anchored under the Pakistan Sustainable Energy Program, a multi-year programmatic ASA activity with a cumulative budget of over $2 million in grant funding from various WBG trust funds. This includes 20 deliverables (of which 11 are yet to be completed), and the team publishes around 1-2 high-profile studies per year in addition to policy notes and more technical studies.

Duties & Accountabilities

The South Asia Energy unit seeks an Energy Specialist, based in Islamabad, with good prior experience working in the energy sector in Pakistan, to join a dynamic team of energy sector professionals split roughly equally between HQ in Washington, DC, and the Country Office.

The selected candidate’s primary responsibilities will be to support the wider team in providing advice to the Government on energy policy and strategy, support project preparation and delivery, and lead on one or more analytical work streams as part of our technical assistance program to the government and our client agencies. The candidate will work closely with energy team members based in Islamabad, Washington, and other Bank country offices; and is expected to travel within Pakistan frequently in carrying out her/his duties.

The responsibilities of the selected candidate will include:

• Supporting the active policy dialogue with the government, public agencies, development partners, and other stakeholders on strategic energy issues and reforms, underpinned by the ongoing PACE engagement; • Providing analytical inputs and preparing briefings to help inform our analytics and advice, including for externals and internal audiences; • Supporting the identification, preparation and implementation of new lending operations in Pakistan, working with the respective task team leads (TTLs) or co-TTLs; • Playing an active role in delivering the energy team’s Analytical Services & Advisory (ASA) work program, including leading at least one ASA deliverable; this work is likely to involve carrying out procurement of consultancy inputs, supervising the appointed consultants, ensuring client engagement, briefing colleagues, organizing stakeholder consultation events, preparing outputs for publication, dissemination activities, and reporting back to development partners; • Supporting the team in applying for, and reporting against, trust fund resources to support our ASA work; • Coordinating and/or taking part in client capacity building opportunities such as study tours, seminars, and conferences; • Playing an active role within the Pakistan Energy Team, including participation in team meetings, social events, and incoming missions; • Ensuring a close and constructive relationship with the Pakistan Country Management Unit (CMU), including participation in meetings, briefings, and office events; • Supporting the team’s outreach to development partners, academia, think tanks, and civil society organizations, including participation in workshops, panel events, and other opportunities to represent the World Bank and/or present our work or position; • Maintaining a strong working relationship with IFC and MIGA colleagues working on the Pakistan energy sector, including participation in regular update meetings and liaison with individual staff on issues of mutual interest; • Contributing to knowledge management activities within Pakistan, in the South Asia region and within the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice that will enhance understanding, knowledge, and experience on energy sector issues, and disseminate knowledge generated from energy sector interventions in Pakistan; • Providing inputs to operational products and outputs, including for sector and country briefings and ad hoc requests by senior management, analytical and advisory services reports, portfolio performance and monitoring reviews, and liaison with the Practice Manager, Program Lead, and Country Management Unit on energy issues.

Selection Criteria

1. Master’s degree or higher in engineering, energy planning, economics, business administration, finance or other energy related field. 2. At least 5 years of relevant experience in public policy, government, the private sector, or in a development organization in Pakistan, with demonstrated track record of analytical and advisory work relating to Pakistan’s energy sector. 3. Good understanding of preparing and implementing energy infrastructure projects with multilateral banks, bilateral agencies or the private sector with a demonstrated track record in energy operations in at least one of the following areas: utility financial and governance reforms, utility reforms involving public-private partnerships, transmission and distribution, energy efficiency, energy access, and renewable energy development. 4. Exposure to energy sector policy dialogue in government, industry and other energy sector stakeholders. 5. Demonstrated track record of building and maintaining networks and relationships. 6. High level of energy, initiative and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements. 7. Consistent track record of teamwork and ability to produce high-quality results and outputs with minimal supervision. 8. Excellent interpersonal skills and proven ability to build strong partnerships with clients and colleagues across units and departmental boundaries in a multi-cultural environment with virtual teams located in different locations. 9. Experience of energy modeling in Microsoft Excel or other modeling software 10. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, ability to effectively communicate complex issues in simple terms and to engage in evidence-based dialogue with clients. 11. Proficiency in spoken and written English and Urdu.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

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Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.