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.

Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS) plays a pivotal role in achieving the World Bank Group’s mission. OPCS assists frontline staff in delivering results to clients through sound operations policy and strong country support. In the World Bank Group structure, OPCS is at the center of operations and delivery, and serves as the link between the Global Practices and the Regions. OPCS develops and oversees the Bank’s operational policies for country strategies, lending operations, Advisory services and analytical support, financial management, procurement, and environmental and social safeguards. It oversees the Bank Group’s Corporate Scorecard, manages interactions with the Bank’s oversight units; and co-leads the results measurement and evaluation stream in the Bank Group. OPCS teams provide advice and support to World Bank management and staff as well as hands-on assistance to help teams leverage the Bank’s policies, processes, and risk management tools for our country clients. Working in OPCS helps World Bank professionals gain broad exposure to strategic operational issues and develop a deeper understanding of the Bank’s business. OPCS’s staff are organized in four departments:
• Operations Standards, Environment and Social (OPSEI) is responsible for Environmental and Social Standards and Safeguard Policies, including support to operations, learning and training, knowledge management, reporting, interface with the Inspection Panel, and management of the Grievance Redress Service (GRS).
• Operations Standards, Procurement, Financial Management (OPSPF) is responsible for ensuring technical excellence in the financial management and procurement and manages selected aspects of the anticorruption in operations agenda and the UN agencies engagement in operation program.
• Operations Policy and Quality (OPSPQ) consolidates the corporate support and oversight of country strategies and all financing instruments as well as managing operational learning and the Operations Help Desk.
• Operations Strategy, Risk, and Results (OPSRR) supports Bank staff and Management in strengthening the focus on results and risk to achieve the Bank’s strategic objectives.

BACKGROUND

The heightened global awareness around racial injustice and institutional racism underscores the need to address more explicitly the structural inequalities that make it difficult for some groups to benefit from and contribute fully to development partnerships. Racial discrimination adversely impacts development, poverty reduction, and economic growth, and the global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these losses. Certain racial or ethnic groups face persistent and deep challenges in accessing basic services and economic opportunities and exercising their voice, which drives inequality and poverty traps. Unless the root causes of structural discrimination are addressed, sustainable, inclusive growth and rapid poverty reduction will be compromised. Eliminating the conditions that limit the full inclusion of racially discriminated populations will make societies more inclusive, just, and resilient.
The World Bank is intensifying its support to build more inclusive and equitable societies, especially for the most disadvantaged or vulnerable people and groups. The challenge Bank task teams face is that racial discrimination most often manifests itself in less obvious, structural ways that have direct social and economic consequences for racial or ethnic groups but require concerted measures to identify and address. More specifically, both Borrowers and Bank teams often do not have adequate analytic tools, data, or ‘entry points’ to integrate anti-discrimination mechanisms into operational work and to address more fundamental conditions that enable and sustain discrimination. OPCS (Operational Policy & Country Services) is seeking a Race Global Lead /Advisor for the World Bank to build an analytical and operational approach to addressing racial discrimination – broadly defined to include exclusion based on race, ethnicity, and related social distinctions.
As an institution driven by evidence and knowledge, the Bank’s entry points will be defined by robust analysis and data on race and racial discrimination, drawing on its projects, programs, and Advisory work.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES 

The Advisor is accountable for performing the responsibilities, modeling the behaviors, and maintaining the competencies (listed below) in her or his capacity as a member of OPCS. Accountability means being answerable for achieving results, managing quality, risks, and institutional initiatives, and helping to ensure compliance with Bank policies and procedures.

This position mapped to OPCS will work closely with the Regional Management Teams, the Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Unit, and Task Team Leaders from across the World Bank’s Verticals to:
• Provide effective and strategic leadership to OPCS on race, racial discrimination, and structural inequality. Link the work on race, racial discrimination, and structural inequality to ongoing efforts at the Bank including to the new Evolution Roadmap in practically applicable way.
• Lead the Bank’s strategic dialogue and engagement in anti-racism and inclusion with our clients and key stakeholders. In addition, strengthen the Bank’s intellectual and operational leadership in the field by applying relevant Bank policies, such as the Environmental and Social Framework, and collating and disseminating good practices in the Bank and globally.
• Advise Regional and Management Teams on race and racial discrimination by sensitizing and assisting in developing policy direction related to anti-racism and structural inequality.
• Engage teams in developing the Bank’s Country Partnership Strategies, Systematic Country Diagnostics, and other operational instruments to advise ways that senior regional and operational leadership can expand more racially inclusive practices in operations and better address structural inequality.
• Help establish criteria and an operational results framework for monitoring the outcomes of the Bank’s work on racial discrimination and structural inequality. Use a race lens and conduct assessments based on those criteria to evaluate performance over time.
• Lead a working group to put into action and monitor the recommendations made by that group on race in operations as part of phase two of the Antiracism Task Force.  Develop strategic activities, including generating and disseminating knowledge on race and development to Bank staff and external audiences, including sponsoring research and training activities.
• Lead OPCS interaction and work with other institutional efforts to address anti-racism and structural inequality in Bank operations, in collaboration with the Social Inclusion Global Lead and the Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities (IPEM) Coordinator, as well as the Human Rights, Inclusion, and Empowerment Umbrella program.
• Represent the Bank at international conferences on race and anti-racism and play a role in policy dialogue for new clients, businesses, and established major borrowers.
• Conceptualize, plan, and organize a Forum on Race in International Development in FY26.
• Mobilize trust fund resources to support new and innovative work on race and racial discrimination in Bank products.
• Prepare corporate briefs, notes, and other material on racial inclusion and structural inequalities.
• Provide cross-support to regional task teams and Country Management Units.

REPORTING

The Advisor will report directly to the Director of OPSEI. 

Selection Criteria

The candidate could come from academia, think tank or relevant operational institution, and should offer strong analytical skills, experience working on the ground in developing countries, and experience engaging in the broader policy dialogue and debate on addressing racism.
• A Ph.D. in the social sciences, law, or similar relevant subject to race, broad anti-discrimination work, 12 years of directly relevant Bank or external experience, or Masters’ degree and 15 years of directly relevant experience.
• In-depth knowledge of and demonstrated intellectual leadership in race and anti-racism work globally and an established record of innovative research with networks to think tanks, the private sector, and NGOs.
• Demonstrated high-level capacity to develop strategies on racial inclusion in policy and programmatic engagement.
• Evidence of strategic capacity to position race and structural discrimination most effectively in client government programs and policy dialogue.
• Demonstrated ability to share knowledge and experience, identify and disseminate good practices, and work effectively in a team setting and across organizational, cultural, and national boundaries.
• Demonstrated evidence-based analytical research publications and other outputs on vulnerable groups, including race.
• Experience and/or substantive exposure to recent developments in race and anti-racism as a development issue.
• Sound knowledge of relevant international and regional legal frameworks and norms for addressing racial discrimination.
• Proven analytical skills, including capacity to conduct high quality quantitative and qualitative analysis.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, particularly ability to effectively dialogue with and relate to clients and stakeholders. Highly developed communication and leadership skills.
• Ability to operate under pressure, to deliver high-quality work within deadlines, and meet team objectives.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English; additional official languages (French, Spanish) of the Bank is desirable.

TECHNICAL & BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCIES 

• In Depth Knowledge and Analytical Skills – Possesses a record of accomplishment of intellectual leadership and ability to integrate economic-specific knowledge and specific micro/sector fields of expertise; provides quality assurance and assesses technical soundness of work/reports.
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena – Influences the design and execution of major policy and/or research initiatives; conceives and promotes innovations in development policies, project design, organization, and management to improve operational and sector work.
• Policy Dialogue Skills – Has a record of accomplishment of conducting effective policy dialogue with country counterparts; communicates and defends difficult issues and positions to senior bank management and government officials.
• Integrative Skills – Able to think strategically and horizontally to integrate race and inequality across technical specializations.
• Client Orientation – Translates insight into practice across disciplines, hierarchies, geographies, and organizational units in service of clients.
• Drive for Results – Ensures successful implementation and delivery of key programs and projects, ensuring that outputs positively impact results.
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion – Creates a team climate of practical and innovative action.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

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