Senior Operations Officer

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. Visit www.worldbank.org

The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions and fifteen Global Practices and five Global Themes to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.

Western and Central Africa (AFW) Region 

We need the best and brightest talent focused on Sub-Saharan African countries to harness the potential and innovation happening across the continent. Africa is a continent on the move, with a young population and a growing market of nearly 1.2bn people. We are committed to making the Africa regional teams into leading innovation hubs. Yet, these vast opportunities are tempered by persistent gaps in education, health, and skills, which have Africa only reaching forty percent of its estimated potential. Moreover, conflict, food insecurity, population growth, and the disruptive forces of climate change threaten to curtail or even reverse the progress that has been made over the past decades. 
In West and Central Africa, the World Bank is a leading partner with a growing portfolio of 387 projects totaling more than $44.1 billion in areas such as agriculture, trade and transport, energy, education, health, water, and sanitation- all to support job creation, gender equality, poverty reduction, and better lives. Across the continent, the World Bank’s program has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. By 2030, about 87% of the world’s extreme poor are projected to live in Sub-Saharan Africa, so this is where our mission to end extreme poverty and to promote shared prosperity will be achieved. 
Are you ready to make an impact? We are looking for dedicated professionals to join our innovative and diverse team.  https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/western-and-central-africa

Country Management Unit Context

The Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone Country Management Unit brings together a challenging set of countries in a region facing significant economic and social development needs and presenting strong opportunities for investment and economic development. The Country Unit manages a large portfolio of close to US$7 billion. Built on increasing integration with IFC and MIGA and close cooperation with client governments, country and regional programs are innovative and multi-faceted, providing strong opportunities for engagement with clients, other stakeholders, and sectoral and corporate units across the World Bank Group. The SOO will serve as the key driver of a cross CMU operations team, under the guidance of the OM.

Duties and accountabilities:

The Senior Operations Officer (SOO) will have the primary responsibility of supporting the Operations Manager (OM) in ensuring the performance of the World Bank portfolio in Ghana, including ensuring the Ghana program’s strategic alignment with the CPF, its pipeline delivery, portfolio quality, trust funds and analytical program (ASA).

The Senior Operations Officer will work under the supervision and guidance of the Operations Manager and play a leadership role in the CMU Operations team   She/he will work in close cooperation with the other members of the CMU management team, CMU staff and the entire Ghana country team.  Her/his interaction and collaboration with Fiduciary and Safeguards colleagues is expected to be frequent and close with the aim to generate a high level of quality, integration and consistency across and within the portfolio. More specifically (s)he will:

· Coordinate AWCW1 country work program with the CMU management team, Global Practices (GPs), other Bank units and internal partners such as IFC, MIGA and IEG, as required. 

· Work with the OM and the AWCW1 Operations team, and where needed, with CMs and operations teams in Liberia and SIerra Leone to monitor and analyze the work program, maintain portfolio and operational performance, identify quality challenges and trends, and work with procurement and financial management to address bottlenecks.  The SOO will be expected to contribute substantially to problem resolution with task teams and to push teams to early resolution and action where operational issues arise.

· Make substantive contributions to country and sector strategies, lending and non-lending work programs; help ensure that country engagement help address fragility risks, including through a greater regional approach; play a key role in the formulation and implementation of the Ghana CPF (an drafting of the upcoming CPF) (including producing Performance/Completion and Learning Reviews - PLRs/CLRs), and assess sector and thematic issues in relationship with the broader country developments and strategic engagement of the WBG.

· Coordinate, prepare or assist with the preparation of briefs and presentations, including for high-level visiting missions, special events, conferences and IMF-WB Annual and Spring Meetings; and oversee or assist with drafting or reviewing operational correspondence, including responses to official external queries.

· Serve as a liaison, coordination and integration point for the extended country team; provide guidance and advice on operational priorities and strategies as needed; help foster teamwork and cross-sectoral cooperation on program preparation and implementation; contribute to country team meetings and activities; 

· Provide guidance or support for the dialogue with country counterparts, as needed, and help support coordination among Development Partners In Ghana.  Assist in country program management, including business planning and work program preparation, WPA budget allocation, monitoring of work program and budget implementation, quarterly reviews and progress reporting.

· Support the Operations team members (officers, analysts, and assistants) through knowledge sharing and mentoring.