E T Consultant
Job #:
req39111
Organization:
World Bank
Sector:
Water/Sanitation
Grade:
EC3
Term Duration:
1 year 0 months
Recruitment Type:
Local Recruitment
Location:
Washington, DC,United States
Required Language(s):
English
Preferred Language(s):
Closing Date:
11/4/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Background
The World Bank Water Global Practice supports client countries and regional institutions to strengthen water security and resilience, and the sustainable management of shared water resources. The Senior Water Specialist (ETC) will provide operational, analytical, partnership, and knowledge support across a portfolio of regional programs in Eastern and Southern Africa, and in Central Asia, with a particular focus on the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA) program, the 2030 Water Resources Group (2030 WRG), the Regional Climate Resilience Program (RCRP), and the Cubango-Okavango River Basin: Financing Innovation in Transboundary Waters (CORB-FIT) program.
2030 WRG is a World Bank-administered multi-donor trust fund that advances water security through public-private collaboration. It brings together government, business, and civil society to frame choices, build partnerships, test innovative market, technology, and financing models, and help translate water challenges into scalable and investable solutions across Water for People, Water for Food, and Water for Planet. Flagship areas of WRG's work include scaling water reuse, farmer-led sustainable irrigation, and water-secure cities, with cross-cutting themes including digital innovation and finance mobilization.
CIWA is a multi-donor partnership that advances cooperative management and development of transboundary waters in Sub-Saharan Africa through information, institutions, and investments. In Eastern and Southern Africa, CIWA support helps strengthen river basin organizations, develop investable programs, mainstream resilience and social inclusion, and connect upstream analytics and institutional support to World Bank financing.
RCRP is a regional platform designed to strengthen resilience to water-related climate impacts through an "infrastructure plus" approach that combines resilient infrastructure with hydrometeorological services and early warning, institutional capacity, regional coordination, community engagement, and adaptive social protection. The program currently includes five countries and three regional organisations (Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, SADC, ENTRO, and AUC) and is expected to continue expanding through additional financing and future phases, including potential support in the Zambezi basin.
CORB-FIT supports innovative financing for the Cubango-Okavango River Basin and the long-term sustainability of the CORB Fund established under OKACOM. The program combines seed capitalization, resource mobilization, development of a pipeline of nature-positive investments, and strengthened governance and institutional systems, with the objective of crowding in public, private, and climate finance for basin protection, biodiversity, resilient livelihoods, and sustainable development.
Objective of the Assignment
The objective of the assignment is twofold:
I. The ETC will support 2030 WRG's program in Central Asia, with a focus on advancing private-sector engagement and investment in the water sector. This will include supporting analytical work, identifying and developing bankable opportunities, designing innovative financing and public-private collaboration models, and helping develop private sector-led solutions and investment pipelines in selected Central Asian countries. The ETC will also help connect WRG engagements to World Bank operations and broader country water sector priorities.
II. The ETC will provide senior-level technical, operational, and analytical support across regional water programs in Eastern and Southern Africa, including CIWA, RCRP, and CORB-FIT. This will involve supporting the design and implementation of water security, resilience, and transboundary water initiatives; contributing to operational delivery and analytical activities; supporting partnerships, trust fund and knowledge management; and helping task teams develop and implement high-quality operations and programs.
Scope of Work and Responsibilities
A. Support to the 2030 Water Resources Group program
• Support collaboration between World Bank operational teams and 2030 WRG country and thematic engagements, with a particular focus on Central Asia, helping connect WRG activities to World Bank operations and broader water sector priorities.
• Support analytical work and market assessments to identify constraints, opportunities, and enabling conditions for private-sector participation in the water sector, and help develop country-specific pipelines of bankable investments and private sector-led models.
• Identify and assess opportunities for private-sector innovation, financing, technology, and service-delivery models in water for food,people, and planet, including but not limited to irrigation modernization, water reuse, utility performance, digital water solutions, and resilient water infrastructure. Help structure multi-stakeholder platforms conveening government, businesses, financiers, development partners, and civil society, and translate diagnostics and analyses into prioritized, implementable, and investable initiatives with a focus on private capital mobilization and private sector participation.
• Contribute to concept development, market sounding, partnership mapping, private-sector engagement strategies, and innovative financing approaches, including blended finance, results-based financing, and other mechanisms to mobilize private investment,in coordination with relevant World Bank Group teams.
• Support monitoring, reporting, knowledge products, and dissemination of innovative and scalable models that can be replicated through World Bank Group operations and other financing mechanisms.
B. Support to the CIWA program and regional analytics
• Support implementation and strategic development of CIWA activities in Eastern and Southern Africa, with emphasis on climate-resilient transboundary water management, regional public goods, basin institutions, biodiversity, gender and social inclusion, and fragile contexts.
• Help link CIWA-financed analytics, institutional support, capacity building, and convening to investment pipelines, including RCRP operations, OKACOM/CORB-FIT activities, and potential follow-on regional financing.
• Provide support to the development and implementation of the Water Resources Management/Water for Planet Strategy for the AFE region, including alignment with Water for People and Water for Food strategies and considerations.
• Provide support on analytical tasks under the Pan-African Pasa including collating material, supporting with discrete analysis as well as other analytical tasks.
• Support the Pan-African PASA team with organization of stakeholder engagements and outreach.
C. Support to the AFE Operations, including the RCRP and CORB-FIT
• Provide technical and operational support to implementation of RCRP country and regional operations, and the CORB-FIT, including review of work plans, procurement-related technical documents, consultant outputs, implementation progress, and regional coordination arrangements.
• Support task team dialogue and knowledge exchange with SADC, the African Union, ENTRO, participating governments, and other regional organizations.
• Participate in missions and implementation-support activities and contribute to BTORs, aide-memoires, management briefings, follow-up matrices, and technical notes.
• Support preparation of additional financing and future RCRP phases, including RCRP-3, with particular attention to the Zambezi basin and opportunities related to storage, dam safety, hydromet and early warning, catchment resilience, water allocation, and regional cooperation.
• Support the capitalization and operational strengthening of the CORB Fund, including institutional readiness, governance, monitoring, resource-mobilization, and engagement with riparian countries and international partners.
• Support monitoring and communication of program results, learning, -resilience outcomes, and links between regional analytics, institutional strengthening, infrastructure investment, and last-mile community impacts.
• Help strengthen coordination among OKACOM, the CORB Fund, riparian governments, CIWA, RCRP, GEF partners, and relevant World Bank Group teams, and document lessons that can inform financing models for other transboundary basins.
D. Cross-cutting operational and technical support
• Provide senior technical advice on resilience, water security, transboundary water resources management, and nature-positive development across the assigned portfolio.
• Review and contribute to project concept notes, Project Appraisal Documents, implementation documents, restructuring papers, additional-financing packages, terms of reference, technical reports, monitoring frameworks, and consultant deliverables.
• Support project preparation and implementation, including missions, client dialogue, implementation planning, risk identification, portfolio monitoring, and follow-up of agreed actions.
• Ensure that operations and analytics appropriately reflect resilience outcomes, gender and social inclusion, biodiversity, fragility considerations, and links to the World Bank Water Strategy and Water for Planet objectives.
• Coordinate inputs across technical specialists, country teams, regional institutions, development partners, consultants, and other World Bank Global Practices and institutions, as required.
• Contribute to donor reporting, trust-fund management, results reporting, fundraising proposals, briefings, presentations, and management updates.
• Develop practical knowledge products, guidance, learning activities, and communications that translate operational experience into scalable approaches.
Expected Deliverables
• Timely technical comments and written inputs to project documents, terms of reference, consultant deliverables, operational packages, and management briefings.
• Mission inputs, aide-memoires, BTORs, decision notes, action trackers, and implementation follow-up, as required.
• Inputs to CIWA, 2030 WRG, RCRP, and CORB-FIT work plans, results frameworks, donor reports, trust-fund updates, presentations, and funding proposals.
Deliverables will be planned and sequenced through the annual work program. Specific outputs and timelines may be adjusted by the reporting managers to reflect operational priorities.
Selection Criteria
• Advanced university degree, preferably a Ph.D. or Master's degree, in water resilience, water resources management, international development, environmental management, economics, finance, public policy, or a closely related field.
• At least 8 years of progressively responsible professional experience in water resources management, international development, or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience in the design, preparation, implementation, and monitoring of complex World Bank or comparable multilateral development operations, including familiarity with World Bank operational requirements and procedures.
• Strong experience in Africa is required; experience working across Eastern and Southern Africa and with regional or transboundary institutions is highly desirable.
Experience in Central Asia is highly desirable, including work on water security, sector reform, investment planning, public-private collaboration, or private sector engagement in the water, infrastructure, agriculture, or climate resilience sectors.
• Demonstrated expertise in resilience, including the ability to translate analytical findings into operational design, investment priorities, results frameworks, and implementation support.
• Demonstrated experience advancing private sector participation and investment in the water sector, including experience engaging companies, financial institutions, investors, and business platforms; conducting policy, regulatory, institutional, and financing analysis to inform sector reforms, investment decisions, and private sector engagement strategies; and applying market, technology, public-private partnership, blended-finance, or innovative-finance approaches to water and resilience challenges.
• Experience managing trust funds, donor reporting, partnerships, consultant teams, research, capacity building, and knowledge activities.
• Experience facilitating multi-stakeholder processes and maintaining effective relationships with governments, regional organizations, development partners, civil society, and the private sector.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, communication, and drafting skills, with a demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality outputs under tight timelines and in complex institutional settings.
• Excellent written and spoken English. Additional language skills relevant to Africa, particularly French or Portuguese, would be an advantage.
Competencies
• Strong operational judgment and results orientation.
• Ability to integrate resilience, water, institutional, social, biodiversity, and financing considerations.
• Capacity to work independently while contributing effectively to diverse, geographically dispersed teams.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, anticipate implementation risks, and propose practical solutions.
• Strong partnership, facilitation, and client-enga
