Senior Social Safeguards Specialist

Job Purpose

The Purpose of this position is to: (i) provide specialized support and expertise to Country Operations Managers, Operational Team Leaders (OTLs), Project Management Specialists and Executing Agencies (EAs) in the Regional Hubs in identifying, mainstreaming and monitoring social safeguard aspects/concerns in Bank operations during the identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation, and completion stages (throughout project lifecycle) through providing social safeguards; (ii) support to the Bank-funded projects and programs and/or integrating positive aspects of social safeguards in both private and public sectors; (iii) ensure incorporation of necessary social safeguards, issues, or components as appropriate and improve projects sustainability and quality-at-entry in the relevant sector; and (iv) assess social safeguard risks and developing appropriate management frameworks, conducting negative social impact assessments, and leading stakeholder consultation processes.

Key Accountabilities

Strategic And Operational Planning And Implementation

• Contribute and participate in project appraisal, design as well as processing and approval process as team member along with relevant regional hub to ensure that social issues have been adequately addressed and that the project is in compliance with the Banks ESS policy.
• Contribute and participate in Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) formulation, country dialogues and engagements with relevant departments at HQ and regional hub.
• Contribute and participate in the development of strategic policies, plans, guidelines, analytics, and other products related to social safeguards and aspects within the Women & Youth Empowerment and civil society engagement practices and with other Global Practices in Director General Global Practices and Partnerships Complex.
• Co-lead Communities of Practice (CoP) relevant to ESS (and more particularly social safeguards) and other social issues including negative impact of gender, social exclusion which entails providing intellectual leadership on positioning the Global Practice (GP) internally and externally in relevant domains.
• Provide advice and guidance on major or sensitive matters relating to social impacts and risks during implementation.
• Lead the global practices work on social safeguards and benefits, identifying staff and learning needs and setting competencies and standards for their global, regional and country-specific solution areas.
• Design adequate mitigation measures address the negative social impact of the Banks interventions.
• Develop and review of social instruments, checklists, guidelines, and tools relevant to the implementation of ES safeguard.
• Lead the delivery of selected global engagement products on social safeguards and co-benefits, and when needed, directly lead and participate in country dialogues and deliverables (child protection, Gender Based Violence (GBV), Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA), social inclusion, land acquisition, compensation and social risk assessments, in addition to capacity building workshops in the Member Countries.

• Undertake the monitoring of social safeguards policy compliance of IsDB projects during implementation.
• Identify, and report on projects with high social safeguards including negative social impact, gender, and civil society engagement sensitivity.
• Participate in safeguard policy/Bank Procedure (BP) review and update as needed and contribute to the Bank consultation and submission approval process, taking the lead on social safeguards aspects.
• Contribute and facilitate as needed liaison and contact with clients, civil society organizations non-government organizations (NGOs), development partners, and within IsDB, including coordinating responses to NGOs complaints.
• Ensure that the social safeguard requirements are properly reflected in the procurement plan and other important deliverables of the Bank.
• Support in taking charge of public information and disclosure initiatives.
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with other leading works on safeguards within the IsDB and Academia, MDBs and other key partners, outside IsDB, on relevant research/analysis, events, and outreach.

• Identify, assess, and monitor overall capacity building needs on social safeguards and benefits within the Bank, including Regional Hubs, and among clients.
• Develop and administer as needed technical assistance (TA) and other training programs for capacity building of the necessary social safeguards.

• Work, in coordination with the Social Development clusters and others, on the leading work on social safeguards and benefits within the IsDB, and academia, MDBs and other key partners, outside IsDB, on the relevant research/ analysis, events and outreach.
• Liaise with the MDBs, finance institutions, such as MDB Working Group on Gender, Civil Society Engagements and other relevant institutions and coordinate fundraising for the relevant IsDB projects with strong social benefits. In addition, prepare approach papers, reports and statements on the rationale and activities to be supported by donor funds.

• Track external issues and processes relevant to the best practices in social safeguards. Keep abreast of external developments and provide technical support to management on engagement in key external processes on these issues. This includes, but not limited to, IsDB partnership with specialized UN agencies, multilateral development banks, civil society organizations and bilateral finance institutions.
• Coordinate forums for knowledge generation, exchange and dissemination on issues of social safeguards across the bank functions (with relevant GPs and Regional Hubs).
• Coordinate knowledge generation and advisory on social safeguards with external stakeholders of relevance to IsDBs activities, but not limited to, Member Country agencies, IFIs, think tanks and consultants.
• Lead and work with safeguards team to identify areas of work beyond safeguards where social safeguards and inclusion may be catalyzers for new lending products.
• Contribute significantly to activities for advocacy, dissemination and knowledge building relating to IsDBs ESS policy, with a special focus on social safeguards.

• Contribute to the preparation of progress reports on thematic related activities in compliance with the Bank rules and procedures.

• Bachelors degree in social development, Gender, development studies, social policies, economists, or any related field.
• Higher Degree (Masters/PhD) preferred.
• Minimum 8 years of relevant experience of which 4 years are in a developing country context.
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of the social safeguards policies/standards, procedures and practices.
• Demonstrable professional experience in Environmental & Social Assessment (ESA), namely in preparing and implementing relevant social safeguards instruments, including child protection, Gender Based Violence (GBV), Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA), social inclusion, land acquisition and compensation, lifecycle analysis, emergency response plans...
• Experience working with IFIs/Development Agencies/Multilateral Development Banks preferred.

• Demonstrable analytical skills to assess institutional and country capacity and to design / review practical arrangements for implementing complex projects social safeguards aspects.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to high-level analytical work and policy dialogue in IsDB Member Countries.
• Planning & organizing / project management skills.
• Analytical thinking.
• Problem solving.
• Sound knowledge of social development financing.
• Report Writing skills.
• Presentation Skills.
• MS Office skills.

• English - Mandatory.
• Arabic - Preferred.
• French - Preferred.

If you meet the criteria and you are enthusiastic about the role, we would welcome your application. To complete the application you would need the following document(s):

• Resume/CV
• Copy of passport
• Academic certificate