Consultant, Resilience Expert for North Africa - RDTS (EOI) at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Expressions of Interest: Consultant, Resilience Expert for North Africa - RDTS

Location: Tunis, Tunisia
Consultant Type: Individual Consultant
Job Family: Other
Department Issuing the Request: Transition States Coordination Office (RDTS)
Duration of the Assignment: Six (6) months full time (renewable based on budget and performance)
Tentative Date of commencement: 24th April 2023.

Brief Description of the Assignment
The consultant will support the operationalization of the Bank’s 2022-26 Strategy for addressing fragility and building resilience, in the context of the North Africa region. The incumbent is expected to:

• Undertake fragility and resilience related analytical and knowledge work on the region;
• Support political economy analysis for the North Africa region;
• Mainstream the analytical findings into the Bank’s operations, strategies, and policies in North Africa;
• Facilitate dialogue at the national and regional levels to identify operational entry points for building resilience in North Africa;
• Support capacity building on fragility and resilience issues for people, communities, and institutions in the region; and
• Contribute to partnerships and resource mobilization initiatives in the context of North Africa.

Background

• Over the past decade, Africa has seen enormous growth and transformation that has expanded opportunities and improved living conditions for millions of people. Yet, there are significant risks that this momentum could be undermined by important pressures including exclusion and poverty, youth unemployment, rapid urbanization, or climate change.
• These pressures are currently compounded by the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and rising inflation that threaten to overwhelm existing institutional capacities for managing political, economic, social and environmental issues.
• Addressing these challenges is at the core of the mission of the African Development Bank Group (the Bank), a leading development institution on the continent. The Bank is focused on promoting economic development and poverty reduction; and engages with the full range and complexity of development matters in Africa.
• To achieve its mission, the Bank has integrated operations, lending directly to the public and private sectors through a variety of instruments. It also provides advisory services to Regional Member Countries (RMCs), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and other regional bodies.
• The Transition States Coordination Office (RDTS) leads the Bank Group’s work on addressing fragility and building resilience in Africa. Its mandate is to place the Bank at the center of Africa’s efforts to address fragility and pave the way for a more resilient and inclusive development trajectory.
• A major part of RDTS’ activities involves the identification of the main drivers of fragility and opportunities for building resilience, including through economic, social, political and environmental dimensions. RDTS also plays a crucial role in mainstreaming fragility and resilience considerations in the Bank's strategies and programs, both at country and regional level, towards sustainable and inclusive development. Central to RDTS engagement is the systematic application of a fragility and resilience lens in Bank Group programming.
• As such, RDTS is responsible for the oversight and coordination of the operationalization of the Bank’s 2022-26 Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa. Therefore, fragility and resilience assessments are mandatory inputs to all the AfDB’s programming and operational documents.
• To achieve its mandate, RDTS leverages expertise from its pool of Fragility and Resilience experts and consultants posted in Headquarters, as well as in the various Regional Hubs and Country Offices. It is in this context that the Bank seeks to recruit a consultant resilience expert to conduct these assessments and identify the opportunities to build and strengthen resilience in the selected countries in Northern Africa.

North Africa Region

• Despite the slowdown in Libya and the drought in Morocco, North Africa retained its position as Africa’s top performing sub-region for the second consecutive year in 2022. The region is however dealing with strong inflationary pressures due to the Ukraine-Russia crisis increasing the uncertainty given the region’s geographical proximity and tight economic links with Europe. As a net food importer of wheat, corn, and oil from Russia and Ukraine, North Africa may face food insecurity. At the same time, fossil fuel exporters could benefit from increased demand for oil and gas as European countries divert away from Russia. These current issues are compounded with climate change, gender disparities, migration related issues, or rising public debt levels.
• Against this backdrop, there is a need for the region to reinforce its resilience above all in a post-pandemic context. To be more specific, North Africa governments must urgently tackle inflation which reduce consumer purchasing power and increase poverty and inequalities in the region. Promoting welfare and social safety nets, especially for the most vulnerable, remain key to deal with the negative impact of such shocks on household consumption. The region needs to enhance its preparedness and resilience to shocks including with regard to health related events or disasters related to climate change.
• While facing multidimensional challenges, the region also has many opportunities to build its resilience. A key entry point would be to put in place the appropriate structural reforms. Another opportunity for building resilience lies on private sector development through increased competitiveness and access to finance. It is thus critical that countries in the region improve their business environment and provide the appropriate skilled workforce to match the demand on the labor market and reduce youth unemployment in a sustainable way. Private sector development in the region should go hand in hand with investments in human capital, science, and digital technology, which will contribute to high value manufacturing and economic diversification.
• Moreover, in the context of the African Free Trade Continental Area (AfCFTA), an integrated Africa represents an opportunity for strengthening resilience across the continent. It remains thus critical to advance regional integration within North Africa and promote a greater integration with other sub-regions of the African continent.
• Finally, reducing gender inequality, improving the governance of migration, enhancing public finance management, accelerating domestic resource mobilization, or exploiting the opportunities provided by a demand for energy in Europe and the rest of the world while further investing in renewable energy, are all entry points to be considered for strengthening the resilience of the North African region.
• Further identifying these drivers of resilience and the mechanisms through which they will contribute to sustainable growth and inclusive development will be at the core of the assessments and the political economy analysis RDTS will carry out for North Africa.

Activities and Deliverables:
In the context of the North African region, the Consultant is expected to:

• Work closely with the Regional Coordinator to undertake fragility and resilience assessments; and contribute to various knowledge products, including Full-Fledged Fragility Assessments and Country Resilience and Fragility Assessments (CRFAs), to inform the implementation of the Bank's commitments and action plan for addressing fragility and building resilience in Africa.
• In close collaboration with key Bank Sectoral and Operational Departments/Units, including Regional Delivery Hubs and Country Offices, participate in the preparation, peer-review, and readiness reviews processes of the Country Diagnostic Notes (CDNs), Regional Diagnostic Notes (RDNs) Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), Regional Integration Strategy Papers (RISPs), Project Concept Notes (PCNs), and Project Appraisal Reports (PARs) to ensure fragility and resilience are mainstreamed into Bank operations, strategies, and policies. This also involves being part of project teams, participating in various missions (identification, preparation, appraisal, supervision, completion, etc.), conducting fragility and resilience analyses, and providing expert input to key programming deliverables.
• Assist in the production of political economy analyses, as well as analytical and knowledge work in the region such as Economic Sector Work, policy briefs, or research papers Facilitate dialogue at national and regional levels to identify entry points that can sustainably build resilience, and strengthen social cohesion within and across borders. This should be informed by the findings of related analytical work and other Bank knowledge products.
• Support capacity building for individuals, communities, and institutions, to enhance their preparedness and readiness to manage political, economic, social, and environmental pressures and challenges that increase vulnerability.
• Contribute to partnerships building and resource mobilization efforts, especially for the African Development Fund (ADF) eligible countries of the region, during the replenishment and mid-term review discussions of the ADF in close coordination with relevant Bank units.
• Contribute, for ADF eligible countries, to the operationalization of the TSF programmatic approach, including the implementation of call-for-proposals for thematic and results-based investments and targeted capacity building programs.
• Perform any other assignments and tasks as may be assigned by the RDTS Lead Coordinator, RDTS Regional Coordinator, or as the business need arises.

Duration and Location:

• This is a full-time consultancy position for a duration of six (6) months, with the possibility of renewal subject to the performance and the availability of funds. The consultant will be based in Tunis in the Bank’s Regional Office in Tunisia (RDGN).

Accountability and Reporting:

• The consultant will work under the supervision of RDTS Management and will report to the RDTS Regional Coordinator for North Africa and upon the specific tasks undertaken.
• The consultant will submit a monthly report on the activities carried out.

Qualifications Required
The Consultant, a national of one of the Bank’s member countries, is required to have the following Qualifications and Experience:

• A Master’s Degree or equivalent in fields such as Economics, Political Science, Social Sciences, International Relations, or related disciplines.
• At least five (5) years of relevant work experience in areas such as economic research, peace and state building, social cohesion, public-private dialogue, and management consulting. Strong experience in developing and delivering programs in fragility and resilience is also required, including assessments, modelling, sensitivity analysis, and applications.
• Experience in assessing, designing, developing, delivering and evaluating programmes, projects and interventions to address drivers of fragility and opportunities for building resilience in Regional Members Countries, Regional Economic Communities and other Specialized Agencies.
• Solid understanding of the context, dynamics and complexities of the region; and experience in designing and delivering mitigation measures including problem solving.
• Deep knowledge of macroeconomic, political economy and development issues of the North Africa Region.
• Excellent planning, organization, and writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and manage time effectively to deal with multiple demands and deadlines among competing needs and priorities.
• Ability to drive training programs, mobilize resource persons, apply innovative approaches, work independently and apply new methods to solve problems, while remaining efficient in a fast-paced, changing and challenging institutional environment.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and demonstrated ability to work across institutional boundaries within multi-sectoral teams in a productive way.
• Experience working with the Bank, other international donors, and/or with development finance.
• Fluency in English and/or French, with a good working knowledge of either language. A working knowledge of Arabic will be an advantage.

Remuneration

• The Consultant will receive a monthly lump sum, based on their financial offer and in compliance with the African Development Bank’s Guidelines on Individual Consultants Remuneration.
• The Consultant is responsible for his/her own health insurance and accommodation costs. The Bank will cover full costs of any required trip/missions if needed and provide per-diem in accordance with rules governing consultant mission travel.

Application Closing Date
7th April, 2023 at 01:00 PM. Abidjan Time (GMT)

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) and
Letter of Interest in a single PDF file (English or French) to: [email protected] and [email protected] using "RDTS Senior Consultant - Vulnerability & Resilience Assessment for Northern" as the subject of the mail.

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Click here for the Job Description (PDF)

Note

• File Name: "[Last Mame], [First Name]" (e.g. Peterson, Anna).
• Please attach updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) on the basis of the template Here
• Candidates are encouraged to include references to proven analytical products developed under their previous working experience.
• We will contact you only if you are shortlisted for further consideration, and that, given the large volume of applications we receive, some time may elapse before the selection process is complete.
• Any questions and requests for clarifications may be sent to [email protected]