Financial Sector Specialist

Financial Sector Specialist

Job #:
req30465

Organization:
World Bank

Sector:
Financial Sector

Grade:
GF

Term Duration:
3 years 0 months

Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment

Location:
Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s):
English

Preferred Language(s):

Closing Date:
12/2/2024 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

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. Please visit www.worldbank.org.

CGAP is a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organizations dedicated to advancing the lives of people living in poverty, especially women, through financial inclusion.

CGAP works at the frontier of inclusive finance to test solutions, spark innovation, generate evidence, and share insights. CGAP's knowledge enables public and private stakeholders to scale solutions that make financial ecosystems meet the needs of poor, vulnerable, and underserved people and of micro and small enterprises (MSEs), including through advancing women's economic empowerment. As a global public good, CGAP's independent research and analysis is available to all.

CGAP envisages responsible and inclusive financial ecosystems that enable a green, resilient, and equitable world for all. CGAP is guided by a five-year strategy and annual workplans - the new strategy covering FY24-28 (CGAP VII Strategy) will contribute to strengthening responsible and inclusive financial ecosystems by elevating the focus of financial inclusion to broader development outcomes.

To achieve this, CGAP will focus on contributing to seven outcome areas through its work program: (i) mobilizing financial services for climate adaptation, mitigation, and a just transition; (ii) mobilizing financial services for building resilience to shocks and managing risk; (ii) mobilizing financial services for women and MSEs to capture economic opportunities; (iv) increasing the breadth and depth of financial inclusion; (v) promoting responsibility in financial ecosystems and enabling financial sector policies and regulations; (vi) enhancing the effectiveness of impact investing in inclusive finance and the inclusiveness of carbon markets; and (vii) generating and promoting evidence of what works, where, and for whom.

Through its work, CGAP is committed to accelerating progress toward women's financial inclusion, and we take a gender-intentional approach to our research and advocacy efforts.

This position will primarily contribute to the GROW (Green and Resilient Outcomes for Women) pillar and specifically, the Inclusive Carbon Markets (ICM) project.

CGAP is housed in the World Bank. For more information, please visit https://www.cgap.org/

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

CGAP is seeking a Financial Sector Specialist to join its GROW Pillar (Green and Resilient Outcomes, especially for Women), with a focus on the Inclusive Carbon Markets Project. This role will lead a workstream on co-benefits-ensuring that carbon market activities not only reduce emissions but also deliver tangible development benefits such as improved livelihoods, resilience, and financial inclusion for vulnerable communities. The candidate will also contribute across the project and the broader GROW Pillar and organization, making this a dynamic opportunity for a motivated, flexible professional who thrives in cross-functional roles. The ideal candidate will be a go-getter who can navigate multiple areas of work, engage diverse stakeholders, and position CGAP's work to influence funders and global partners.

• Work Program Development: Lead and contribute to workstreams within the Inclusive Carbon Markets project, particularly the co-benefits workstream. Help develop strategies that align financial services with climate and development goals, especially for low-income households and women.

• Analytical Work, Knowledge Products, and Dissemination: Conduct research, lead fieldwork, and synthesize findings into reports, technical guidance, and other knowledge products aimed at diverse audiences. Author and co-author CGAP publications, blogs, and articles. Organize and participate in dissemination events such as webinars, presentations, and workshops, both internal and external.

• Piloting Solutions: Identify and develop partnerships with financial service providers, carbon project developers, fintechs and others in emerging markets to pilot new approaches, products, or business models. Manage the implementation of these pilots, ensuring that insights align with CGAP's learning agenda.

• Collaboration Across CGAP: Engage proactively with other CGAP teams, contributing to organization-wide initiatives, reviewing work from other teams, and ensuring knowledge sharing across the GROW Pillar and broader CGAP projects.

• Collaboration with the World Bank Group: Coordinate with the GROW pillar and engage with the World Bank and IFC teams to leverage shared knowledge, research, and applied experience for broader influence within the World Bank Group.

• Engaging with CGAP Members: Work closely with CGAP's funder members, understanding their priorities and positioning CGAP's work to influence their strategies. Share CGAP's research and outcomes to scale the impact of financial inclusion and green initiatives.

The candidate will play a pivotal role in ensuring CGAP's Inclusive Carbon Markets project creates impact, including for our members.

Selection Criteria

The successful candidate(s) will demonstrate the following FCI Global Practice-specific Core Competencies:

Integrative Skills:
• Demonstrates understanding of working across WBG, practices and sectors.
• Demonstrates strong integrative thinking and ability to support project teams in developing an integrated point of view around development challenges.
• Demonstrates ability to seek out, collate and synthesize inputs from across sectoral and thematic boundaries.

Policy Dialogue Skills:
• Identifies and assesses policy issues and communicates findings/ points of view verbally and through reports and papers.
• Plays an active role in the dialogue with government and/or other stakeholders as part of Bank teams.
• Demonstrates ability to contribute to development and implementation of communication strategy.

Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena:
• Demonstrates full familiarity with the World Bank Group's organizational structure, complementarities among different Bank Group agencies, with an ability to apply this knowledge.
• Understands policy making process and the role of own sector of expertise in that process.
• Demonstrates familiarity with Bank's development initiatives and policies and practices related to lending and non-lending operations.
• Finds relevant information/data and examines similar policy questions in multiple regions.
• Contributes to the development of offers/ relevant tools for clients.

Communication and Influencing Skills
• Demonstrates the ability to influence and persuade others to accept ideas and suggestions (such as counterparts in government, international partner organizations, academia, and Bank colleagues, senior staff and managers)
• Has ability to communicate and defend, orally and in writing, challenges and positions to colleagues and management

Specialized Knowledge and Technical Skills:
• Financial Inclusion, Infrastructure and Access- (Required) - Demonstrates a solid working knowledge of the core Financial Inclusion, Infrastructure and Access areas (e.g. approaches to extend access to financial services for the poor, MSME finance products and institutional arrangements, consumer protection and financial literacy, credit information systems and infrastructure, collateral registries, payments systems, digital finance, policy and regulatory reforms) and a specialization in one or more of them. Demonstrates solid knowledge of relevant policy and legal/regulatory issues. Demonstrates a solid understanding of financial intermediaries' operations.

In addition to meeting the World Bank-wide and FCI-specific criteria for this level position, it is expected that the selected candidate would meet the following criteria (in order of importance):

• A Master's degree in Finance, Policy, Business Administration, International Development or another relevant field
• At least 5 (preferably 7) years of relevant professional experience in financial sector development trends, emerging business models, technologies, and policies. Ideally analytical experience in management consulting firms, think-tanks, or financial institutions, with a focus on financial inclusion. Experience in both public and private sectors preferred, in particular experience managing pilots with private sector partners.
• Strong relevant work experience in financial inclusion and how financial services can be applied for development outcomes such as climate resilience and a just transition. This work experience should be focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets and developing economies.
• Demonstrated, excellent writing and oral communication skills , including the ability to present complex issues to various external audiences, including regulators, policy makers, donors, academics and practitioners, international organizations, private sector entities, and other development actors. Proven track record with internal and external publications.
• Experience living and working in an emerging market.
• Demonstrated ability to function as a team player in a multicultural environment , in complex teams across different time zones and cultures.
• Demonstrated diplomacy and influencing skills ; proven experience in dealing, both at a technical level and at a more senior strategic level, with external constituencies, including funders, central banks, academics and practitioners; ability to work with teams with varied priorities and agendas, evaluating what is in the best interests of CGAP and corralling parties toward a collective outcome.
• Ability to function independently with limited work direction and occasional oversight. Capacity to work simultaneously on a variety of issues and tasks independently, adjusting to priorities and achieving results within agreed objectives and deadlines.

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.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.