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African Development Bank is hiring a Senior Environmental & Social Safeguards and Compliance Officer

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Closing Date: 23 October 2024

African Development Bank is hiring a Senior Environmental & Social Safeguards and Compliance Officer

The Bank

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 81 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. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2023 – 2032) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa.

The Hiring Department

Located within the SVNP Complex, the Environmental and Social (E&S) Safeguards and Compliance Department (SNSC) is responsible for mainstreaming environmental and social development considerations into Bank-financed operations in the public and private sectors through the implementation of the Integrated Safeguard System (ISS). The Safeguards and Compliance Department’s mission is to ensure proper application of the Integrated Safeguards System (ISS) and its associated procedures, guidelines and tools, in order to enhance environmental and social sustainability into the Bank’s operations.

The Department’s main tasks is to improve the quality-at-entry (QAE) of Bank operations, including Country Strategy Papers and project-specific interventions (projects, ESW, etc.) as well as providing implementation support to borrowers, with a particular emphasis on enhancing developmental effectiveness through application of environmental and social safeguards requirements and procedures at the various stages of the project cycles.

The Position

The Senior Environmental & Social Safeguards and Compliance Officer works under the overall direction and the supervision of the Director of the Department of Environmental and Social Safeguards and Compliance (SNSC).

Key Functions

The Senior Environmental & Social Safeguards and Compliance Officer’s core duties/responsibilities will include the following:

Mainstreaming of environmental aspects in operations, including safeguards, gender and social inclusion.

As task team member, he/she will provide support to Task Managers and Borrowers/Clients in identifying, mainstreaming and monitoring environmental and safeguard aspects/concerns in Bank operations during the identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation, and completion stages (throughout project lifecycle) through the following:

Provide E&S support to the Bank-funded projects and programs, for both private and public sectors.

Carry out the mandatory environmental and social due diligence on Bank operations during the identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation support including field visits, and project completion stages.
Prepare, archive, update when appropriate, the categorization memorandum (CM) and the environmental and social compliance note (ESCON) of operations.
Assist Borrowers/Clients for the finalization of the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the preparation of Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) documentation (SESA, ESIA, ESMS, RAP, PMP, ES Audit, Process Framework, Stakeholder Engagement Plan, Hazard and Risk Assessment, etc.) to ensure compliance with the ISS.

Review the ESA documentation submitted by the Borrowers/Clients as of the ISS and other Bank policies’ requirements.
Draft the technical inputs of the E&S sections in Project Concept Notes (PCNs), Project Appraisal Reports (PARs), Project Completion Reports (PCRs) and any other project related report as required.
Draft the technical inputs of the E&S sections of CDN, CSP, RISP, etc.

Draft and/or ameliorate reporting templates for use in implementing and monitoring social aspects and components of projects and programs.
Contribute to the preparation of management responses to reports issued by the Bank independent accountability mechanism, and similar reports.
Liaise with co-financiers to ensure consistency in the mainstreaming of environmental safeguard requirements.

Policy and Compliance with E&S Requirements:

Participate in the formulation, review and/or revision of the Bank environmental and social safeguard policies, procedures and guidelines.
Provide policy guidance to Bank teams on environmental safeguard issues to enhance their awareness and the capacity of the projects and programmes to comply with the ISS.

Capacity Building and Knowledge Management:

Contribute to the development and implementation of capacity building and training programs for staff within the Bank and in RMCs.
Participate in, contribute and represent the Bank in internal and external training and conferences on environmental safeguards and mainstreaming as well as other activities for advocacy, dissemination and knowledge building.

Develop and/or contribute to the development of innovative knowledge products on environmental sustainability, environmental safeguards and/or the E&S performance of Bank financed projects and programs.
Undertake any other task as the Director of the Environment and Social Safeguards Department and/or the Regional Director General.

Competencies (skills, experience and knowledge):

Have at least a master’s degree in environmental sciences/management (Environmental management, Geography, Environmental engineering, Natural Resource Management, Disaster Risk Management, Ecology) and an additional training in environmental and social assessment.

Have a minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience in Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA), namely in preparing and implementing the ESA instruments (SESA, ESIA, ESMS, RAP, PMP, ES Audit, Process Framework, Stakeholder Engagement Plan, Hazard and Risk Assessment, etc.).
Demonstrable knowledge and practice of the environmental and social standards and practices of comparator Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) supporting the Regional Member Countries.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment and to develop effective working relationships with clients and colleagues.

Have a good knowledge of the environmental and social issues facing Regional Member Countries (RMCs).
Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English and/or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other language.
Competence in the use of Bank standard software (word, excel, VBA, Access and PowerPoint).