Senior Operations Officer - The World Bank

Background / General description

The World Bank's Social Development (SD) Department in Indonesia manages a large and diverse portfolio of loan operations, policy guidance, analytical work, and operational research around the themes of poverty reduction and community-driven development. The National Program for Community Empowerment in Rural Areas (PNPM-Rural) – previously the Kecamatan Development Program – is the main loan operation of the department. The Government of Indonesia has scaled up PNPM to cover the entire country. One of PNPM Rural's pilot programs is PNPM Generasi. As part of its commitment to reducing poverty and improving local service delivery, the Government in 2007 piloted two approaches to Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT): Program Keluarga Harapan (the Household CCT) and PNPM Generasi Sehat dan Cerdas (PNPM Generasi), an innovative program that marries the community-driven development (CDD) approaches used in PNPM Rural with the incentives found in CCT programs. PNPM Generasi has been adapted specifically for the Indonesian context from global experiences with CCT in Latin America and elsewhere. As a pilot program of PNPM-Rural, PNPM Generasi aims to use the CDD approach to improve twelve education and health indicators related to primary and junior secondary school attendance and enrollment, and infant and maternal healthcare. Program implementation began in August 2007 in 129 sub-districts and has since expanded to 178 sub-districts in five provinces: East Java, West Java, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara. With the successful implementation of the three-year pilot phase now complete, preparations have begun for expansion to new locations in West Nusa Tenggara province in 2010. PNPM Generasi's four-year program budget is approximately $170 million. Evaluation is an integral part of PNPM Generasi's design. Three waves of surveys were conducted to access impact: a baseline survey in 2007, an interim evaluation in 2008-2009, and a two year final impact evaluation in 2009-2010. Evaluation findings are used to improve the program for the next phase of expansion.

Duties and Accountabilities

The overall task of the Sr. Operations Officer is to provide strategic direction and ensure smooth and effective implementation of the program to meet its development objectives. Specific tasks include: Provide strategic direction to overall operations of the Government of Indonesia's PNPM Generasi program. Ensure that CDD and social principles and approaches are promoted in PNPM Generasi program implementation. Coordinate with the Government of Indonesia including the Vice-President's poverty coordination office, Ministries of Home Affairs, Planning, Education, and Health at the central and local levels regarding the PNPM Generasi program. Advise the Government of Indonesia's project implementation team to ensure high quality project management including but not limited to: training of project management consultants and facilitators; procurement for project monitoring and evaluation; financial management systems; management information systems; and implementation of socialization and communications strategies. Ensure that education and health targets are strategic and in line with country priorities and needs. Review annually education and health targets to ensure that they are realistic and relevant to the evolving country and sector context. Supervise and manage a World Bank four-person multi-disciplinary team and conduct regular field supervision missions to identify field level problems and provide recommendations for solutions. Work closely with the Communications specialist in designing and developing communications materials for project beneficiaries and other stakeholders. Develop and regularly update information packages for PR purposes for the World Bank internal audiences, development partners, and government agencies. Draft project briefs, budgets, proposals, and correspondence with the government as required. Coordinate with the World Bank's PNPM operational management team on joint planning and implementation arrangements for PNPM and PNPM Generasi. Coordinate with World Bank Education and Health teams. Provide additional assistance to the World Bank's PNPM task team as required. Coordinate with the Generasi Impact Evaluation team, and ensure smooth information exchange between operations and evaluation objectives. Other duties and tasks as specified by the Social Development Sector Coordinator or whoever he may designate. The Sr. Operations Officer will be supervised by the Social Development Coordinator or whoever (s)he may designate.

Selection Criteria

 Master's or higher degree in relevant discipline, e.g., sociology, economics, political science, education, public health, etc.   Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in project management and operations, preferably with community development projects, or community-based health or education projects in a developing country setting. Experience working on CDD programs is advantageous.   Experience working on large-scale government operations is highly desirable.   Familiarity with education and health issues and challenges in Indonesia is preferred.   Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. Must be able to produce clear, concise, and persuasive written documents including briefs, memos, reports and proposals.   Experience working in Indonesia is advantageous, as is a working knowledge of the Indonesian language.   Knowledge of monitoring and impact evaluation methodologies is highly desirable.   Familiarity with World Bank systems and procedures preferred.   Demonstrated team leadership, initiative, and problem-solving skills. Must be able work under tight timelines. The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.