E T Consultant

E T Consultant

Job #:
req35136

Organization:
World Bank

Sector:
Water/Sanitation

Grade:
EC2

Term Duration:
1 year 0 months

Recruitment Type:
Local Recruitment

Location:
Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s):
English

Preferred Language(s):
English

Closing Date:
12/22/2025 (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. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

As the world's largest multilateral source of financing for water in developing countries, the World Bank is working closely with partners to achieve "A Water-Secure World for All," by sustaining water resources, delivering services, and building resilience.

Water is at the center of economic and social development: it is vital to maintain health, grow food, generate energy, manage the environment, and create jobs. Water availability and management impacts whether poor girls are educated, whether cities are healthy places to live, and whether growing industries or poor villages can withstand the impacts of floods or droughts.

Water security is among the top global risks in terms of development impact. It is also an integral part to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The world cannot meet the sustainable development challenges of the 21st century - human development, livable cities, climate change, food security, and energy security - without improving water resources management and ensuring access to reliable water and sanitation services. Most countries are placing unprecedented pressure on water resources, and water scarcity affects more than 40% of the global population. The World Bank helps client counties to ensure sustainability of water use, build climate resilience, and strengthen integrated management.

Even today, 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation, of which 1 billion practice open defecation. Poor sanitation, including inadequate wastewater collection and treatment, impacts health, education, the environment, and industries such as tourism. At least 800 million people lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of access to safe water and sanitation results in significant economic losses in many countries. This is further exacerbated by climate change, water pollution, water scarcity, and the global covid-19 pandemic in a fast-changing world.

Since COVID-19 in 2020, the number of food-insecure people has been increasing. This increase reversed much of the progress made during the previous decade in lifting people from poverty. Agriculture is critical to poverty alleviation, food security, and nutrition. Irrigation, with higher productivity than rainfed agriculture, is a prime source of economic growth, rising incomes and employment, and poverty reduction. Improved irrigation is essential to sustaining the agriculture sector's growth.

Food demand will double by 2050, with the population projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Irrigation is one of the solutions to produce more food, with less water, while preserving biodiversity. Water, as one of the critical inputs, needs to be better managed given the increasing competition among water users. The main drivers of the need to modernize irrigation include population growth, competing sectoral demands, limited natural resource availability (water and land), ongoing technical revolutions, modified diets, and climate change uncertainties.

With a portfolio of water investments of US$41.4 billion (US$29.4 billion of water-sector projects and US$12 billion of multi-sector projects related to water), the World Bank is uniquely positioned to achieve the vision of a water secure world for all, developing and sharing global knowledge while amplifying the impact of lending through technical assistance on the ground. Within its broad mandate, the Water Global Practice (Water GP) hosts several Global Solution Groups (GSGs). The GSGs play a critical role in establishing the Water Global Practice as a global thought leader, deepening the use of knowledge in operations and improving the flow of knowledge to clients and operational teams. GSGs play an important role in maintaining the globality of the Water Global Practice. Each Global Solutions Group is led by a Global Lead and Coordinator. There are 5 GSGs: Water for Food, Water for the People; Water for the Planet, Water and Finance; and Water for Prosperity.

The Bank's work on Water for Food is supported by the Water for Food Global Solutions Group (GSG), a membership-based organization which provides services to its members and other stakeholders interested in enhancing how water is used in agriculture in terms of sustainability, productivity, and equity. The GSG is 'co-owned' by, and has strong membership representation from, the Water Global Practice and the Agriculture Global Practice, as well as other Global Practices, Cross Cutting Solutions Groups, and the International Finance Corporation. The Water for Food GSG comprises five workstreams: (i) governance in service delivery, (ii) modernization of irrigation, (iii) farmer led irrigation, (iv) water accounting, and (v) paddies for the planet and the producers (water saving low-methane rice). The GSG organizes direct support to task teams in developing and ensuring the quality of analytical and lending activities throughout the project cycle. This includes an in-depth review of what determines successful implementationof agricultural water management, developing guidance materials forinstitutional assessments, integration of other priority themes, and linkingBank supported programs to the agricultural water stewardship. The Water forFood GSG works closely with the Energy GP, and the Water and Finance GSGcollaborates closely with the IFC and MIGA, for example.

Duties and Accountabilities

The selected candidate is expected to support theWater for Food Global Solutions Group with a focus on agricultural water,including irrigation. As such, she/he will work closely with the Water for FoodGlobal Lead, and regional Water GP teams to:

• Support on technical design and climate smart approaches for agricultural water and related fields like water management, circular economy, groundwater, and drought management.
• Prepare specific knowledge briefs and contribute to relevant analytical work;
• Provide cross support to operational teams in implementing knowledge and analytical work into implementations, particularly related to the governance and service delivery. This includes working with task teams to identify their priorities and challenges and connecting them with the most relevant resources.
• Support the scaling-up and deployment of the irrigation operator of the future (IOF) toolkit under the guidance of the Water for Food Global Lead, and
• Provide technical expertise to task teams (including undertaking mission travel as required) in project preparation and/or implementation on iOF and governance of irrigation.

Selection Criteria

The candidate should have demonstrated experience inagricultural water management and:

• At least a master's degree in water resources engineering or related field.
• Technical, operational, and/or policy-oriented expertise, and at least at least 5 years of experience in agricultural water or water resources management or related field, including analytical work and advisory services for government.
• Strong organizational, writing, presentation, and research skills.
• Ability to think innovatively and to translate technical and cross-country knowledge into practical applications and contributions to country and sector strategies.
• Proven ability to work in a team and intercultural environment, with minimal supervision.
• Ability to thrive under pressure and function effectively under tight deadlines, while managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Strong drive for results, taking personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English is required.
• Enthusiasm for, and commitment to development work.
• Field experience in developing countries is considered a plus.

This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/ temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.

Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET appointment of three years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their third-year ET appointments are not eligible for future ET appointments.

WBG Culture Attributes:

1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

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.

---