Senior Disaster Risk Management

IDB3461 - Senior Disaster Risk Management & Emergency Relief Specialist

Business Unit: Operations- Global Practice & Partnership Division: Not Applicable Department: Resilience & Climate Action Country: Saudi Arabia Location: Saudi Arabia - Jeddah Job Grade: E3 Closing Date: 14-Apr-2025

Job Purpose

The Purpose of this position is to: (i) provide specialized support and expertise to Country Operations Managers, Operational Team Leaders (OTLs), Project Management Specialists and Executing Agencies (EAs) in the Regional Hubs in identifying, mainstreaming and monitoring disaster Risk Management and Resilience (DRMR) in Bank operations during the identification, preparation, appraisal, implementation, and completion stages (throughout project lifecycle); (ii) design and carry out in close coordination with the regional hubs the emergency relief and response programs and projects to respond to the natural disasters; (iii) ensure that humanitarian development nexus is mainstreamed in Bank's programs and projects in fragile and conflict affected member countries; (iv) provide support and report to the Manager, Fragility and Resilience Division to coordinate the operationalization and implementation of disaster risk management and resilience policy of the Bank; (v) contribute to the evaluation, improvement and dissemination of DRMR policy; and (vi) contribute to the formulation, development and effective implementation of lsDB's strategic initiatives relevant to disaster risk management, response and resilience including knowledge products, capacity building activities, and provide high level advisory, guidance and tools to the Regional Hubs and Member Countries.

Contribute as an expert and participate in project appraisal, design as well as processing and approval process as team member along with relevant regional hub. Lead provision of input on Disaster Risk Management and Resilience (DRMR) aspects. Contribute and mainstream DRMR in Member Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) formulation, country dialogue and engagements with relevant departments at HQ and regional hub. Lead in the development of strategic policies, plans, guidelines, analytics and other products related to disaster risk management, response and resilience with the fragility and resilience division and with other Global Practices in Director General - Global Practices and Partnerships Complex. Lead the design and development of emergency response, recovery, reconstruction and resilience projects and programs of the Bank to support the member countries to respond to the crisis. Implement the Crisis Response Management Guidelines of the Bank to guide the Bank's staff in responding to the natural disasters and crisis. Monitor and assess initiatives related to relief, development, disaster management and resilience. Contribute to the selection of the Program/ Portfolio which maximize the utilization of resources and concentrate on results-based impact on relief, development, disaster management and resilience in MCs. Closely work with other units of the Bank on disaster risk management, response and resilience and humanitarian development nexus, which entails providing intellectual leadership on positioning the Global Practice (GP) internally and externally in relevant domains. Provide advisory on GPs work on disaster risk management, response, and resilience, identifying staff and learning needs and setting competencies and standards for their global, regional, and country-specific solution areas to support the national disaster management agencies. Provide the regional hub staff with the necessary technical guidance and expertise in operationalizing the disaster risk management, response, recovery and resilience. Provide expert advisory on the delivery of selected global engagement products on disaster risk management, and when needed, directly lead and participate in country dialogues and deliverables (such as those related to UNDRR), in addition to capacity building workshops in Member Countries.

Strategic and Operational Planning and Implementation:

Safeguard Policy and Compliance Monitoring:
Lead the monitoring of the implementation of DRMR policy of lsDB projects during implementation. Identify, and report on projects mainstreaming DRMR. Participate in safeguard policy/Bank Procedure (BP) review and update as needed and contribute to the Bank consultation and submission approval process, taking the lead on DRMR aspects. As needed liaise with clients, non-government organizations (NGOs), development partners. Build and maintain strategic partnerships with other leading works on DRMR within the lsDB and Academia, MDBs and other key partners, outside lsDB, on relevant research/analysis, events, and outreach. Contribute to the development and implementation of policies of relief, development, disaster management and resilience.

Capacity Building:
Identify, assess, and monitor overall capacity building needs DRMR and crisis management within the Bank, including Regional Hubs, and among clients. Develop and administer as needed technical assistance (TA) and emergency response grants and other training programs for capacity building.

Strategic Partnership:
Work, in coordination with the Fragility and Resilience Division and others, on the leading work on DRMR within the lsDB, and academia, MDBs and other key partners, outside lsDB, on the relevant research/ analysis, events and outreach. Contribute to the response mobilization efforts to increase concessional and grant resources for the Bank to respond to the crisis and DMR. Liaise with the international DRMR and emergency response finance institutions, such as UNDRR, GFDRR, ICRC, IFRC, AfDB, UNDP and other specialized agencies in DRMR and emergency response.

Knowledge Sharing & Innovation:
Track external issues and processes relevant to the best practices in DRMR. Keep abreast of external developments and provide technical support to management on engagement in key external processes on these issues. This includes, but not limited to, lsDB partnership with specialized UN agencies, multilateral development banks, bilateral finance institutions. Coordinate forums for knowledge generation, exchange and dissemination on issues of DRMR across the bank functions (with relevant GPs and Regional Hubs). Coordinate knowledge generation and advisory on DRMR with external stakeholders of relevance to lsDB's activities, but not limited to, Member Country agencies, IFls, think tanks and consultants. Work with Fragility and Resilience team to identify areas of work beyond emergency response where new recovery and development projects may be catalyzers for new lending products. Contribute significantly to activities for advocacy, dissemination and knowledge building relating to lsDB's DRMR policy.

Reporting & Communication:
Contribute to the preparation of progress reports on thematic related activities in compliance with the Bank rules and procedures.

Academic and Professional Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in disaster management and resilience, social development, economics, engineering, etc. or any related field. Higher Degree (Master's/PhD) preferred. Minimum 8 years of relevant experience (of which 4 years are in a developing country context). Demonstrable knowledge and experience of the disaster management, response, and resilience. Demonstrable professional experience in humanitarian development nexus, emergency, relief, recovery and reconstruction. Experience working with IFIs/ Development Agencies/ Multilateral Development Banks preferred.

Skills & Necessary Knowledge
* Demonstrable analytical skills to assess institutional and country capacity and to design/