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Home > Jobs > Employment Opportuni... > Professional/Technical

Job #	081809
Job Title	Operation Officer - Urban Development
Job Family	Urban Development
Location	Hanoi, Vietnam
Appointment	Local Hire
Job Posted	26-Aug-2008
Closing Date	14-Nov-2008
Language Requirements	English [Essential]; Vietnamese [Essential]
Appointment Type	See Job Description Below

Background / General description

Strategic Context and Trends:  The East Asia region, and Vietnam in particular, is experiencing a rapid rural to urban population shift, which began in earnest in the 1980s:  Vietnam’s urban population will more than double in the next twenty years. Much of the urban growth will be on the urban periphery and in cities with populations that currently exceed 1.0 million inhabitants.  Vietnam’s urban population is increasing by over 1 million people per year and much of that increase is in the largest cities of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

The effects of urbanization through agglomeration economies, has helped the East Asia region and Vietnam to reach high rates of economic growth, increased productivity and rising incomes:  the per capita GDP of Ho Chi Minh City is more than three times Vietnam’s national average.  The agglomeration effects of urbanization (namely the more efficient exchange of goods, knowledge and production of manufactured goods) increases opportunities for Vietnam to benefit from the process of globalization as cities are the main locations for the production of internationally traded manufactured goods and services and foreign direct investment.

The urbanization trend has been accompanied by increasing decentralization and the devolution of more power to local governments and their leaders.  Centralized management of city policies is untenable in an environment of increasing urbanization, and the trend, is to undertake a shift to greater decentralization.  While sub-national governments are increasingly responsible for a large share of public expenditures and the delivery of services, they are not always ready to take on the increased responsibilities that come with decentralization.  Work needs to be done in preparing local governments institutionally, organizationally and financially to address this challenge.

The Vietnam Urban Program:  The Vietnam urban program fits within the region’s overall urban program and is one of the largest urban programs in the World Bank.  The Urban Sector is part of the Sustainable Development Department of the World Bank and includes the urban development and water supply and sanitation sectors.  The Vietnam Urban portfolio includes urban poverty and urban development projects, regional planning, urban environmental management, rural and urban water supply, waste water and, solid waste management and municipal and infrastructure finance projects. In addition, the team supports the areas of disaster risk management, global climate change and urban transport, which are led by other sectors of the Sustainable Development Department.  

Currently the urban portfolio consists of seven active operations and seven new operations under preparation.  This includes a large volume of work in Ho Chi Minh City as well as work in coastal cities and other cities and towns throughout the country.  The size of the portfolio is expected to increase.  The urban team also supports a program of analytical and advisory work, including an emerging program in regional and provincial development, water sector reform and support for a national sanitation strategy.  

With decentralization of the Sustainable Development network in East Asia, the Urban Team in the World Bank’s Hanoi Office is increasingly taking the lead in project management, policy dialogue and new business development, while still relying on close collaboration with staff from Headquarters to provide task management and specialist skills.  The team in the Hanoi Office currently consists of an internationally-recruited coordinator and four locally-recruited specialists (two engineers, one infrastructure finance specialist and one community development specialist) in addition to two administrative support staff.

The increasing and broadening responsibilities of locally recruited staff as task managers and team members on investment projects during preparation and supervision phases, and for policy dialogue require some adjustment to the staffing arrangements for the Vietnam Urban team.  In consequence, a position is now being opened up to be based in the Hanoi.  The Urban Specialist will work within the Urban Team as a core team member to be based in the Hanoi.  This person will be expected to work on the implementation of the Bank’s work on the urban (including water and sanitation) sector in Vietnam, including project appraisal and supervision, and will also work closely with the Bank’s staff, located both in Hanoi and in Washington D.C.

Duties and Accountabilities

Operations:  Working under the general supervision of the SD Sector Manager, with the guidance of the Urban Sector Coordinator, and in direct collaboration with specified Task Team Leaders – TTLs, the successful candidate will support the Urban team’s work across the investment cycle by: 

•	Contributing to project preparation as necessary, including participation in the design and development of specific project components, defining project implementation arrangements, and coordinating inputs into project documentation and processing;

•	Participating in project supervision, including day to day monitoring , field supervision, review of procurement plans, assessing progress with meeting key project outcomes and indicators and contributing to supervision documentation, Trust Fund status reports, Implementation Completion Reports, etc.;

•	Supporting the preparation of AAA/TA and knowledge deliverables in the urban and water/sanitation sectors, through research, analysis and writing.

•	Providing substantive support for Economic and Sector Work, technical assistance and policy dialogue with governments with an emphasis on urban development policy.

Selection Criteria

The candidate must have at least a B.S/B.A. degree in a relevant discipline (preferably engineering, urban planning, economics or architecture) and a Masters’ Degree from an internationally recognized university in a field pertaining to one or more of the key areas:  (1) urban economics; (2) urban and regional planning; (2) municipal engineering; (3) water supply and sanitation engineering; and/or (4) urban environmental management (e.g. solid waste management).

1.	The candidate should have at least 5 years of experience in designing and managing urban and/or urban sector related operations.  Such experience would ideally have been gained through working in the urban or municipal engineering sectors in Vietnam, in particular with a relevant government ministry/department, engineering or planning firm or international organization. 
2.	The candidate will have strong knowledge and experience with the requirements for project planning, approval, implementation and procurement set down by Vietnamese law and regulations.
3.	The candidate should have an understanding of and strong experience with the requirements of preparing and supervising large investment operations in the infrastructure sectors and strong familiarity with processes and procedures for project appraisal and supervision of projects financed by international financial institutions or donors.  This experience could have been gained through work on internationally funded projects through work with a government agency, a private consulting or engineering firm, NGO or other relevant agency.
4.	The candidate should demonstrate strong and broad knowledge of the issues that are related to sustainable urban development in Vietnam.  Therefore the candidate should be able to carry out policy dialogue with government clients at the national and sub-national level relating to urban development broadly.
5.	Fluency in English language, in addition to a native command of Vietnamese, with excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing, is essential, including proven skills in report-writing.
6.	The candidate needs to be able to work well within integrated teams and with other work groups, to foster and build productive relationships with the Bank’s clients, and to respond to the daily needs, queries and needs for advice and assistance of those clients.
7.	The candidate must have the highest levels of personal integrity, and a reputation for a transparent and systematic work style.
8.	The candidate needs to be able to work under pressure situations, in order to meet demanding deadlines.
9.	The candidate should be willing to travel extensively throughout Vietnam.

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