GEFSEC Corporate Operations, Policies and Financial Services Team,

Results-based Management (RBM) Function

Position:               Senior Results Based Management Coordinator
Location:              Washington DC, International Hire
Duration:              2 year term coterminous appointment
Languages:          Excellent English, additional language skill
                             desirable (Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish)
Application deadline:   Latest 20 June 2008
Apply to:               jko
Queries to:           

This is a 2 year Term coterminous appointment.   Please note that an Open-Ended World Bank staff member, if selected, may retain his/her Open-Ended status so long as there is a re-entry guarantee from the releasing department.  Otherwise, the appointment will be changed to coterminous upon transfer

Institutional Background

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), a multilateral financial mechanism established in 1991. It provides grants to developing countries for projects and programs that protect the global environment. GEF grants support projects related to six focal areas: biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.

Since its inception, the GEF has committed $6.2 billion in grants to over 1,800 projects in more than 160 developing countries and transitional economies. Resources for the GEF Trust Fund, which finances the GEF’s programs and projects, are replenished every four years. Available funding for GEF activities in the period 2006 to 2010 is $3.13 billion (fourth replenishment period).

The GEF is open to universal membership, and currently 178 countries are members.  It is governed by a Council comprising 32 Members appointed by constituencies of GEF member countries.  An Assembly of all member countries meets every four years at the ministerial level. 

The GEF is the designated financial mechanism for three international environmental conventions: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.  GEF is a designated financial mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. 

Ten agencies are principally accountable for the execution of GEF projects: the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank (IBRD/IFC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the U.N. Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

The Corporate Operations, Policies and Financial Services Team at the GEF is responsible for pipeline management and program and project approvals, taking into account resources available through the GEF Trust Fund, effective and transparent business practices, and compliance with GEF procedures.  In exercising these functions, the team collaborates with the operational teams in the GEF Secretariat and in the GEF agencies.  The team is critical to ensuring the proper management and efficiency of GEF operations. Its duties include coordinating Results-based Management and monitoring across the GEF portfolio, developing and maintaining the GEF Project Management Information System, creating and managing a GEF Lessons Learned and Good Practices Knowledgebase as well as implementing the GEF Resource Allocation Framework (RAF) and the GEF Public Private Partnership initiative.

The GEF Results-based Management Function

At its June 2007 meeting, Council approved a GEF Results-based Management Framework (RBM) to be implemented for the GEF-4 replenishment period. The GEF RBM outlines the conceptual and methodological building blocks of how the GEF, as an institution, intends to measure progress toward results and the associated monitoring activities that the Secretariat will undertake in collaboration with the GEF agencies. The framework is built on the strategic programming for GEF-4 replenishment focal area strategies and their associated indicators and ties closely to the new project cycle.

The GEF RBM incorporates monitoring and reporting at three levels: (i) institutional (global) level; (ii) programmatic/portfolio (focal area) level; and (iii) project level. The GEF Agencies are primarily responsible for monitoring at the project level, while the GEF Secretariat is responsible for monitoring at the portfolio level and must roll-up project-level indicators/outcomes in order to do so. The portfolio level outcomes should contribute to achieving global environmental benefits.

The implementation of the GEF RBM by the GEF Secretariat and the Agencies is coordinated by the Results-based Management Function and is undertaken in full compliance with the GEF Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) policy.

As a key part of the GEF’s Results-based Management Framework, the GEF will be undertaking a Lessons Learned and Good Practices Knowledgebase initiative which will formalize the experiences and lessons learned from previous GEF projects, and make them publicly available to project proponents, GEF agencies, donors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders. It will seek to identify, analyze, and translate lessons into good practices and information resources, and then disseminate this information globally for use in future project design and development.

Once the Knowledgebase is readily available and easily accessible, new GEF projects would be required to incorporate lessons learned information into project design as a measure to improve quality at entry. In addition, availability of this information would make it possible to integrate lessons learned into overall GEF portfolio management and policy development, as well as public relations campaigns to promote the GEF worldwide.

Duties and responsibilities of the Senior Results Management Coordinator

The responsibilities of the RBM Coordinator include:

(i) leading the further development and implementation of a framework for results management at the Secretariat, in collaboration with the GEF Agencies, the GEF Evaluation Office and the GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP);

(ii) providing overall guidance for the annual portfolio monitoring exercise as well as strategic/ thematic reviews to be conducted in collaboration with the GEF Agencies and the GEF Evaluation Office;

(iii) coordinating the preparation of management action response papers in collaboration with the GEF technical teams and the GEF agencies;

(iv) leading the preparation of related Council papers and policy documents;

(v) managing the development of a comprehensive and user-friendly GEF Lessons Learned and Good Practice Knowledgebase and a Web Tool; and coordinate the production, dissemination and archiving of peer-reviewed Knowledge Products (printed or on-line articles, briefs, new releases, training materials, news letters, etc.) based on analysis of data and information available in the GEF Knowledgebase;

(vi) managing quality at entry by ensuring that the GEF project review criteria and processes are fully aligned with the RBM framework and that M&E requirements are met at each stage of the project cycle, including at CEO endorsement;

(vii) collaborating with the technical teams at the GEF Secretariat and the GEF Agencies to develop and implement portfolio level indicators to track progress made towards GEF-4 replenishment targets;

(viii) providing information, training and guidance to the GEFSEC technical teams as well as other GEF partners such as GEF Agencies, country focal points, STAP, NGOs and donor country institutions with regards to performance monitoring processes and requirements as part of the GEF RBM framework;

(ix) ensuring that the GEF Management Information System meets the monitoring needs of the Secretariat;

(x) contributing to GEF-wide strategy, analysis and policy formulation, requiring only general guidance, even on complex issues;

(xi) interacting with clients at policy level, often with senior counterparts in other international organizations and/or national governments. 

(xii) supervising and mentoring junior staff and consultants.

Selection Criteria

§         Master’s with at least  8 years of experience in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and impact assessment as it relates to environmental science, environmental policy or natural resource management initiatives, preferably in developing countries;

§         Project design, management and oversight experience in developing countries is a plus;

§         Working knowledge of the operations of the Global Environment Facility and its Agencies;

§         Strong organizational, research, communication, consensus building and interpersonal skills;

§         Proven ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team and intercultural environment;

§         Proven ability to conceptualize, design and implement  complex reports or studies;

§         Demonstrated professional leadership and ability to lead a team of professionals in the execution of major projects;

§         Ability to coach/mentor more junior staff;

§         Hands-on, creative and action-oriented approach;

§         Ability to handle tight deadlines;

§         Computer and data analysis skills;

§         Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English;

§         Additional language skill desirable (Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish);

§         Enthusiasm for and commitment to work on global environmental issues;

§         Willingness and ability to travel when necessary.