Organization: World Bank
Sector: Digital Development
Grade: EC2
Term Duration: 1 year 0 months
Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment
Location: Washington, DC,United States
Required Language(s): English
Preferred Language(s): French, Arabic
Closing Date: 11/24/2021 (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.
The Infrastructure Practice Group
Globally, 840 million people live more than 2 kilometers from all-weather roads, 1 billion people lack electricity, and 4 billion people lack Internet access. Access to basic infrastructure services is critical for creating economic opportunities for the poor. The Infrastructure (INF) Practice Group is charged with developing sustainable solutions to help close infrastructure gaps in developing and emerging economies. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/infrastructure
INF Vice Presidential Unit (VPU) currently consists of four global practices (GPs): Energy & Extractives (EEX), Transport, Digital Development (DD) and Infrastructure Finance, PPPs and Guarantees (IPG).
Digital Development Global Practice
The Digital Development (DD) Global Practice (GP) plays a critical role in enabling the achievements of the Twin goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/digitaldevelopment
Unit Context
Identification for Development Initiative
The World Bank Group estimates that one billion people globally are still unable to prove who they are, and many more have forms of ID that cannot be reliably verified or authenticated. Without a secure and trusted way to prove ones’ identity, people struggle to open a bank account, enroll in school, access health and social services, or obtain a mobile phone. The poorest and most vulnerable often face the highest risk of being excluded. In the digital age, the lack of ‘Good’ ID systems creates challenges for fully leveraging the opportunities being created through digital government and the digital economy, such as e-commerce, digital financial services and cross-border transactions. It is for these reasons that the international community committed to, “provide legal identity for all, including birth registration” by 2030 through Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 16.9.
In response, the World Bank Group’s Identification for Development (ID4D) Initiative was launched in 2014 to leverage global knowledge and expertise across sectors to help countries realize the transformational potential of digital ID and civil registration systems to achieve the SDGs. It operates across the World Bank Group with global practices and units working on digital development, social protection, health, financial inclusion, governance, gender, and legal aspects, among others. The ID4D initiative works with more than 40 countries and has $1.5 billion in active and pipeline financing It is supporting implementation of digital ID and civil registration systems, with much of this work carried out with partners, such as bilateral donors, think tanks, the private sector, UN agencies, and other international finance institutions. The work of ID4D is supported by a multi-donor trust fund, including the following partners: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Government, the French government, and the Omidyar Network.
The ET Consultant – Legal Specialist will be responsible for:
- Providing legal and regulatory support to the ID4D Initiative on the issues of data protection, privacy, cybercrimes, cybersecurity and related topics.
- Carrying out legal research, drafting, review, and provide advice and guidance in a range of different settings aimed at improving the quality and consistency of outputs under the ID4D program.
- Assisting with ongoing engagements with governments, development partners and internal colleagues within the WB around the development and application of legal frameworks to build trust in digital identification.
More specifically, the roles and responsibilities are to:
- Carry out substantive, due-diligence reviews of data-related legal frameworks, conduct gap analyses against international best practices, identify weakness, and propose recommendations to strengthen data governance arrangements, supporting and aligned with technical and policy recommendations of ID4D program and Global Practice (GP) operational teams.
- Provide strategic and operational inputs to the ID4D program to build trust around the effective management of data, particularly to help ensure that data protection, privacy and good ID principles are well reflected in ID4D program activities.
- Facilitate country implementation of multi-sector solutions to the complex development challenges faced by our client governments by supporting task teams to ensure legal issues are thoroughly addressed.
a) Serve as a team member on operational teams (across a range of GPs), contribute to the preparation of World Bank project documents, provide guidance to project teams on data governance issues
b) Contribute inputs on data governance issues to the policy dialogue (often working across a range of Ministries and agencies), convening, and consensus-building across stakeholders
c) Participate in technical evaluation and support missions and provide technical guidance on data governance issues to help shape the design, project preparation, and management of World Bank projects.
- Support and contribute to developing analytical products in collaboration with a range of GPs/departments and external expert partners, review and provide feedback to publications, and contribute to the development of the ID4D program.
- Build and foster partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including with developing country governments, development partners (e.g. bilateral donors, foundations, UN agencies);
- Strengthen knowledge sharing and advocacy around the ID4D agenda and work on data governance through synthesizing findings from analytical products or country project progress in concise publications, briefing notes, and well-designed presentations; sharing insights from with internal as well as external audiences at conferences, seminars, and other events.
The position is posted through the Digital Development GP, but the ET Consultant will be expected to serve a broader function for the ID4D program, which leverages the World Bank Group’s global expertise and knowledge from over 10 Global Practices and other units, such as digital development, social protection and jobs, health, financial inclusion, governance, gender, and legal, among others. The position offers the unique opportunity to gain exposure to a variety of internal units within the World Bank, as well as external organizations working in this space. World Bank Senior Counsel (Digital Development) and Lead Counsel (LEGOP) will provide technical supervision and mentoring. The ET Consultant will report to the ID4D (IDD03) Practice Manager.
Selection Criteria
- An advanced degree in law; preferred specialization in data policy, privacy, data protection, cyberlaw and related topics.
- Eligibility and/or admission to practice law in a recognized jurisdiction and minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Ability to conduct legal research and legal analysis on difficult, but well-defined tasks; articulate issues and recommend solutions.
- Ability to effectively provide professional support to senior staff, particularly identifying and management of risks relating to data governance.
- Strong theoretical knowledge of data protection, data privacy and administrative law, with a broad grasp of relevant legal principles and precedent.
- Experience drafting project components in major reports, working papers, analytical reports, WB project appraisal documents (PADs), project financing agreements, etc.
- Experience translating legal theory into practical applications in context of WB analytical and operational work.
- Ability to participate in multi-disciplinary teams and deal sensitively in multi-cultural environments.
- Excellent written and oral communication in English.
- Fluency in French and Arabic is strongly preferred.
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.
Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two 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 second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.
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