Disaster Risk Researcher Jobs in Washington, DC (NOW HIRING)

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The World Bank Group serves more than 20 client countries in the Latin-American and the Caribbean (LCR) region. Clients range from middle-income countries (MICs) such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, with demand for cutting-edge knowledge services and technical assistance in addition to lending, to IDA countries like Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Bolivia, with an emphasis on poverty reduction and programs that support equitable and enhanced access to social and economic opportunities.
The Latin America and Caribbean Region contains 17 of the top 50 countries identified in the World Bank-sponsored Hotspot study with highest GDP exposure to natural disasters.  With an increasing concentration of assets in urban or semi-urban areas, human and physical losses from floods, landslides, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural events are on the rise and important development gains are being erased overnight.  Population growth and the ever-increasing concentration of infrastructure in urban or semi-urban areas have been clear drivers of the growth in human and physical losses from adverse natural events.  This trend is now being exacerbated by increasing climate variability, bringing disaster risk management and climate change adaptation to the forefront of the Region's development agenda.
The Disaster Risk Management team of ILCUR provides technical, analytical and financial support to regional clients in the fields of: i) risk identification; ii) risk mitigation and preparedness; iii) risk financing; and iv) post disaster reconstruction.  The unit has a strong DRM portfolio with over 20 ongoing projects and a number under preparation. Examples include vulnerability reduction in OECS; CAT DDOs across the countries in the region; enhancing financial protection through expanding CCRIF to different countries and new products; urban resilience investments in Brazil, Bolivia and Haiti; post disaster reconstruction in Sint Maarten.  ILCUR provides support to client countries with IBRD and IDA financing, as well as through significant partnerships with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Climate Investment Funds.  
ILCUR is seeking a highly qualified and motivated individual for the position of Disaster Risk Management Specialist to support the DRM team.  The DRM Specialist is expected to provide technical support and lead operational and analytical engagements in disaster risk reduction, disaster risk management, disaster risk financing, crisis toolkit, and resilience. Hydromet and flood risk management are priority areas for this position.

Duties and Accountabilities

The specific responsibilities will include:
1. Intellectual, strategic and technical expertise in DRM
  Develop knowledge products and training activities to improve best practice in and outside of the Bank.  
  Strengthen the capacity of our clients to respond to disasters through the preparation of high priority risk mitigation strategies, programs and projects.  
  Establish and maintain productive relationships with external actors in the disaster risk management, disaster risk financing, and disaster recovery field (governments, international agencies, private sector, NGOs, donors and academic institutions), and work with internal and external partners to scale up the DRM and DRF agenda and lead strategic thinking.
  Support the development of the ILCUR's DRM business lines.
2. Program and project management
  Contribute to the preparation of priority or flagship AAA and thereby support ILCUR in delivering high visibility advisory services that may result in innovating or scaling-up the unit's investment and analytical and technical assistance program.
  Contribute to priority lending projects under preparation and supervision in the sector including complex, multi-sector operations and participate in multi-sector activities led by other units.
3. Knowledge management and dissemination
  Sponsor/contribute to knowledge exchanges and dissemination across the Bank and in external fora in the area of DRM and DRF.
  Peer review/cross support to other units/regions in sector lending, and analytical activities.
  Other activities in this field.