E T Consultant- Education Specialist

At the World Bank, a member of the World Bank Group (WBG), you’ll join a diverse, global community working across cultures, disciplines, and borders to address the world’s most pressing development challenges. With 1.2 billion young people reaching working age in the decade ahead, the challenge of job creation has never been greater. Through partnerships across 145 countries and more than 182 offices worldwide, we work with governments, private sector, development partners and other stakeholders to invest in people, strengthen markets, and deliver scalable, data-driven solutions that generate more and better jobs and improve lives. For more information, visit <https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are/ibrd> Education and skills are critical to the jobs agenda of the World Bank. Over the next 10 years, 1.2 billion young people in developing countries are expected to reach working age, while only about 400 million jobs are projected to be created, leaving a gap of roughly 800 million. Expanding access to relevant, market-aligned skills will be critical to help people move into productive work, adapt to digital and AI-driven change, and create jobs through entrepreneurship, while enabling economies to build the talent base needed for growth. The World Bank Group’s Education and Skills practice is a new unit combining the IFC and World Bank global education teams. The unit provides support to IFC and World Bank teams through expertise and knowledge solutions for higher education institutions (HEIs), technical and vocational colleges, early childcare providers, and edtech providers. In tertiary education, the Education and Skills practice supports universities and colleges to digitally transform and introduce AI into their operations, to enhance the skills and employability prospects of their graduates, and to expand into new areas of operations including continuing education/lifelong learning, international education, and technical and vocation education. In the area of graduate skills and employability, we have developed and are deploying a service for higher educational institutions (HEIs) to support the global skills and jobs agenda. The VITAE Employability Tool takes a 360-degree view of the education provider (TVET, institute, university) to arrive at a comprehensive assessment of how the institution is delivering on employability outcomes for students. IFC then supports institutions to implement recommendations from the assessment. WBG is looking for a Specialist to complement its team in delivery of this initiative, with a focus on delivering the VITAE suite of tools to institutions and regulatory bodies in Philippines, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya. The Specialist will be responsible for rollout of VITAE activities in these four countries, as well as delivering VITAE activities in additional countries on an as-needed basis. Key responsibilities include: • business development and identification of a pipeline of clients relevant to the WBG; • delivery of the VITAE Assessment and Benchmarking to tertiary educational institutions in partnership with other specialists; • work with a subset of HEIs and regulatory bodies to implement recommendations coming from assessment or benchmarking, in partnership with other WBG experts and team members to deliver advice on specific topics; • support project, client, and stakeholder management in the four countries of focus. ACCOUNTABILITIES: • Conduct assessments of HEIs using the VITAE Employability Tool, working closely with other members of the WBG EduSkills team. The accountabilities listed below focus on the four countries of focus: Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria and Philippines. • Help build a pipeline of clients for employability assessment, benchmarking and implementation support in Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria and Philippines by pitching the tool to HEIs and/or regulatory bodies selected in line with the EduSkills Department’s SkillUp implementation strategy. • Liaise with the client’s management team to present Tool methodology and prepare and agree an agenda for the overall assessment process as well as the site visit. • Advise the client in completing the self-assessment and survey portions of the Tool online or in paper form. Ensure client receives all required logistical and operational support to complete the VITAE program. • Participate in all client workshops and events, directly facilitate relevant sessions with own expertise while managing input of internal and external experts. • Hold interviews at the client institution (virtually/in person) by leading interviews of staff, management and faculty, as well as students and alumni, in line with VITAE methodology. • Throughout the process, coordinate with the client and WBG team to drive efficient resolution of roadblocks and delays to keep the project on track. • Prepare a debrief to institution management at the end of the site visit, to summarize and validate key findings. Circulate a Back-To-Office Report (BTOR) email summarizing key findings of each client engagement. • Lead preparation of the client’s Assessment/Benchmarking Report (based on IFC template) incorporating specialist recommendations; obtain internal review and clearance. • Prepare and present a PPT summary of the Assessment/Benchmarking Report and core findings (virtually/in person) to senior institution leadership, together with project team. Incorporate client feedback into a final Assessment/Benchmarking Report to share with the client. • Identify client implementation support needs and support conversion of assessment clients into implementation engagements. Coordinate internal and external experts to support HEIs in implementing recommendations, in collaboration with thematic specialists and management. • At agreed intervals following the engagement, conduct monitoring and evaluation follow-up with clients using the agreed data collection template. Gather qualitative feedback, assess changes and outcomes, and identify opportunities for additional investment and advisory support. Additional accountabilities: • Develop communications and outreach materials on the VITAE tool, advisory delivery process and client results. • Provide advice to the outreach team (marketing and data specialists) on website content, with the overall goal of developing a site that supports IFC thought leadership in employability and skills, aimed at tertiary education professionals. • Provide inputs to outreach and marketing strategy to ensure alignment with operational goals for VITAE. • Support additional country and regional level Employability Assessment or Benchmarking initiatives when required. • Contribute to improving the VITAE tool and assessment process based on client experience. • Represent VITAE and WBG Education and Skills team at meetings and events. • Travel as required.