E T Consultant

Build a career with impact. Working at the World Bank Group (WBG) provides a unique opportunity to help countries solve their greatest development challenges. As one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, the WBG is a unique partnership of five global institutions dedicated to ending poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, the WBG works 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. Malawi remains one of the world’s poorest and most shock-prone countries, with poverty both widespread and persistent. Approximately 75 percent of the population lives on less than US$3 per day, while structural constraints, low agricultural productivity, and slow economic transformation continue to limit opportunities for sustained income growth. Poverty is compounded by recurrent climatic and economic shocks, including droughts, floods, cyclones, inflationary pressures, and foreign exchange shortages, which repeatedly erode household assets and livelihoods. Malawi’s high exposure to climate risks is reflected in its ranking among the most vulnerable countries globally, making resilience-building a central development challenge. The livelihoods of poor and vulnerable households are particularly insecure because the labor market offers limited pathways out of poverty. Over 90 percent of employment is informal, concentrated in low-productivity agriculture and microenterprises, while opportunities for stable wage employment remain scarce. Youth face especially acute challenges, with a large share neither engaged in employment, education, nor training, and over 270,000 young people entering the labor market annually, with only 30,000 formal jobs created respectively. Weak linkages between social assistance programs, skills development, and labor market interventions have constrained graduation from poverty, leaving many households trapped in a cycle of vulnerability and dependence on low-return economic activities. Against this backdrop, the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) has served as Malawi’s flagship platform for strengthening resilience among poor and vulnerable populations. Through social cash transfers, climate-smart public works, livelihoods support, and investments in digital delivery systems, including the Malawi Social Registry, SSRLP has expanded coverage to millions of beneficiaries while enhancing the country’s capacity to respond to shocks. Building on these achievements, the Integrated Social Protection for Resilience and Opportunity (INSPIRE-O) project seeks to shift the focus from resilience alone toward resilience and opportunity by strengthening adaptive safety nets while creating jobs and economic inclusion pathways for poor and vulnerable groups, particularly youth and women. By linking social protection to labor market opportunities, entrepreneurship support, and productive inclusion measures, INSPIRE-O aims to help households not only cope with shocks but also improve livelihoods and achieve more sustainable pathways out of poverty. Going forward, sustained operational and implementation support will be critical to helping the Government of Malawi deliver project activities effectively, efficiently, and accountably. Both SSRLP and INSPIRE-O projects are complex operations that support multiple interventions including Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP), Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP), social registries, digital delivery systems, and economic inclusion interventions involving multiple implementing institutions. Key entities include the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC), which hosts the Project Implementation Unit and implements the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Program; the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare (MoGCDSW), which implements the Social Cash Transfer Program; the Poverty Reduction and Social Protection Unit within the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, which leads the adaptive social protection institutional strengthening agenda; the Ministry of Labour, Skills and Innovation, which supports labor market systems strengthening; and COMSIP Cooperative Union Limited, which implements the economic inclusion component under delegated arrangements with NLGFC. In addition, the social protection portfolio benefits from financing and strategic engagement from multiple development partners, including Norway, the United Kingdom (FCDO), Ireland, the European Union, and Iceland through the Malawi Social Protection Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), with discussions also advancing with Germany through KfW regarding future participation. Given the number of actors involved in project financing, implementation, and oversight, there is a strong need for close World Bank supervision and technical assistance to support coordination across stakeholders, monitor implementation progress, identify and address bottlenecks in a timely manner, and promote effective collaboration among implementing agencies and development partners. Such support is essential to maintaining implementation momentum, strengthening accountability, and maximizing development results across the portfolio. Objective and Scope of Work The Extended Term Consultant (ETC) will serve as a core member of the Malawi Social Policy task team and provide technical assistance, implementation support, and coordination across the World Bank’s social protection portfolio. The ETC will take a lead role in supporting the design, rollout, and implementation of the Jobs Now for the Poor and Vulnerable agenda, with particular focus on strengthening linkages between public works, economic inclusion, livelihoods, and jobs interventions. The consultant will work closely with government counterparts and development partners to help ensure effective delivery of project activities and achievement of intended results. In addition, the ETC will support overall project monitoring and evaluation (M E), including tracking implementation progress, identifying bottlenecks, supporting evidence generation and learning, and facilitating timely follow-up on agreed actions. The consultant will contribute to strengthening operational coordination and collaboration among the various implementing agencies, while also supporting engagement and coordination with development partners financing the social protection portfolio. This role will be critical in promoting coherence across interventions, strengthening accountability, and supporting the effective implementation of both SSRLP and INSPIRE-O. The ETC will also provide analytical and operational support to the World Bank’s broader social policy engagement in Malawi, including contributions to policy dialogue, knowledge products, and strategic initiatives. As appropriate, the consultant will support Social Policy inputs into the development and implementation of the Country Partnership Framework (CPF), helping to position vulnerability, resilience, jobs, and economic inclusion as key elements of the World Bank Group’s engagement in Malawi. Specific tasks will include: 1. Implementation Support for Jobs Now for the Poor and Vulnerable Agenda • Lead technical support for the design, operationalization, and implementation of the Jobs Now for the Poor and Vulnerable component under INSPIRE-O. • Support development of implementation manuals, operational guidelines, targeting approaches, and beneficiary pathways linking public works, economic inclusion, livelihoods, and jobs interventions. • Facilitate coordination between NLGFC, COMSIP, Ministry of Labour, Skills and Innovation, Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, private sector actors, and other implementing partners to strengthen pathways to productive employment and income generation. • Support identification, piloting, and documentation of innovative approaches that strengthen transitions from safety nets to sustainable livelihoods and jobs. • Prepare technical briefs, analytical notes, presentations, and implementation updates to inform Government and World Bank decision-making. 2. Implementation Support for Economic Inclusion Support under INSPIRE-O • Support implementation readiness for the Economic Inclusion program, including operational systems, capacity building, and sequencing of interventions. • Provide technical support to COMSIP and other implementing agencies on business development services, productive grants, savings promotion, and livelihoods strengthening. • Support integration of economic inclusion interventions with social assistance and labor market programs. • Monitor implementation progress and recommend corrective actions to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and beneficiary outcomes. • Facilitate learning and knowledge exchange on economic inclusion within Malawi and across the region. 3. Implementation Support for Climate-Smart Enhanced Public Works Program (CS-EPWP) • Provide day-to-day implementation support to NLGFC and district-level teams in the planning, execution, and monitoring of CS-EPWP activities. • Support implementation of recommendations emerging from process evaluations, operational reviews, and supervision missions. • Monitor progress against annual work plans, budgets, and agreed results framework indicators. • Support strengthening of wage payment systems through close coordination with payment service providers and relevant government institutions. • Assist in the development and rollout of innovative climate-smart public works models, including landscape restoration, watershed management, and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) initiatives. • Prepare implementation progress reports, field mission reports, and issue notes highlighting key risks, bottlenecks, and proposed mitigation measures. 4. Support Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Evidence Generation • Track implementation performance and results indicators and monitor progress toward PDO and intermediate outcomes across SSRLP and INSPIRE-O. • Support data quality reviews and validation of program reporting from implementing agencies. • Contribute to impact evaluations, beneficiary assessments, process evaluations, and operational research activities. • Develop dashboards, analytical summaries, and performance briefs to support evidence-based decision-making. • Document lessons learned, good practices, and implementation experiences to inform adaptive management and future operations. 5. Support World Bank Operational and Country Partnership Framework (CPF) Support • Participate actively in implementation support missions, preparation missions, technical workshops, and supervision activities. • Support preparation of Aide-Memoires, ISRs, management briefs, implementation updates, mission reports, and Board-related documentation as required. • Monitor implementation risks and support timely follow-up on agreed actions with government counterparts. • Support preparation and follow-up of technical working groups, steering committee meetings, joint reviews, and donor coordination meetings. • Provide technical inputs for MDTF donor engagements and support harmonized reporting requirements across financing sources. • Provide analytical and operational inputs to the development and implementation of the Malawi CPF, particularly on social protection, jobs, resilience, and economic inclusion. • Support preparation of background notes, analytical briefs, presentations, and stakeholder engagement materials. • Help ensure alignment between ongoing operations, policy dialogue, and CPF objectives related to resilience, poverty reduction, and jobs creation. Duration and Reporting Arrangements The assignment is expected to be for an initial period of ten (10) months, from September 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, with the possibility of extension subject to satisfactory performance, continued business needs, and portfolio requirements. The ETC will report directly to Chipo Msowoya, Senior Social Protection Specialist and Task Team Leader (TTL), and will work as an integral member of the Malawi Social Policy team. The ETC will collaborate closely with World Bank Social Policy task team including in collaboration with other task teams across Education, Health, Agriculture, Energy, Urban and Governance portfolios, as appropriate, to support effective implementation of SSRLP, INSPIRE-O, and related initiatives. The ETC will also engage regularly with key Government of Malawi counterparts as well as with development partners contributing to Malawi’s social protection agenda under the MDTF, helping to strengthen collaboration, implementation support, and results delivery across the portfolio.