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 Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) is a global multi-donor partnership dedicated to advancing financial inclusion for the poor. CGAP plays a unique role as a donor-coordination mechanism for funders working to improve the lives of poor people, especially women, through the power of financial inclusion, providing a valuable platform for information, dialogue and reflection to advance progress towards a collective vision. Using action-oriented research, CGAP tests, learns and disseminates knowledge intended to help build inclusive and responsible financial systems that move people out of poverty, protect their assets and advance broader global development goals. CGAP leverages its relationships with businesses, governments and the non-profit sector to share insights, mitigate risks and protect customers, and help others bring solutions to scale. CGAP serves as a global advocate for the financial inclusion community by collaborating with strategic institutions that influence policy and market development and providing evidence-based research and practical lessons that guide their work. For more information, please visit https://www.cgap.org/

CGAP is supported by more than 30 partners including bilateral and multilateral development agencies, development finance institutions and private foundations committed to advancing financial access for the poor. CGAP is housed in and administered by the World Bank.

CGAP’s vision is a world where poor people, especially women, are empowered to capture opportunities and build resilience through financial services. CGAP is guided by a five-year strategy and annual workplans. The current five-year strategy, CGAP VI, covers the period July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2023.

Through its work, CGAP has three commitments to accelerating progress toward women’s financial inclusion by: building a strong evidence base for solutions with robust gender-disaggregated data; amplifying the role of women’s financial inclusion for broader empowerment and impact; and spurring partnerships for innovation, action, and policy change on the ground. CGAP takes a gender intentional approach to its research and advocacy efforts.

CGAP is currently developing its next five-year strategy – CGAP VII (2023- 2028), which will be focused on ensuring that financial services contribute to sustainable development for the poor through Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development.

While the CGAP VII Strategy has yet to be finalized, three primary outcomes have been identified under which all CGAP future activities will fall. Those outcomes are (i) contributing to green development through finance for all, (ii) contributing to resilient development through finance for all, and (iii) contributing to inclusive development through finance for all. CGAP will also undertake activities related to three key enablers to these outcomes that have been preliminarily identified: (iv) fostering an enabling environment, (v) achieving financial inclusion and financial health, and (vi) creating incentives for inclusive sustainable finance and investments.

This position will primarily contribute to the outcome area of resilient development through finance for all. As such, a major focus will be to understand the role that insurance can play in boosting resilience, defined by CGAP as the ability of individuals and households to reduce the risk of, mitigate, cope with and recover from various shocks, stresses and life cycle events so as to minimize any reduction in short-term consumption or long-term well-being. A focus on building resilience for women will be an important theme.
The position is based in Washington, DC and involves frequent travel.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Despite decades of investments and countless insurance initiatives, insurance uptake and claims ratios remain extremely low among the poor and vulnerable in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). Many well-respected insurance organizations and initiatives in the financial inclusion world have sought to address the root causes of why inclusive insurance is not working for the poor.

CGAP has been a prominent part of that effort, spawning initiatives like the Access to Insurance Initiative (a2ii) and the Microinsurance Network (MiN). After a brief hiatus, we are now making inclusive insurance a priority once more under CGAP VII.

CGAP is therefore looking for a reputable expert with significant knowledge and expertise in inclusive insurance, who can structure and lead CGAP’s work program and research agenda on inclusive insurance in a way that repositions CGAP as a thought leader and delivers research that has impact. This expert will also support CGAP in integrating gender into its insurance work.

The position requires strong technical knowledge and proven experience in inclusive insurance and financial inclusion more broadly, including the policy and regulatory aspects relevant for EMDEs and for fragile countries, as well as familiarity with the women’s financial inclusion issues and the ability to write and communicate effectively to different audiences on complex technical issues.

Roles and Responsibilities:

The Senior Financial Sector Specialist will undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

Provide technical expertise based on a deep understanding of inclusive insurance in EMDEs: The Senior Financial Sector Specialist will have a solid understanding of inclusive insurance in EMDEs, including key demand-side, supply-side, and regulatory barriers facing greater uptake of inclusive insurance, as well as opportunities for further outreach and further meeting the insurance needs of the poor, especially women. The selected candidate will have a detailed understanding of insurance regulation and supervision frameworks, including of international standards and of their application at country level, as well as of the business model drivers and challenges involved in scaling commercial insurance models for low-income customers in EMDEs. The selected candidate will also bring gender expertise and experience on analyzing how women and men have different needs for protection and are impacted differently by insurance and other financial service offerings. The Senior Financial Sector Specialist will lead applied research regarding the role of insurance alongside other financial services as part of an integrated set of risk management tools for the poor. The selected candidate will remain abreast of important developments affecting inclusive insurance; curate and disseminate knowledge regarding bottlenecks, challenges, opportunities, and global trends, including regarding integrating insurance into climate change risk management; and follow technological development and financial innovations relevant to insurance and CGAP stakeholders.

Contribute to CGAP’s thought leadership: Lead/Contribute to CGAP’s thought leadership on forward looking demand-side, supply-side, policy, regulatory, and other relevant issues affecting inclusive insurance and its role in boosting resilience especially for women; author and/or contribute to papers, blogs, Leadership Essays and other thought leadership pieces on frontier issues relevant to inclusive insurance and resilience.

Strategy development: Actively contribute to CGAP’s strategy development and positioning on inclusive insurance by providing guidance to CGAP’s Leadership Team on how CGAP can best add value to that space. There is a large and vibrant sub-community of well-respected insurance organizations and initiatives in the financial inclusion world who have been researching and experimenting with inclusive insurance models for decades. The Senior Financial Sector Specialist will need to identify key areas where CGAP can specifically and strategically contribute. Identify and develop a work program for CGAP that utilizes CGAP’s comparative advantage while addressing core gaps in the inclusive insurance market. This work program will incorporate an investigation on demand-side issues of why inclusive insurance has not gained more traction with low-income people, especially women, as well as business model supply-side issues and policy/regulatory constraints. This should prominently include the role of insurance in climate resilience and risk management, which is a topic of great and growing importance for CGAP and its members.

Strategic outreach and collaboration: Work closely with international organizations in the insurance industry, including the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF), Access to Insurance Initiative (a2ii), and InsuResilience Global Partnership (Global Shield). Develop strategic partnerships through which CGAP can influence and scale its findings, including with insurers and reinsurers. Participate in seminars, conferences, working groups with public and private stakeholders to support CGAP’s advocacy and knowledge sharing efforts on relevant topics.

Lead CGAP’s work program on insurance: This can include, among others, leading research efforts, pilots or other engagements with providers and advising regulators/supervisors as part of a set of well-developed workstreams guided by clear learning agendas. It also includes producing or contributing to CGAP convening and advocacy efforts (blogs, Leadership Essays, etc.) and knowledge products (technical guides, toolkits, focus notes, briefs, etc.) and organizing seminars and workshops.

Collaboration across CGAP Membership: Engage in active collaboration and knowledge sharing with CGAP members working on inclusive insurance, resilience and financial policy matters. Keep CGAP’s impact at scale considerations as a priority to disseminate CGAP’s work and research insights related to insurance.

Collaboration across CGAP: Contribute advice and inputs to teams across CGAP where the insurance angle will be relevant. Expected to lead on one major project as well as to provide cross-support to other CGAP teams (including to climate resilience, policy/regulatory and gender mainstreaming work)
Other duties and tasks as might be specified by CGAP CEO and Pillar Leads.

Selection Criteria

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

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.

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