Job Description
E T Consultant
Job #:
req37391
Organization:
IFC
Sector:
Grade:
EC2
Term Duration: 1 year 0 months
Recruitment Type:
Local Recruitment
Location:
Bangui,Central African Republic
Required Language(s):
English
Preferred Language(s):
French
Closing Date:
7/2/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
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.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2025, IFC committed a record $71.7 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging private sector solutions, and mobilizing private capital to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet. For more information, visit www.ifc.org
The Africa Fragility Initiative (AFI), delivered by IFC’S Fragile and Conflict Affected States (FCS) Africa team, aims at enabling and increasing IFC’s engagement (investment and advisory services) in and across all FCS countries in Africa. AFI supports business development and deal origination, provides supplementary market intelligence, and enables IFC teams to expand and implement their projects by providing that critical handholding support to local sponsors, and contributes to IFC’s thought leadership on private sector development in fragile countries.
The Central African Republic (CAR) remains on the official World Bank’s Fragile, Conflict and Violent (FCV) list and represents one of the most challenging operating environments globally. Despite high investment risks linked to insecurity, limited market size, infrastructure deficits, and institutional fragility, CAR presents untapped opportunities in agribusiness, services, and light manufacturing. However, the pipeline of bankable local sponsors remains limited, requiring structured upstream engagement and sustained capacity building. Through AFI, IFC seeks to deepen its engagement with CAR’s domestic private sector by strengthening local sponsor readiness, improving bankability, and facilitating investment opportunities under the Local Champions Initiative (LCI).
The FCS Africa team is therefore seeking an ETC- Associate Operations Officer, to: (i) support the development of a pipeline of local sponsors under LCI in CAR and contribute to broader upstream business development efforts aligned with regional and industry priorities. The role will involve close coordination with investment and advisory teams, enhanced market mapping, sponsor engagement, and strategic positioning of IFC in one of Africa’s most fragile yet high-impact markets.– and (ii) s/he will also work closely with the Country Manager and Senior Country Officer to oversee IFC’s engagement in the country as part of the Country Management Unit (CMU), including preparation of business plan updates, WBG Country Engagement Products (SCD, CPF, PLR, CLR), Core Diagnostics (CPSD, CCDR, CGJR, PEA, PFR), and Flagship Reports (ASAs), etc. S/he is expected to share her/his time on a 50/50 basis between these two workstreams. The position is based in Bangui, CAR, and reports both to the FCS Africa Team and the CMU.
Duties and Accountabilities
• Build and maintain strong high-level relationships with the private sector, relevant government officials, key development partners, and WBG colleagues to support IFC’s engagement in CAR.
• Represent IFC externally and provide visibility for IFC through organizing/participating in high profile events (high-level visits, seminars, and conferences).
• Integrate a fragility lens into the design and implementation of investment and advisory projects, supporting budgeting, staffing inputs, and quality review of outputs where required.
• Contribute to the development of a robust pipeline of investment and advisory opportunities by leveraging market intelligence, sector knowledge, and trend analysis, with explicit consideration of fragility risks and constraints.
• Engage proactively with clients to demonstrate IFC’s value-add, strengthen bankability, optimize risk-return profiles, and identify follow-on opportunities.
• Provide business intelligence to investment teams, including insights on integrity risks and structuring considerations in a high-risk FCS environment.
• Collaborate closely with IFC Investment, Upstream, Advisory, CAE, CMU, and World Bank colleagues to deliver “One WBG” solutions and align sector engagement strategies.
• Support business development efforts, including market mapping, origination of upstream and advisory opportunities, and participation in appraisal and processing (PDS, CN, IDD, etc.) as required.
• Support the design and implementation of the LCI in CAR, working closely with the LCI Technical Lead to adapt the program to local fragility dynamics.
• Contribute to fragility analysis inputs for WBG diagnostics and analytics under the guidance of the FCS Conflict Sensitivity Lead.
• Support AFI and LCI supervision reporting (PSRs) and donor reporting requirements.
• Develop knowledge products, case studies, and lessons learned to strengthen IFC’s institutional knowledge on private sector development in fragile contexts.
• Prepare/coordinate preparation of high-quality briefs for WBG senior management, working papers, reports as well as promotional materials for internal and external users in coordination with the Communications Team.
• Assist in the preparation of conferences, seminars, workshops, corporate events.
• Provide in-country support, and subsequent follow-up to IFC visiting missions.
• Perform other such duties as may be required from time to time to meet emerging, ad-hoc corporate requirements, and/or respond to internal or external requests
Required Skills
Project Support and Delivery
• Experience in conducting scoping and diagnostic engagements to identify potential needs of domestic private sector clients in FCS countries as the basis for developing a proposal or client recommendations and preparing necessary project documents for moderately complex projects.
• Experience engaging with peers, including industry, sector, product, and ES&G specialists as well as legal, M&E, and finance staff, to integrate FCS considerations into proposed projects to improve concept and project approvability.
• Ability to engage with country office to identify target clients in the domestic private sector. Support the roll out of the Local Champions approach.
• Demonstrate a broad understanding of sectors and industry drivers, and the latest trends and changes in FCS markets.
Relationships Management
• Demonstrate ability to lead client meetings, share industry best practices, and engage with client management to troubleshoot project issues.
• Demonstrate skills in managing relationships with stakeholders internally and externally as well as development partners to understand their interests and build support for client engagement work.
• Demonstrate persistence, innovation, and ability to leverage all available FCS tools; show a good understanding of the roles and value-add of IFC and WBG in new markets.
• Ability to interact effectively with working level WBG staff and participate in collaborative interventions and projects that enable private sector investment by exercising sensitivity to differences in corporate cultures, priorities, and operating practices and requirements.
Selection Criteria
• Master's degree in accounting, business, finance, or economics and a minimum of 7 years of relevant experience.
• Experience working in/on fragile, or conflict affected countries including refugee situations will be a distinct advantage.
• Good understanding of IFC’s investment and advisory business lines, their products, how they complement each other, and how they may be leveraged to match the long-term needs of clients and open new markets.
• Self-starter, mature and flexible personality; able to work in a multicultural, fast-paced team environment.
• A team player with outstanding people management skills, ability to work with colleagues from different teams who are not reporting to him/her and achieve outstanding results while meeting tight deadlines and maintaining strong client service orientation.
• Strong analytical and presentation skills working with data using standard office software Excel, Word, PowerPoint.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and French.
WBG Culture Attributes:
1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
As per WBG policy, an Extended Term (ET) appointment is subject to a lifetime maximum of three (3) years. Former and current ET staff who have completed or are in the process of completing their third-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.
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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