Operations Officer/Associate Operations Officer- Pristina, Kosovo

Job #:	130157
Title:	Operations Officer/Associate Operations Officer
Job Stream:	Technical Assistance & Advisory Services
Location:	Pristina, Kosovo
Closing Date:	02/11/2013
Background / General description:
The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries as a way to reduce poverty. In addition to its investment work, IFC, through the Advisory Services program (AS), executes a number of donor-funded advisory services initiatives focused on private sector development issues in countries of Eastern and Southern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus (ECA). ECA AS program is organized along five business lines: Access to Finance, Corporate Advice, Investment Climate, Infrastructure and Environmental and Social Sustainability. The objectives of the program are to promote direct investment in the private sector, strengthen local SMEs and financial intermediaries, develop program countries’ infrastructure and help improve the business enabling environment. Nearly 200 staff is currently employed to carry out the program, which is managed by relevant Regional Business Line Managers out of several main IFC regional headquarters in Moscow, Belgrade and Istanbul.
Duties and Accountabilities:
ECA AS is seeking an Associate / Operations Officer as the country focal point for the Access to Finance (A2F) business line in Kosovo. S/he will work with two projects, and covering the overall interests of A2F in Kosovo. - Sustainable energy efficiency - Financial infrastructure, and credit reporting systems - IFC is establishing a regional platform out of the Moscow office to support banks engage in lending for sustainable energy financing (SEF), and the necessary technical and financial expertise to provide capacity building to banks. Sectors covered include SME, retail (households), leasing, and corporate. IFC has experience over several years in capacity building of banks for these purposes, and is also conducting a similar project in Albania for residential energy efficiency. The program now intends to expand to Kosovo. The first tasks will be to scope the market, and assess the interest for sustainable energy financing. The subsequent tasks would be to engage with the financial institutions, and support the teams in delivering the advisory services to banks. IFC already has an ongoing project for financial infrastructure (FI) in Central Asia, and aims to expand to the Balkans. Potential is seen in Moldova, and to some extent in Kosovo. USAID has already undertaken some work, and the Government of Kosovo has established a public credit registry. The overall task in the first 12 months will be to establish whether there is interest in the establishment of a privately run credit bureau.  The successful candidate will work directly with both program managers, and possibly also undertake select responsibilities for ECA A2F as a whole. While this require good multi-tasking and net-working skills, it will provide exposure to the overall A2F business line. The positions will be based in Pristina, Kosovo. Responsibilities: - Prepare work plans and timelines for Project management planning. - Develop contacts and manage relationships with the regulator, the banking and microfinance sector, and Project partners/contractors. - Develop materials for seminars, as well as advice and training for the Projects partners and clients. - Manage internal relationships within IFC as necessary, including IFC investment staff. - Prepare donor reports and IFC reports, including maintaining relevant back-up filings and recording of M&E data in IFC systems. - Provide consultations to, and develop reports for clients and other Projects partners. - Deliver presentations and training to clients and Projects partners. - Supervise and control day-to-day activity of Projects contractors. Ensure high quality of materials developed by the contractors.  - Facilitate reviews and comment on materials developed by Projects contractors, local laws, codes, regulations and framework tools as necessary. - Contribute to IFC’s global knowledge base and corporate initiatives. - Represent IFC and the Project Managers as needed. - Assist the managers in any other duties that may be required. - Any other duties as determined by the project managers and/or Regional Business Line Manager
Selection Criteria:
- Master’s or equivalent professional degree in business, economics, or law - At least five years of work experience in the area of microfinance or banking.  - Experience on private sector development projects or in working with or providing advisory services would be an asset - Strong organizational, and communications skills. - Ability to multi-task and ensure successful reporting to multiple managers - Oral and written fluency in English and in Albanian.

*** Applications must be submitted online. Only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. Candidates can check the status of their applications by visiting www.ifc.org/careers.