POSITION NUMBER 160355: International Finance Corporation FC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We do so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and supply essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable development.
Program Objective: The program aims to support the emergence and growth of the market for off-grid solar energy products for low income households and MSMEs in Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to enable access to affordable, safe, high-quality lighting and related services. The Lighting Pakistan / Afghanistan program works with solar lighting product manufacturers, distributors, consumers, financial institutions, development partners, and governments to help build a market for reliable solar lighting products. Detailed program information can be found at www.lightingasia.org/pakistan.
IFC MENA is seeking a Program Manager (PM) to oversee and manage the Lighting Pakistan / Afghanistan Program. The position may be based in either Karachi or Islamabad, Pakistan. The incumbent will report to the MENA Energy & Resource Efficiency Regional Lead. In addition, the PM will work under the strategic guidance of the Global Head of Energy Access and function as a collaborative member of the Global Off-Grid Lighting Team.
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 3 year term appointment.
The PM will be in charge of leading the implementation of Lighting Pakistan / Afghanistan, including designing the specific services provided by the program, managing program implementation, working with clients at the company, sector, and policy levels, as well as meeting all monitoring and reporting requirements for the program. This program is one of a portfolio of country programs under the Lighting Global umbrella. As such, it will be managed using best practices from the global practice, and the PM will actively engage with counterparts operating similar programs in Asia and Africa under the global supervision of the Global Head of Energy Access.
The specific responsibilities of this position include managing to success the following components of the Lighting Pakistan / Afghanistan program:
1. Quality assurance. The Lighting Global product quality standards were developed under Lighting Africa and have now been adopted by the IEC as the international standards for off-grid solar lighting products. For companies to become clients of the program, it is a prerequisite that they sell products that have passed these standards. The quality assurance component of IFC’s Lighting program (i.e. product testing) is now run centrally under Lighting Global; however, the PM will be responsible to coordinate market check testing of products in the market in Pakistan which will be conducted to ensure ongoing compliance with the standards.
2. Market intelligence. The PM will oversee the marketing and dissemination of a detailed market intelligence report that has been produced in order to encourage companies to enter the market and become clients of the program. As the market develops, and in response to the needs of clients, the PM will be responsible to develop a series of brief and targeted market intelligence reports will be provided covering specific issues in order to inform and guide the activities of market actors.
3. Business (development) support. The PM will be responsible to undertake a number of different activities which aim to inform the business activities of clients (generally manufacturers and vendors of the lighting devices), and facilitate productive partnerships in the market. Such support includes tracking sales figures and disseminating market trends and other information, convening market players in order to match make between market players such as device manufacturers and telecoms or microfinance partners, as well as identifying bulk procurement opportunities for suppliers to increase market share (e.g. UNDP, International Organization for Migration)
4. Consumer education. The PM will manage the implementation of a nationwide awareness campaign which has been developed in order to stimulate demand for quality certified off-grid lighting products. The key messages of the campaign will be developed to best fit the needs of the market. Given the high investment cost of the campaign, and the global lighting team’s experience in other countries, the PM will engage members of the Lighting Asia and Lighting Africa teams to assist in the ongoing modifications to the design, operational modalities, and strategic approach to be taken in Pakistan. Given the cultural and linguistic diversity of Pakistan, it is expected that the campaign will be delivered in different languages in different parts of the country, and will evolve multiple channels to deliver messages effectively and economically The design of the campaign will draw on experience from other Lighting programs and will be refined in collaboration with local marketing experts. Innovative approaches (e.g. getting a storyline placed in a popular radio soap opera) have been successfully used in Lighting Africa and will be explored in Pakistan. Clients will be informed of the campaign timings with sufficient notice to time their own marketing activities accordingly.
5. Regulatory dialogue. In general there are few regulatory barriers for solar equipment in Pakistan: import duties are waived for renewable energy equipment and kerosene is not subsidized. However, there are various regulatory measures that could support the growth of the off-grid solar market. Examples include linking the duty waiver to compliance with quality standards and / or extending the duty waiver to relevant DC appliances (e.g. fans). The PM will manage dialogue (which is already underway) with relevant government stakeholders, in coordination with the Trade & Competitiveness and IBRD team, in order to convince the government agencies of the merit of these and any other regulatory measures and support their implementation.
6. Catalyzing financing. Based on lessons learned in Kenya, it is prudent to prepare measures to address potential financial bottlenecks at an early stage in the program. The key financial bottleneck is likely to be the provision of working capital to link distributors with product suppliers. The PM will support IFC Investment departments and other local lenders to engage in this area.
7. Engagement with stakeholders. Continuously update and keep the industry stakeholders in the country abreast of the activities of Lighting Pakistan / Afghanistan, leveraging IFC colleagues who have client relationships with the stakeholders. Key stakeholders include:
• Various Ministerial agencies;
• Off-grid lighting companies (as relevant) and sector players;
• Distribution and supply chain partners;
• Financial institutions and Associations representing the renewable energy sector in general and relevant standard bureaus;
• Other IFC internal divisions, World Bank Group and other stakeholders as required
• Other external stakeholders as relevant
8. Budget Management & Reporting. The PM will be responsible to effectively and efficiently manage the Program budget and report on the Program’s progress, budgets and M&E to IFC management and donors, e.g. through IFC’s project supervision reporting system and donor reports, as well as through direct dialogue with the Energy Access Head, as required.
9. Monitoring & Evaluation.
• Set up tools to monitor and track the program performance in line with the log-frame and approved Implementation Plan.
• Manage individual projects as the Task Team Leader ensuring timely execution and completion of Management Information System reporting requirements. The PM will have volume and development impact targets defined within the Program Implementation Plan.
10. Afghanistan Extension
Expand the above activities into Afghanistan where feasible, particularly where Lighting Pakistan / Afghanistan Associates have expressed interest to enter the market; this includes:
• Assess and validate the viability of expanding the Pakistan program to Afghanistan.
• Coordinate an integrated WB-IFC strategy to address the Afghanistan market.
• If appropriate, and there is political buy in and organizational support in the WBG, and sufficient interest from the off-grid solar industry Associates, and interest from donors, proceed to develop a strategy for developing the Afghanistan market.
• Undertake awareness raising efforts in Afghanistan in order to increase market and stakeholder awareness of the Lighting program and principles
• Support market entry for clients and associates into Afghanistan including facilitating distribution partnerships
• If feasible, progress the program to Implementation Plan approval when the sufficient enabling conditions are in place.
11. Other Responsibilities
• Draft TORs, hire and manage third party consultants to execute program activities.
• Additional tasks will be discussed with the incumbent and added or removed depending on the development of the project or other requirements as needed.
SELECTION CRITERIA:
- Degree in business, engineering, finance, economics, or related subject. Masters level degree preferred.
- Minimum of 10 years of commercial sales/marketing experience or business development experience with a specific focus on rural and social marketing, as well as SMEs, and experience interfacing with the supply chain and end consumers.
- Successful experience managing complex relationships, resolving differences, and achieving successful outcomes among multiple and diverse sets of stakeholders, from government representatives to rural retailers.
- Demonstrated knowledge in launching new products; candidates having experience with clean energy especially solar technologies, telecoms and related markets have a competitive advantage.
- Excellent written and spoken English language communication and interpersonal skills to present the program to high level company and government representatives.
- Capacity to operate successfully in a high pressure, fast-paced, and multicultural environment.
- Positive, go-getter attitude, willing to continuously learn, share experiences and knowledge, and encourage innovation.Apply
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