Job Abstract

Post of duty: Washington, DC

The IDB Group is a community of diverse, versatile, and passionate people who come together on a journey to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our people find purpose and do what they love in an inclusive, collaborative, agile, and rewarding environment.

About this position

Established in 1959, the Inter-American Development Bank (“IDB” or “Bank”) is the main source of financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. It provides loans, grants, guarantees, policy advice and technical assistance to the public and private sectors of its borrowing countries.

The IDB recognizes that transparency and accountability are instrumental in improving effective delivery of public services and creating a business climate that incentivizes investment and supports private sector development. Evidence demonstrates that lack of transparency and integrity can affect a country’s productivity and economic growth. Research points to several determinants, including systems and processes that restrict access to information, weak legal and regulatory enforcement, as well as flawed institutions, laws and regulations leaving room for state capture, discretional decision making, corruption, and an uneven playing field for the private sector.

Therefore, transparency and accountability play central roles in promoting integrity, equitable application of the law, public trust, and good governance. The Bank assists its member countries efforts, as well as private sector initiatives that are consistent with the promotion of transparency and integrity.

A key initiative of the IDBG is promoting the use of Public Private Partnerships. Through effective public policy and strong public-private partnerships (PPPs), the Americas can achieve sustained and inclusive economic growth, increased productivity, and enhanced competitiveness. The level of success that countries can achieve in developing PPP projects and programs is closely linked to the strength of their institutions and the frameworks established to govern, develop, and manage contracts. As indicated in a recent technical note by the IDB, “Good governance must promote projects with properly assigned risks; they should be divided or shared between the contracting parties that are most capable of managing them. When translating policy into successful implementation the quality of the institutions and their effectiveness must also be protected. For both natural or early contract termination, a well-defined, transparent structure with institutions that have clear roles and duties is key to properly managing the termination and to providing fair restitution or compensation to the parties involved” Good governance of a PPPs framework relies on the principles set forth by the UN, which require, “Participation, Decency, Transparency, Accountability, Fairness and Efficiency”. Recent integrity scandals, particularly related to the infrastructure sector, require strengthening public and private sector regulations and practices to ensure these principles are observed.

Another initiative which is critical for enhancing public and private dialogue is the Americas.

Business Dialogue (ABD). The Americas Business Dialogue (ABD) is a private sector led initiative facilitated by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) aimed at fostering a high-level public-private policy dialogue between business and government leaders of the Americas on the region’s priorities, challenges, and opportunities for economic growth and development. The ABD is organized in 9 working groups: Agribusiness, Digital Trade and Economy, Energy, Finance, Human Capital and Innovation, Infrastructure and Logistics, Natural Resources, Transparency and Regulatory Cooperation and Trade Facilitation.

The role of IDB in the ABD is to convene government authorities from the Americas to explore potential areas of public-private collaboration and support the implementation of ABD recommendations. The IDB also works to facilitate the ABD annual plenary meeting and ABD member participation at high-level ministerial meetings in the Americas. Lastly, the IDB coordinates the CEO Summit of the Americas, with support from the Summit of the Americas host country, were ABD members present policy recommendations to Heads of State and Government.

The ABD Work Plan defines that both the public and the private sectors have a strong role to play in building a transparent economy that is positioned for sustainable growth. Productivity, transparency, and effective accountability are intrinsically connected. Institutional quality and respect for the rule of law, including transparency and accountability, are instrumental in improving effective delivery of public services, as well as creating a business climate that incentivizes investment and supports private sector development.

To strengthen the work of the Bank’s Group work in supporting member countries and the private sector in developing, adopting, and implementing transparency and integrity policies, the Bank is seeking to hire a senior expert.

The objective of this consultancy is to provide technical advice to the PPP Units and the ABD with helping member countries and the private sector in developing, adopting, and implementing transparency, integrity and anti-corruption policies.

What you’ll do

The consultancy will focus on the following main activities (i) Technical Guidance for transparency and integrity programs; (ii) Contribution to the design of Regional Cooperation, including regional public goods; (iii) Support Knowledge Generation, policy dialogue, dissemination, and communication. To accomplish the consultancy objectives and in line with the above-mentioned pillars, the Senior Consultant will carry out the following specific activities:

• Technical Guidance for transparency and integrity programs:
• Provide technical assistance to the PPP Single Window in supporting good governance measures, including institutional capacity building for PPPs, policy measures to enhance the observance of transparency and integrity principles.
• Provide technical assistance to the PPP Single Window in promoting the adoption of legal and regulatory frameworks to enhance transparency and integrity in the use of PPPs, especially in infrastructure projects, following the recommendations of the Transparency Principles in Infrastructure and similar initiatives.
• Support the PPP Single Window in organizing PPP Americas, particularly in identifying topics, speakers and technical input.
• Provide technical Support to the ABD in developing and updating the Recommendations for the Transparency and regulatory cooperation working Group, to update the ABD Work Plan and provide input to the Summit of the Americas and other relevant for public-private forums.
• Provide high-level advice to ABD members and INT, especially in Transparency and Good Regulatory Practices to achieve the goals of the ABD, including knowledge products, strategic communications such as technical notes, briefs, blogs and similar products.
• Identify, contribute and participate in high-level policy dialogues with governments, international and bilateral organizations, private sector organizations and other stakeholders to enhance the impact of the ABD recommendations, create synergies and improve its overall effect.
• Develop studies on frontier issues and/or international trends related to the focus areas of private sector integrity and improving business climate.