Senior Local Expert VET/TVET School Construction
KfW Office Belgrade
Beograd, Milutina Milankovića 3v
23.10.2024.
KfW Development Bank, one of the world’s leading bilateral development banks, finances and manages some 2.000 development projects in more than 100 countries. We work on behalf of the German Government, helping to achieve the goals set for German Development Cooperation: Protecting the environment, ensuring peace, enhancing economic development and reducing poverty. In the Western Balkans 6 (WB6), KfW so far has financed various significant projects promoting sustainable investments mainly in (Technical) Vocational Education and Training (T/VET) in the energy, urban infrastructure and the financial sector.
Located at its office in Belgrade, Serbia, KfW Development Bank is searching for a highly qualified and highly motivated “Senior Local Expert VET/TVET School Construction” (m/f/d).
KfW is one of the leading financing institutions in the T/VET sector in the WB6 countries supporting mainly governmental organisations in strengthening their educational offer by financing modern T/VET infrastructure. The Expert’s role is to support with technical expertise, the acquisition and portfolio development, implementation and monitoring of the T/VET portfolio; in close coordination with and under the lead of the respective Portfolio Managers in Frankfurt, Germany, and in coordination with the local offices.
Scope of Work:
As Local Expert for T/VET School (and other) Construction, you are reinforcing and supporting the sector team “Sustainable Economic Development and Education” covering the WB6 countries (namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) and Turkey, as well as Eastern Europe (Ukraine and Moldova), Southern Caucasus (Georgia) and the Central Asia region (mainly Uzbekistan). You will primarily accompany school infrastructure projects in this team. A focus will lie in WB6 countries, however, your involvement is required and expected also in the other above-mentioned countries/regions. The types of projects you primarily support include new construction, modernisation or rehabilitation of public training/ T/VET facilities on the secondary and tertiary level including procurement of equipment. In addition, you may support other projects focused on public buildings/social infrastructure involving civil construction, e.g. new construction or conversion of residential buildings or energy efficiency projects. Specifically, you are responsible for performing or ensuring the following tasks in support of the Frankfurt Sector Team specifically the portfolio management in Frankfurt:
- Identify, analyse and evaluate technical aspects including environmental, institutional, time, financial and business factors that influence the sustainable success of Financial Cooperation projects and develop proposals for operationalisation and risk mitigation;
- Analyse, assess and oversee, as well as advise on the
- technical and institutional framework in a country,
- local procurement regulations,
- local/regional market for works and supplies,
- especially T/VET equipment and training equipment and facilities, and
- technological standards in the partner country and compare those to technologies used regionally or internationally;
- Support in structuring, designing and developing Financial Cooperation projects monitoring/evaluation of project preparation or feasibility studies, preparation of technical contributions to assessment reports and project proposals (including cost and financing plans) regarding technical-economic relevant aspects such as design, feasibility, operation, maintenance, environmental and social compatibility, climate relevance;
- Project implementation: draft terms of reference for project preparatory studies and consult assignments; monitor and actively support procurement processes from a technical point of view, evaluate and assess work plans and progress reports, focus on result-orientation and planned implementation;
- Project monitoring: implement the technical parts of progress and final controls incl. reporting, budget utilisation, audits and ex-post evaluations; initiate and track corrective actions for plan deviations;
- Knowledge management, including further development of own expertise, technical training and technical advice for Project Managers and management as well as ensuring conceptual continuity in project management;
- Further develop the portfolio together with and in support of the Portfolio Managers;
- Tasks outside the country, such as supporting other parts of the KfW banking group, networking and representation of KfW in relevant expert groups;
- Frequent business trips in the above-mentioned regions and to KfW, Frankfurt.
- Closely coordinate with the Portfolio Managers and the Project Team (mainly Technical Experts, Environmental and Social Experts, Procurement Managers) in Frankfurt to jointly ensure successful implementation of the projects,
Some of the tasks require independent preparation, processing, and implementation of project missions (audits, progress checks, final controls).
Requirements for technical and other knowledge
- Completed studies of civil engineering with a focus on building and civil engineering, or comparable qualification;
- Several years of relevant professional experience, ideally also abroad;
- Extensive project experience in the planning and realisation of public buildings/ social infrastructure construction projects; experience in T/VET school projects is an added value and preferred; preferably in the above-mentioned regions and specifically in the WB6 region;
- Very good know-how on the implementation of internationally recognised standards on environmental, social and health protection as well as occupational health and safety;
- Profound experience in international procurement processes and standards and in contract design for supplies and services;
- Technical expertise of T/VET equipment selection, specification and procurement is preferred;
- Profound experience as technical expert and in project planning and implementation in developing or emerging countries with international clients is desirable;
- Very good English skills in writing and speaking, additional languages from the above-mentioned regions, specifically the WB6 region is an asset; German language skills are an additional asset.
Special Skills Requirements
- Strong analytical competence as well as the ability to quickly assess complex situations and present them appropriately to the addressees;
- Flexibility to deal with heterogeneous issues and requirements;
- Ability to work independently; strong capability to take decisions and readiness to take on responsibility;
- Self-initiative and creativity in conception and advice, especially for complex projects while well coordinating with project managers and team;
- Ability to develop and implement appropriate practical solutions in a short period of time;
- Strong team working skills and service orientation as part of a project team;
- Capability and interest to work with people from different professional and cultural backgrounds;
- Convincing appearance, communication, and presentation;
- Willingness to travel abroad and in the region of the assignment location.
The position is tendered as a full-time fixed-term contract with the possibility to lead to a permanent contract; application for part-time will be considered.
Starting date is February 01, 2025
Contact:
Candidates are requested to send their motivation letter (mandatory), CV and credentials as one pdf-document (not exceeding 10 MB) electronically.
Only applications providing the requested documentation will be considered.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews. Short-listed candidates will be asked to bring certified copies of their diplomas and work certificates.
To learn more about KfW Development Bank please visit our website www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de