WBG Pioneer – SPARC for Conflict-Affected and Reconstruction Contexts Intern

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (alternatives include Juba, South Sudan; Nairobi, Kenya; Washington, D.C.; or fully remote)

Organization: World Bank

Job Description

WBG Pioneers, the World Bank Group’s Internship Program, offers undergraduate and postgraduate students a high impact learning experience at the heart of global development. Participants gain hands on experience in a diverse and dynamic environment, contribute fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, and connect with international professionals working to end poverty on a livable planet.

WBG Pioneers, the World Bank Group’s Internship Program, offers undergraduate and postgraduate students a high impact learning experience at the heart of global development. Participants gain hands on experience in a diverse and dynamic environment, contribute fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, and connect with international professionals working to end poverty on a livable planet.

Background/Organizational Context

The Smart Parcel Atlas for Resilient Cities (SPARC) is a World Bank Group geospatial intelligence initiative that helps task teams and city governments generate and apply parcel-level spatial evidence for urban planning, infrastructure prioritization, land management, disaster risk management, and investment decisions. SPARC combines satellite imagery, global datasets, GeoAI methods, and administrative information to produce decision-ready layers on buildings, parcels, land use, infrastructure access, hazard exposure, population dynamics, and urban growth. The internship will support the thematic expansion of SPARC to conflict-affected and reconstruction contexts (e.g., South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine), with a focus on how parcel- and neighborhood-level geospatial intelligence can inform remote monitoring, damage and change detection, population and displacement dynamics, service disruption analysis, and operational prioritization for recovery and resilience investments.

Duties and Responsibilities

•  Review SPARC materials, reconstruction, and forced displacement use cases, and good practice on remote monitoring, damage detection, displacement tracking, and urban recovery analytics.

•  Map relevant conflict-specific (including forced displacement) data sources and methods, including satellite imagery, building footprints, road networks, land cover, nighttime lights, population proxies, hazard exposure layers, and administrative datasets.

•  Support definition of SPARC use cases for conflict and post-conflict settings, including reconstruction prioritization, service disruption screening, and remote supervision of recovery investments.

•  Contribute to analytical frameworks, prototype analytics, mock-ups, and concise operational materials for selected contexts, subject to data availability and team priorities.

•  Prepare notes, briefs, slide inputs, and documentation on data quality, uncertainty, limitations, validation needs, ethical considerations, and appropriate use in sensitive FCV contexts.

Selection Criteria

•  Candidates must be currently enrolled in, or in the final year of, a postgraduate master’s or PhD program.
•  Candidates must have 1–6 years of relevant professional experience
•  Academic background in urban planning, geography, geospatial analytics, data science, remote sensing, international development, public policy, disaster risk management, conflict studies, economics, or a related field.
•  Demonstrated interest in applying geospatial data and analytics to urban resilience, reconstruction, FCV, displacement, service delivery, or infrastructure planning.
•  Strong analytical, research, and problem-solving skills, including ability to synthesize technical material for non-specialist audiences.
•  Experience with GIS, remote sensing, spatial data management, Python/R, Google Earth Engine, QGIS or ArcGIS, or related tools.
•  Ability to work effectively in diverse, team-based environments
•  Excellent written and spoken English; knowledge of Arabic, Ukrainian, French, Amharic, Swahili, or other relevant languages is an asset.

No-Fee Internship Eligibility

This position is offered under the WBG Pioneers No-Fee Internship Track. Students may be offered a no-fee STT appointment provided that they either: (a) are enrolled in a Master’s, PhD, or similar graduate program during the entire internship (or are in the fifth year or higher of a degree program in countries where higher education is not divided into undergraduate and graduate stages) and provide an official letter from their university confirming that the internship fulfills academic requirements for at least one term of study; or (b) are enrolled in undergraduate or graduate studies and receive a stipend from their university at least equivalent to the minimum STT T1 fee level in effect at the start of the assignment, as confirmed by an official university letter.

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.

The World Bank Group values diversity and encourages all qualified candidates who are nationals of World Bank Group member countries to apply, regardless of gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability. 

Sub-Saharan African nationals, Caribbean nationals, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

How to Apply

Click [Apply Now] through the: >> Official World Bank Careers Portal before the closing date on August 12, 2026.