Economist (Central Africa) at the World Bank Group

MFM professionals most often work across sectors helping carry out key integrative functions. In this context MFM professionals are responsible for the preparation and delivery of the majority of the Bank’s Development Policy Operations using both IDA and IBRD resources. MFM professionals also lead or participate in a wide variety of AAA and client advisory work requiring an integrative functions that add to the core MFM expertise. As such MFM staff often lead or participate in the preparation of Strategic Country Diagnostics, Country Economic Memorandums and cross sector Public Expenditure Reviews. An important additional element of engagement in macroeconomic and fiscal policies is carried through work on debt management supported by the Debt Management Facility. Knowledge and learning is a central part of MFM with work focused on 5 thematic areas: (a) macroeconomics; (b) fiscal policy; (c) growth; (d) economic management in resource rich environments; and (e) macroeconomic modelling & statistics.

Background & General Description
The Macroeconomic & Fiscal Management Global Practice (MFM GP) is seeking an Economist based in Bangui, Central African Republic. The selected candidate will be an integral part of the CAR country team and the global MFM GP, and will report to the MFM Practice Manager covering CAR, currently based in Washington DC. Key responsibilities include: (i) preparing regular macroeconomic reports; (ii) conducting detailed analysis of selected policy areas; (iii) carrying out policy dialogue with the Government as needed; and (iv) working closely with the Program Leader and rest of the MFM team to ensure timely and high quality delivery of MFM products.

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 term appointment.

Duties and Accountabilities

• Under the general guidance of the Country Manager and with the direct supervision of the Country Economist, the CAR-based Economist will be working in the area of economic data collection and analysis.
• The content of the work will mainly be defined by the nature of assistance that World Bank provides to Central African Republic and the economic policy advice required in programming such assistance.

Working as part of a team, the main functions of the Economist include:

• Support to research and analyze a wide variety of specific economic, financial, country or sector topics and issues for lending, research, and/or policy related tasks.
• Interact with various stakeholders to support data needs (including inflation data, commodity prices, treasury data).
• Prepare routine reports, and participate in drafting, country economic, sector, strategy or research reports involving the analysis, evaluation and, preparation of data, as well as the formulation of conclusions and recommendations.
• Program and modify economic/financial models using existing software packages and develop software needed to implement and upgrade models, using a variety of complex languages.
• Support the preparation and supervision of World Bank lending operations and analytical products.
• Interact and at times lead discussions with a wide variety of groups including counterparts in government and in a variety of international and other partner organizations, academia; Bank counterparts within and across sectors, networks; and managers across the Bank Group.
• The above tasks may involve working on the content of the reports and/or managing the process of their production. Working on the content will also involve collecting socio-economic data, analyzing the data and contributing to writing the reports.

Selection Criteria

• Minimum of a Master’s degree in Economics, with five years of experience. Strong technical and operational skills as evidenced in a proven track record in delivery of Bank operations, such as ESWs or Development Policy Lending (DPLs)
• Proven sense of initiative, results orientation, and leadership qualities, as well as effective teamwork skills
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to speak persuasively and to present ideas clearly and concisely with senior policy officials
• Strong integrative capacities; i.e., ability to situate IDA activities within a coherent strategic framework
• Excellent communication and presentation skills -- both verbal and written. Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly on complex topics to a wide variety of audiences
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiations skills and ability to work flexibly, creatively and to multitask as the need arises
• A high degree of self-motivation, positive attitude and drive
• Strong commitment towards team work and knowledge sharing, especially across the World Bank Group.

Required Competencies:

• General Economic Knowledge and National Accounting Skills - Possesses a superior track record of working with national accounts, analyzing the strengths of weaknesses of existing data production processes - including in data poor developing countries.
• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena - Understands policy making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
• Policy Dialogue Skills - Identifies and assesses policy issues and takes a leading role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
• Integrative Skills - Has an integrated view of all facets of national accounts and macroeconomics.
• Macroeconomic Skills and Country Economics Experience - Has a strong understanding of macroeconomic relationships, and the use of national accounts and balance of payments data systems from a data-consumer point of view.
• Written and Verbal Communication - Delivers information effectively in support of team or workgroup
• Lead and Innovate - Develops innovative solutions.
• Deliver Results for Clients - Proactively addresses clients’ stated and unstated needs.
• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries - Collaborates across boundaries, listens well to the views of collaborators and remains open-minded. Develops consensual solutions that bring diverse partners together.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge - Creates, shared and disseminated knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
• Make Smart Decisions - Has a pro-active solution oriented that brings together a wide range of information to develop, implement and monitor solutions.

Recruitment Timeline
End of July - September 2016 - Review applications and update application status to candidates
August - September 2016 - Contact all shortlisted candidates and conduct interviews in Washington, D.C. and locations in Africa

Application Closing Date
7th August, 2016.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note

• Shortlisted candidates may be contacted as early as August 2016 for interviews which may be conducted in Washington, D.C. or locations in Africa. Interviews will be conducted through September 2016. Based on the availability of interviewers and candidates some interviews may be conducted virtually.
• Candidates who have previously submitted applications through the Recruitment Drive for African Nationals in 2015 must submit a new application to be considered for opportunities in this year's campaign. We apologize that we are unable to consider previously submitted applications.