Senior Education Analyst at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Education Analyst, AHHD1

Reference: ADB/19/234
Location: Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
Grade: PL5
Position N°: 50071756

The Complex
The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”. The complex objectives are:

• To develop, policy and strategy;
• Provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions;
• Develop new financing instruments;
• The Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

The Hiring Department/Division

• The Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD), within the Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex will spearhead the achievement of the High 5s on “Improving the Quality of Life of People in Africa” and contribute to the other High 5s
• The Department has two divisions:
  • Education, Human Capital and Employment Division, which focuses on scaling-up of Bank’s support to education, human capital and employment/livelihoods including the implementation of Jobs for Youth Strategy; and
  • Public Health, Security and Nutrition Division focusing on strengthening health systems and nutrition for human wellbeing. It also hosts various pertinent initiatives and trust funds
• Education and skills training for development and gender analysis are central to the Department’s approach to strengthen the Bank’s role in helping the RMCs build the human capital they need for economic transformation in the context of globalization and the Fourth industrial revolution
• The Human Capital Strategy 2014-2018 and the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy 2016-2025 are the sector policy and strategy frameworks for Department’s work.

The Education and Skills Division focuses on human capital development, skills training, employment creation and empowerment, poverty reduction for improved and sustainable wellbeing and livelihoods. The Division:

• Leads the development and promotion of Bank’s policy and strategy work so that operations which are identified, developed and executed by the regional hubs effectively implement the Bank’s relevant sector policies and strategies;
• Provides technical guidance/advisory services and expertise to regional hubs by generating relevant knowledge and gathering a pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide technical advice on complex transactions (Community of Practice);
• Fosters strategic partnerships with regional and global partners to leverage resources into the human and social development sectors
• It also directly contributes to the work of the various initiatives and trust funds hosted under the Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department; and provides expertise to support Vice President’s role as the Bank’s spokesperson to external audiences, and;
• Ensures coherence of the Bank’s action in education and skills development across regions.

The Position

• The Division will lead the Bank’s agenda on Education and skills development. It will promote activities related to improving the demand responsiveness of the education & training system to the skills needs of the labour market and for job creation on the continent
• Specifically, activities focusing on improving post-secondary, technical and vocational training, tertiary education, sciences, technology and innovation as well as gender issues in education will be undertaken.

In this context the Main Objectives of the Senior Education Analyst will be to:

• Support developing the knowledge work regarding education and skills training for Human capital development in the productive sectors;
• Provide documented strategic advice to management in education and skills training across the AHVP and various complexes aligned with the High 5 within the bank;
• Contribute to the preparation of policies and strategies pertinent to education and skills training for development;
• Support the design, monitoring and supervision of Non-sovereign and complex operations to address gender, education and skills development for productive sectors.
• Support the regional hubs in the preparation of country and regional strategies to facilitate integration of skills development dimensions
• Provide technical expertise to the regional hubs in the design of sovereign operations to facilitate integration of skills development dimensions

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Division Manager Education, Human Capital and Employment and working closely with internal and external stakeholders, the Senior Education Analyst will perform the following:

Supporting Analytical Work in Education and Skills Division and in the Bank:

• Providing technical and analytical support to teams, Regional Member Countries (RMCs) and clients on education and skills development.
• Support delivering briefs and reports using both quantitative and qualitative information;
• Preparing education requests to be submitted for bilateral funds, and necessary management and follow up actions for the funds;
• Contributing to strategic missions on education and skills development through policy recommendation publications commentaries etc.
• Supporting country teams in preparing Economic Sector Work (ESW) to inform the development of lending operations.
• Serving as a reference to colleagues in areas of competence, particularly in education in both economic and financial analyses.
• Providing other departments/divisions of the Bank with expert advice on education and skills development and human capital development issues, particularly on links with the productive sector.
• Supporting the development of a data base on results achieved in supporting education and skills development in the RMCs and in the Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

Portfolio Development and Monitoring:

• Participating actively in Regional Team meetings, Country Strategic Paper and Portfolio Assessment missions;
• Participating in various stages of initiation and design of sovereign national and regional operations initiated by the regional hubs
• Supporting initiation and design of non-sovereign (private) operations, including Public Private Partnerships in the sector and the management and monitoring of such operations after approval;
• Supporting initiation and design of complex (multinational operations) in the sector and the management and monitoring of such operations after approval.

Supporting Policy Dialogue and Partnerships in Education and Skills Development By:

• Enhancing the collaboration between the Bank and the key bilateral/multilateral partners on education and skills,
• Supporting the resources mobilization from multilateral/bilateral development institutions, donors and private sector institutions to complement the Bank Group’s operations around the core areas of TVET, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), STI, Financing in Education and the leveraging of digital technology;
• Participating in dialogue with the representatives of governments on basic orientations in the education and skills development sub-sectors;
• Representing the Bank at technical meetings on education and skills development;
• Following-up on execution of decisions and recommendations made at the international level on education economics to keep the Bank up-to-date.

Knowledge Management:

• Contributing to the preparation of policy and analytical work-related education and skills and human capital development;
• Supporting studies and capacity building interventions in education and skills development to promote human capital development;
• Playing an active role in knowledge generation and sharing in the field of education and skills for employability with the Bank’s clients, staff and development partners;
• Organizing internal events on education and skills development to ensure a good Bank wide understanding;
• Support delivering briefs and reports using both quantitative and qualitative information;
• Supporting the promotion of the division’s (AHHD1) work.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Master's Degree or its equivalent in Education with a good knowledge of policy and issues determining skills development for economic transformation;
• Have a minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional experience in the areas of education and skills development;
• Ability to understand complex problems in Education and human capital development, to identify key issues and recommend pragmatic solutions;
• Good knowledge of the education systems, preferably post-secondary systems including gender and development issues in Africa;
• Strong analytical and writing skills, delivering briefs and reports using both quantitative and qualitative information;
• Strong understanding and grasp of multi-sector approaches of education, gender and skills development, partnerships in Africa,
• Professional ability to build partnerships and deliver services that meet both immediate needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the institution;
• Ability to provide support in integrating the education in economic sector as well as other relevant sectors and to support portfolio teams in processing and supervising programs including NSO;
• Ability to innovate and integrate education and skills training through the other sectors;
• Ability to design and implement education projects both SOs and NSOs;
• Ability to engage, support and motivate others to implement efficient ways of doing things;
• Ability to deliver high quality work within very tight deadlines;
• Having strong background /experience for development especially in the education sector in Africa;
• Ability to communicate and write effectively in English and/or French, with a good working knowledge of the other language;
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint), knowledge of SAP is desirable.

Application Closing Date
18th December, 2019.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note

• To apply for this position, you need to be national of one of AfDB member countries.
• Applicants who fully meet the Bank's requirements and are considered for interview will be contacted. Only online applications submitted with a comprehensive Curriculum Vitae (CV) and copies of the required degrees will be considered. The President, AfDB, reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level. The African Development Bank is an equal opportunities employer. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) does not ask for payments of any kind from applicants throughout the recruitment process (job application, CV review, interview meeting, and final processing of applications). In addition, the Bank does not request information on applicants’ bank accounts. The African Development Bank Group declines all responsibility for the fraudulent publications of job offers in its name or, in general, for the fraudulent use of its name in any way whatsoever.