Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. Visit www.worldbank.org.
FCDO – World Bank
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) (formerly known as Department for International Development (DFID)) leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty. FCDO Central Asia’s bilateral program contributes to delivering UK strategic objectives for Central Asia, including building more transparent, effective governance that will help develop more open, inclusive economies and integration into the rules-based international system.
Effective Governance for Economic Development (EGED) Program
The Effective Governance for Economic Development (EGED) program, funded by FCDO, seeks to improve the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of economic policy delivery on selected reform priorities in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The program contributes to the UK strategy in Central Asia, supporting Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to strengthen their democracy, prioritize economic growth and reduce poverty. The program will improve economic policy performance in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by embedding evidence-informed processes into government reform planning and implementation. The program will also support civil society in the three countries to hold governments to account on economic policy outcomes. Traditional good governance approaches have had limited success in Central Asia due to political economy constraints and limited capacity of government and civil society. EGED will deliver two pillars:
1. Supporting more effective, evidence-informed design and delivery of economic policies. This will include supporting governments to generate better data and evidence, use this data for policy design and implementation of up to 15 economic reforms, improved coordination within government on policy implementation, and better engagement with citizens. This will also include the use of innovative technology for data use, where appropriate. 2. Strengthening civil society (including media, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, business associations, and others) to hold the governments of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to account on the specific issues selected under pillar one, through improved use of data and evidence.
The World Bank Poverty and Equity GP will support the implementation of Pillar 1 (outputs 1 & 2) of the EGED program. The program will work across three outputs, aiming to improve effectiveness, accountability and transparency of economic policy delivery in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
1. Strengthened evidence and coordination processes, practices and capabilities within government (Pillar 1)2. Improved performance on select economic development/reform policies (Pillar 1)3. Enhanced capacity of civil society to hold government to account (Pillar 2)
The Poverty & Equity Global Practice
To help achieve the twin goals, the institution is organized around fourteen global practices (GP) and five cross-cutting solution areas (CCSA), one of which is the Poverty & Equity Global Practice (Poverty GP).
The Poverty GP plays three key –leading and supportive– roles: sectoral integrator at country level; generator of knowledge and dialogue; and operational solutions supporter. The country-level work of the Poverty and Equity global practice typically falls under one or more of the following three streams:
● Laying the foundations for evidence-based policy by strengthening data on household welfare: this is the foundational work, mostly delivered through TA and occasionally through statistical capacity-building investment operations, to support the design and implementation of household surveys, provide advice on best-practice methodologies for estimating household welfare, poverty, and shared prosperity, and build capacity and strengthen country systems for collecting data on and monitoring household welfare.
● Defining the agenda through integrative analysis and dialogue: this stream of work has focused on using the household-level data, wherever available, to undertake integrative analyses to inform the policy dialogue and advance the poverty reduction and shared prosperity agenda and priorities at the regional, national and occasionally sub-national levels.
● Delivering operational solutions: this stream of work focuses on collaborating with internal and external partners to translate the upstream analytics into concrete implementable measures and support the implementation of particular interventions aimed at reducing poverty. This includes supporting the preparation of Systematic Country Diagnostics and Country Partnership Frameworks, as well as the analysis of poverty and social impacts of Bank operations.
The development and flow of global knowledge within the practice is facilitated through four cross-cutting global solution areas, each of which is led by a thematic Lead Economist. These are: (i) Poverty monitoring and statistical capacity building, (ii) Markets and institutions for poverty reduction and shared prosperity, (iii) Fiscal and social policy for poverty reduction and shared prosperity, and (iv) Resilience to shocks and sustainability of poverty reduction and shared prosperity.
This job description describes the responsibilities of an Extended-term consultant to be hired by the Central Asia team in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice to support the delivery of the joint FCDO-WB EGED program in Tajikistan. The Poverty & Equity Global Practice team in Central Asia
Following widespread gains in household welfare over the past two decades, countries in Central Asia aspire to become middle class societies. This goal is prominent in the development plans of each of the countries of Central Asia, as they seek to sustain progress in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. Reaching these ambitions will require equipping people with the assets, access to basic services, and markets needed to contribute productively to economic growth, while generating economic security and stability sufficient to reduce people’s risk of falling back into poverty.
The Central Asia team in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice has a work program that is aligned with the aspirations of the region, and the challenges in each of the five countries. Due to client demand, collaboration on welfare monitoring, and policies regarding data sharing, the current core of the program concentrates on the two IDA countries of the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, as well as on a blend (IDA-IBRD) country of Uzbekistan. Nonetheless, the team uses a regional approach to achieve economies of scale in ongoing activities and seeks to deepen engagement in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Broader engagement is important for ensuring the strong links of the World Bank’s portfolio to the Twin Goals. The development objective of the WB Poverty Program in Central Asia is to support policies for reducing poverty and improving equity in Central Asia.
Duties and Responsibilities
• Support the implementation of the EGED program in Tajikistan, maintaining constant communication with, and providing briefings to, the Poverty & Equity Global Practice, the Country Management Unit, and the clients.• Coordinate the organization of WB-FCDO missions to Tajikistan, organization of various events (conferences, workshops, study-visits) within EGED program.• Prepare analytical, technical, and policy reports for both clients and other team members.• Perform the monitoring and evaluation of the program activities.• Lead/contribute to the preparation of analytical work organized by the Poverty & Equity Global Practice in Central Asia, including, but not limited to Country Economic Updates, prioritization of investments, opportunities for development of economic reform policies, etc.• Contribute and coordinate with other units and practice groups on policy-reform areas to be identified under EGED program in Tajikistan.
Selection Criteria
• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.• Advanced (at least Master’s) degree in relevant discipline such as public policy and administration, economics or political sciences. • Work experience in Central Asia. Previous experience in Tajikistan is strong advantage.• Demonstrated strength in at least one of the three streams of work around which the poverty global practice’s country-level programs are structured. Experience in more than one of those work streams is desirable. • Experience with operational programs (including capacity building) for poverty reduction, labor markets, and gender equity is a plus.• Demonstrated experience in project management and implementation, including experience in supporting clients and task teams in carrying out project preparation and/or implementation.• Ability to integrate technical, institutional and financial elements in formulating or assessing realistic reform strategies and conducting policy dialogue.• High degree of dynamism and self-motivation, as well as the ability to work with minimal supervision.• Ability to identify and develop potential areas for future World Bank initiatives to enhance analytical capacity for better evidence-based policy design.• Knowledge of quantitative methods and statistical software (R or Stata) is an advantage.• Superb interpersonal skills; ability to collaborate effectively with multi-disciplinary teams, and to listen and integrate ideas from varied sources, governments, NGOs and donors, while being diplomatic and sensitive to cultural, political and gender issues. Excellent written and communications skills in English, Russian and Tajik.
Required Competencies
• General Economic Knowledge and Analytical Skills – Demonstrated track record of working with economic and survey data and analytical tools and models to conduct applied micro-economic analyses and produce user-friendly written outputs; understands underlying economic and statistical concepts.• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena – Understands policy issues relevant to client countries and policy-making process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.• Policy Dialogue Skills – Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders. Contributes to policy dialogue of other sectors through cross-support.• Integrative Skills – Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.• Written and Verbal Communication – Delivers information effectively in support of team or workgroup.
WBG COMPETENCIES
• 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, gives own perspective and willingly receives diverse perspectives.• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge - Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.• Make Smart Decisions - Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
This vacancy is archived.