Research Analyst, Washington

• Organization: World Bank
• Country: United States
• City: Washington
• Office: World Bank HQ Washington
• Follow @UNjobs

The World Bank | 1818 H St NW | Washington, DC 20006 | Tel: (202) 473-1000

Closing date: Tuesday, 6 September 2016

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• Location Washington, DC
• Recruitment Type Local Hire
• Language Requirement English [Essential]
• Closing Date 06-Sep-2016

Background / General description
The World Bank Group:
Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally. The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). IBRD and IDA are commonly known as the World Bank, which is organized into six client-facing Regional
Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions, and as of July 1, 2014 has introduced fourteen Global Practices (GPs) as well as five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs) to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.
The Social Protection and Labor Global Practice
WBG is the largest provider of development finance and solutions for social protection and labor, working with high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries to develop country-tailored solutions for specific social protection and labor challenges. These range from increasing the efficiency with which social resources are spent (where well-designed social safety net programs, reformed pension reforms, and integrated social protection systems are proven solutions), to improving employment outcomes through employability programs and associated policy reforms, often most effective when targeted at the poor or the young.
The Social Protection & Labor Global Practice (SPL GP) delivers operational approaches and evidence-based solutions to help individuals and families manage risk, cope with chronic transitional poverty, and access better livelihoods and jobs.
These include

• Strategy, analysis, financing and design of programs delivering social safety nets social assistance in the form of cash transfers, public works programs, and fee waivers.
• Advisory and analytical services on design and delivery of contributory transfers (including old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, disability and survivor benefits), and their fiscal sustainability (including budget support for transitions).
• Analysis, design and delivery of labor market and youth employment programs (with a focus on supply side interventions and intermediation policies), as well as policy advice on labor market regulations and interventions.

The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region of the World Bank is highly diverse, with countries of all income levels and wide differences in resource endowments, human capital, and institutional capacity. Despite being a predominantly middle-income region, ECA continues to experience a weak recovery from the 2009 crisis. Slow growth and persistently high unemployment threaten to reverse the region's achievements in reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity. Five years after the crisis, the region (especially Central and Southeastern Europe) continues to struggle with multiple structural weaknesses, including high public debt burdens, tight fiscal space, low investment, and financial sector vulnerabilities. Recent fall in oil prices, geopolitical tensions, a weak Eurozone and uncertainty around the fall-out from Greece poses further challenges to the region's recovery. Persistent longer-term challenges, most notably rapid population aging (especially in Europe), with implications for labor productivity and fiscal sustainability of social spending continue to be central for the region. ECA has a strong lending pipeline as well as a large and growing portfolio of Reimbursable Advisory Services. Knowledge is critical to the Bank's value proposition to client countries in the ECA region in both lending and advisory services
The Social Protection and Labor Global Practice (SPL GP) has an exciting, innovative, and growing portfolio in Europe and Central Asia. The team's work is clustered around three main themes: i) building social protection systems; ii) promoting employability and jobs; and iii) adapting to demographic change. In addition, the team implements cross-cutting work on energy subsidy reform, service delivery, and social investment and governance.
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 two-year term appointment.
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 2 year term appointment.
Duties and Accountabilities
The Social Protection Research Analyst will be a team member of the ECA SPL unit and will report to the SPL Practice Manager. The Analyst's day to day work will be as part of various project teams led by different Task Team Leaders as agreed in periodic work program discussions. The Social Protection Analyst would work on activities related to the three services provided by the Bank to support country clients to solve their development problems: financial services, knowledge services, and convening services. The work may be in any branch of social protection and labor practice, but will likely concentrate on data intensive analysis.
Social Protection and Labor Operation Support
The analyst will support Social Protection and Labor analytic and operational tasks throughout the region via such things as

• Conduct in-depth analysis of poverty, inequality, labor market outcomes using micro-econometric techniques applied to household survey data to assist in the diagnosis of need for SP&L strategies.
• Conduct in-depth analysis of social protection, social insurance and labor market program level administrative data to examine issues of efficiency.
• Conduct ex-ante or ex-post analysis of the effectives of social protection programs or changes to them.
• Contribute to drafting presentation and reports of such findings.

Social Protection and Labor database
Serve as a regional focal point for the ECA SP database, performing tasks such as

• Maintain and update the regional SP Database containing information on programs' expenditure and beneficiaries, working with local staff or consultants who collect the data and colleagues across the Bank who work with similar databases in other regions.
• Prepare meetings with government sector institutions and meet with government institutions to define the proper procedures to ask for the missing information.
• Review the information provided by different Ministries and agencies and adjust it to the SP database template.
• Lead the analysis of the collected data to produce customized reports and queries for the TTLs and related Bank to open new lines of business.
• Contribute to drafting presentation and reports of such findings.
• Provide inputs, as needed, from the ECA Database to the Bank's global Social Protection Database, ASPIRE.

Selection Criteria
Qualifications and Experience required:
The applicant should demonstrate the following qualifications and experience

• Master's degree in Economics, Public Administration, Public Policy or a related field;
• Minimum of two years of relevant working experience including analytical, operations, and project management work;
• Previous experience in the Social Protection area, particularly in ECA;
• Previous experience working with government officials;
• Previous experience managing datasets and quantitative and qualitative sources of information in development programs or projects;
• Proven experience coordinating and managing work teams;
• Excellent writing skills in English;
• Extensive experience in use of survey data for micro-econometric analysis (with statistical software such as STATA or similar) with minimal supervision;
• Good knowledge of public expenditure data analysis and methodologies;
• Demonstrated ability to work under deadlines, handle multiple tasks, and take initiative;
• Proven ability to work in a team and intercultural environment, with minimal supervision; and
• Willingness to travel, as required by the different tasks.

Competencies

• Social Protection and Labor Sectoral Knowledge and Experience - Analytical and operational expertise in Social Protection, Labor, or related fields. Demonstrates basic ability to contribute to the analysis, possess knowledge of the sector strategy, programs and portfolio issues. Knowledge of household surveys and administrative data, and ability to perform quantitative analysis using common statistical packages such as Stata is a plus.
• Client Orientation - Record of developing strong internal and external client relationships. Capacity to interact effectively with a range of stakeholders within and outside the Bank. Good interpersonal communication and diplomacy skills
• Drive for Results - Takes ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results, and has the personal organization to do so
• Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team's work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view. Proven ability to work in teams and intercultural environment, with minimal supervision
• Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English required; language proficiency in French also desired
• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others' work

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.