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E T Consultant

Job #:	req29442
Organization:	World Bank
Sector:	Economics
Grade:	EC2
Term Duration:	1 year 0 months
Recruitment Type:	Local Recruitment
Location:	Washington, DC,United States
Required Language(s):	English
Preferred Language(s):	French/Amharic
Closing Date:	10/16/2024 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

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 poverty on a livable planet. 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. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org

The World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) is looking for a creative and innovative applied micro-economist with a demonstrated track record of sound analytical work and excellent judgment, and an interest in supporting women and girls to achieve equality by learning what does and does not work to close gender gaps in earnings, productivity, assets, and agency, and using these insights to shape policy. The ideal candidate will have training and research interests in development economics, labor economics, gender, entrepreneurship, firm- and household-behavior, private sector development, and financial inclusion, and experience engaging with policymakers.

The thematic focus of this position is on closing gender gaps in access to productive inputs, productivity, earnings, and profits. This may include work on micro-, small-, and medium-enterprises as well as on aspiring entrepreneurs, and includes pilots and impact evaluations in the areas of entrepreneurship; skill development; access to capital; digital and financial inclusion; and norms. The geographic focus of this position will be on Ethiopia, but may also include Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Lesotho, as well as other Sub-Saharan African countries. The position will involve extensive engagement with policymakers and senior leadership within both government and the private sector, as well as World Bank operational teams. The Economist will lead RCT impact evaluations and other analytical work.

Institutional context

The Africa Gender Innovation Lab: The Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) is part of the World Bank’s Africa Region Chief Economist’s Office. For more than ten years, the Africa GIL has been supporting women and girls to achieve equality by learning what does and does not work to close gender gaps in earnings, productivity, assets, and agency, and using these insights to shape policy. The Africa GIL is currently working in 20+ countries with the aim of building an evidence base with lessons for the region. To date, GIL has influenced the design of nearly 200 World Bank projects and has helped shape $11.6 billion in development spending. The Africa GIL’s three-pronged approach includes:

Generating and synthesizing evidence: Conducting rigorous analytical work, including more than 100 rigorous (mostly RCT) impact evaluations, as well as inferential work, that identifies key drivers of gender gaps, and the effectiveness of interventions in closing them.
Actively working with project teams, governments, and the private sector to design and test evidence-based interventions that directly target key drivers of gender gaps.
Engaging with policymakers for change at scale: GIL has been transforming the policy discourse, helping policymakers achieve their development goals, and advancing gender equality at scale by showing how gender equality matters for development, and championing and enabling an evidence-based approach to program and policy development.

Duties and Accountabilities

The Economist will contribute to the successful delivery of GIL’s ongoing initiatives, as well as GIL’s broader strategic agenda. The Economist will lead and support the design and implementation of impact evaluations, other rigorous research, and innovative pilot interventions aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs, and closing gender gaps in earnings, profits, firm growth, etc. The Economist will provide intellectual leadership, particularly in the area of women's financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, and will work closely with World Bank teams, government counterparts, and development partners to develop and evaluate innovative financial services and training programs. The role involves significant research, data analysis, team management, and communication responsibilities, including presenting findings, facilitating policy adoption, and writing for policymaker audiences. Additionally, the Economist will assist in project monitoring, reporting, and fundraising efforts. The ETC Economist will work under the supervision of the Africa Gender Impact Evaluation Unit Leader, Michael O’Sullivan:

Responsibilities will include:

Portfolio Development and Policymaker Engagement

•Provide intellectual leadership on the design of GIL’s current and future work program around productive financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, in Ethiopia as well as other African countries, drawing on relevant thematic expertise, professional networks and available resources.

•Support dialogue with World Bank project teams, governments, partner organizations as well as broader dissemination efforts with development practitioners, to inform the design of projects, policies and strategies.

•Identify opportunities for policy influence and learning, and provide timely and targeted support to promote the integration of learning and adoption of policies and programs that advance women’s economic empowerment.

•Foster new partnerships and strengthen collaborations with other units both within and outside of the World Bank, and with external research collaborators in academia, NGOs, and government.

•Develop and/or contribute to concept notes, proposals, work plans, and budgets for Africa GIL supported activities.

•Support GIL fundraising within this thematic area by identifying opportunities for funding and developing expressions of interest and proposals.

Intervention Design and Piloting

•Work with World Bank project teams, governments, and the private sector to design and test evidence-based interventions that directly target key drivers of gender gaps.

•Collaborate with operational specialists at GIL on the design of new financial services, training programs and other potential solutions to the underlying constraints that hinder women’s productivity and ensure that pilots are designed to answer priority GIL questions and contribute to the economic literature, and are amenable and are designed in a way that is conducive to the integration of rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT) impact evaluations, if possible, in cases where an RCT would add significant value.

Research and Delivery of Findings

•Lead or support the design, operationalization and implementation of RCT impact evaluations and other research studies, including lit reviews; identifying key questions to be addressed, outcome indicators to be used, data sources, sample composition (sampling framework, power calculations), field procedures, ethical review board compliance, timeline, and budget.

•Design data collection instruments, including baseline and follow-up surveys; conduct and supervise data cleaning and analysis (using STATA); and write-up and publication of findings in policy briefs, reports, and academic-style papers for publication as working papers or in peer-reviewed academic journals.

•Build and manage teams comprised of World Bank staff, external researchers, data analysts, field staff and survey teams to monitor implementation of evaluation plans and ensure compliance with randomization protocols and treatment assignments.

•Sensitize government counterparts and teams responsible for project implementation on impact evaluation objectives and approaches, as well as provide coaching and capacity-building as needed.

Communications

•Prepare policy briefs, presentations, blogs, talking points, and other written outputs to communicate findings and insights from GIL’s work to broader audiences, such as World Bank project teams, government counterparts, development partners, etc.

•Contribute to the academic literature by writing papers and other research outputs to document research findings and key learnings, including by publication in peer-reviewed journals.

•Present key research findings and conduct technical workshops and training sessions targeted at government counterparts, project teams and other audiences.

•Facilitate communication between GIL and related units within the World Bank including the target Global Practices and the Africa Region, Gender, and Africa Chief Economist Communications and Knowledge Management teams.

Monitoring and Reporting

•Support the preparation of reports for GIL and World Bank management, donors, and external partners; also respond to ad-hoc information requests.

•Support project monitoring and ensure that implementing partners collect and share information required for project reporting.

Selection Criteria

1.Minimum of Master’s degree (PhD preferred) in Economics or related field.

2.Minimum of five years of relevant professional and/or academic experience, including a focus on gender and experimental impact evaluations.

3.Excellent command of written and spoken English (knowledge of additional languages such as Amharic and French preferred).

Technical expertise

4.Solid training in development economics, labor economics, or applied micro-economics.

5.Experience with large-scale data collection in developing countries, including designing questionnaires and implementing surveys. Excellent analytical and quantitative skills including a strong econometrics background, and the ability to use STATA.

6.Familiarity with the current research agenda and academic literature in the area of entrepreneurship and financial inclusion, and a strong professional and/or academic network in this field.

7.Thematic expertise (must include a sub-set of the following):

Productive financial inclusion in low-income countries – including topics such as alternative data-based lending for MSMEs, credit provision through digital and mobile channels, relevant regulatory and consumer protection concerns, and women’s financial inclusion.
Entrepreneurship and private sector development – including topics such as skills training and capacity building for entrepreneurs and MSMEs, market linkages development, and constraints to women’s entrepreneurship.
Gender-based constraints to women’s productive financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, and familiarity with approaches and interventions to support women’s economic empowerment;

8.Experience designing and leading impact evaluations and similar (quasi) experimental research in the area of entrepreneurship and financial inclusion; including the design of research protocols and surveys, the coordination of data collection activities, the econometric analysis of results, and overall project management.

9.Experience drafting communications products (policy briefs, blogs, talking points etc.) based on impact evaluation results and inferential research and creatively disseminating publications through social media outlets, BBL series, and relevant conferences for project teams and policymakers.

10.Experience managing external partner and funder relationships. Successful track record in raising third-party financing for research projects or development programs preferred.

Behavioral competencies

11.Ability to diplomatically handle sensitive situations with target audiences and to otherwise cultivate effective, productive client relationships and partnerships.

12.Strong interpersonal and communication skills and ability to develop effective relations within and outside the World Bank Group; to promote collaboration within the team to meet GIL objectives; capacity to interact with an extensive network of contacts at senior level

13.Entrepreneurial mindset, and ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural working environment and internationally with a diverse range of governments, donors, international and non-governmental organizations, researchers, and others.

14.Excellent workflow management and task organization skills. Strong drive for results and demonstrated ability to multitask and to exercise strategic thinking to make decisions under complex circumstances and with little supervision.

15.Ability to handle concurrent activities efficiently under pressure, with minimum supervision and to meet tight deadlines. Ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments and tasks, and to adjust to and prioritize a variety of complex evolving tasks. Highly organized, high degree of motivation, initiative, flexibility, reliability and a high level of energy.

16.Ability to take personal ownership, responsibility and accountability for timely response to queries, requests, or needs; and to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results; working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.

17.Teamwork, collaboration, and inclusion – Collaborates with team members and contributes productively to the team’s work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view. Has demonstrated ability to lead, manage, and motivate teams and group efforts across organizational boundaries.

18.Knowledge-sharing, learning, and communication – Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others; communicates and presents information in a clear, organized and convincing manner; writes to a high academic standard and is able to distill complex results for non-academic audiences.

Other

19.Willingness and ability to undertake frequent international travel, including to countries on the World Bank’s FCV (fragility, conflict and violence) list.

20.Willingness and ability to organize working hours to ensure adequate overlap with Ethiopia, given the time zone difference between Ethiopia and Washington DC.

21.Experience living in and working in Sub-Saharan Africa preferred.

Compensation

Remuneration will be set according to standard World Bank rates, commensurate with experience. The position will be based in the World Bank's headquarters in Washington, DC.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.

Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET appointment of three years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their third-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.