Education Economist/Specialist at World Bank

Job #: req4536
Location: Abuja
Grade: GF
Sector: Education
Term Duration: 3 years 0 months
Recruitment Type: International Recruitment

The Education Global Practice

• Education is central to achieving the WBG’s twin goals: it is a reliable route out of poverty through large and consistent returns to income for individuals and as a driver for economic growth. It is also a prime vehicle for promoting shared prosperity.
• The main challenge in the education sector is to achieve “learning for all and learning for life”- that is, to ensure that all children and young people acquire the knowledge and skills they need for their lives and livelihoods. In the past two decades, the developing world has made great advances in education, most notably in enrolling and keeping children in school and in approaching gender equality. Despite these successes in expanding access to education, critical challenges remain: removing persistent educational barriers faced by the poorest people and those living in fragile and conflict-affected states and improving the quality of education so that schooling leads to real learning. 
• In recent years, the WBG, and the broader education development community, have shifted their focus to include learning outcomes. Traditional input-driven programs have shown that they do not always lead to improved learning outcomes, so that the WBG’s education strategy highlights the need for a more comprehensive ‘systems approach’ to education reform, investments, and service delivery.
• This approach is about increasing accountability and targeting results, as a complement to providing inputs. It also requires strengthening the knowledge base on education, to highlight where systems are achieving results, where they are falling short, and what the most effective solutions are.  These efforts are increasingly guided by the need to invest early; invest smartly; and invest for all.  Through high-quality analytical work, collection of evidence, and practical know-how in these three areas, the WBG is helping its partner countries accelerate their progress in the education sector.
• The Education Global Practice is led by a Global Director, who has overall responsibility for the practice. The Global Director works with Regional Directors, who serve as the interface between the Regions and the Practice. The Education Global Practice Management Team, which is the group that leads and manages the GP, consists of the Senior Director, the Director and seven Practice Managers.

Education and the Africa Region
The WBG serves 48 client countries in the Africa Region (AFR). Clients range from low-income countries, among them several fragile and conflict-affected states, to a small but growing number of middle-income countries (MICs) but with weak human development indicators. Average annual per capita income varies widely and inequalities persist in most AFR countries, with most of the Region's population living in poverty. The Bank's strategy in AFR is focused on two pillars - competitiveness and employment, and vulnerability and resilience –and prioritizes cross-cutting approaches founded in governance and public sector capacity.

In light of the above, the unit is seeking a Education Specialist/Economist, based in Abuja, to lead or contribute the education policy dialogue, provide implementation support to the education portfolio, and lead a program of high quality analytical work and TA in Nigeria.

The selected candidate will report to the Practice Manager for HAFE3 and will be expected to work in close collaboration with the CMU.  The selected candidate is expected to work with country office colleagues as well as other team members based in Washington DC working on the different programs. He/she will also interact heavily with the Human Development Program Leader based in Abuja.

Duties and Accountabilities

• The incumbent will lead (and support) policy dialogue with the client on key issues in education and skills development, provide daily implementation support to the Federal and State governments on the lending operations, as well as lead the preparation of new lending programs.
• He/she will also be expected to lead or/co-lead analytical work to inform policy discussions.

The Main Responsibilities include:

• Support of Operations: In consultation with the TTLs, handle operational matters on a day-to-day basis.  Participate in the full cycle of project preparation, implementation support, and evaluation.
• Support mission preparation and contribute to mission objectives, including inputs to mission aides-memoire and implementation status reports (ISRs).
• Support monitoring and evaluation of project development objectives and implementation progress, intermediate outcomes, and results-based financing/disbursement linked indicators.
• Support to human development (HD) and other country analytical work: Provide education sector input to regular Bank products and outputs, e.g. Liaise with staff on integrated Human Capital inputs and activities.  
• Support Building Client Capacity. Supporting building client capacity to use findings of policy research/analytical work for developing new policies and undertaking sector reforms.
• Provide technical advice on key issues and strategic directions for the country’s education sector development.
• Analytical Work and Non-Lending Services. Contribute to the design, preparation, and dissemination of analytical products (e.g. sector assessment, policy notes, impact evaluation, public expenditure reviews, country systems diagnostics, case studies, etc.); provide input on a range of issues (e.g., education finance, management and governance, teacher policies, skills development , etc.) that respond to critical policy questions identified by the client and have an impact on policy and operational design.
• Work on cross-sectoral teams to contribute to products such as public expenditure reviews, service delivery surveys, and impact evaluations.  Contribute to the country diagnostics and other core analytical work.
• In performing these roles, the selected candidate will interact with counterparts in government, a variety of international and other partner organizations, and with Bank colleagues and managers within the Education GP, the CMU, as well as those in other GPs.
• She/he will be expected to work in close collaboration with the other members of the education team and colleagues in other GPs.

Selection Criteria

• The education GP is seeking an experienced, versatile, and highly motivated candidate to work on a large and growing portfolio as part of the education team based in Abuja, Nigeria. The ideal candidate will combine excellent technical capabilities,  a capacity to translate analytical findings into policy and into innovative Bank operations to help clients shift policies in new directions or to pilot new approaches; and operational skills to provide effective implementation support for the Bank’s growing portfolio. 

The candidate should have:

• Education: At least a Master’s Degree from a recognized university in Economics, Education Policy, or related discipline.
• Experience: A minimum of 5 years relevant work experience in education; and demonstrated expert-level knowledge of and experience in leading education projects and analytical work
• Analytical/technical skills: Analytical and economics skills (e.g., education, labor economics),
• Strong client orientation. Ability to support policy dialogue, including Federal and State Ministries of Education, Federal and State Ministries of Finance, and other stakeholders.
• Excellent teamwork and interpersonal skills.  Proven ability to work effectively and collaboratively across and within practice boundaries, inspire commitment to excellence and teamwork, and to liaise tactfully as a member of a multicultural team.
• High levels of energy, initiative, and flexibility.  Proactive attitude to challenges and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements. Ability to juggle numerous competing demands and priorities, respond quickly to internal and external client requests, and set realistic priorities for self and others.
• Language: Excellent written and oral communication skills in English. The candidate will be expected to write concisely and expediently; present technical information to clients; and represent the WBG education team among donors and the client. 

Competencies:

• Education knowledge and experience: Possesses technical skills, including an understanding of key core education issues with regard to quality, relevance, and equity at all levels. Has familiarity with analytical resources, data sets, indicators, tools for data analysis, and the use of evidence for education policy.
• General economic knowledge and analytical skills: Possesses a demonstrated track record of working with economic and sectoral data and analytical and produce user-friendly written outputs.
• Knowledge and experience in development arena: Understands policy making processes; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients; understanding of political economy issues as well as a good grasp of governance issues in a federal setting additional asset.
• Integrative skills: Demonstrates strong integrative thinking and ability to support project teams in developing an integrated point of view around development challenges.
• Analytical Services and Advisory (ASA) policy, strategic and technical analysis for country/sector Issues:  Provides inputs to key ASA documents by analyzing relevant issues, soliciting input from others, and using data and facts to support conclusions and/or position.
• Written and verbal communication:  Delivers information effectively.
• Client orientation:  Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.
• Drive for results: Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results, and has the personal organization skills 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.
• 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.
• Business judgment and analytical decision making:  Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others' work.
• The WBG is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.