Division Manager, Economic & Social Statistics at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/17/114/2
Location: Africa
Grade: PL2
Position N°: 50092401

The Complex

• The Chief Economist/Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management is the Bank’s spokesperson on economic matters and the Vice President for the ‘Economics Governance and Knowledge Management Complex’.
• The Complex is responsible for (i) providing leadership and visibility for the Bank on economic, finance, financial governance and socio economic development issues; and coordinate the generation of analytical works to inform operational policy; (ii) systematically emphasize the critical role of knowledge, experience, lessons learnt and their tangible impact on sustainable, inclusive transformation of African economies.

The Hiring Department

• The Statistics Department is responsible for the Bank’s statistical activities that focus on two main components: (i) providing support for effective development of statistical capacity and systems in African countries for the provision of timely and reliable data to support development results measurement for the High 5s and Sustainable Development Goals agenda across Africa, (ii) mainstreaming results measurement in Bank operations to ensure their operational effectiveness as well as to support the Bank’s research, policy and financial services.

The Position

• The Division Manager, Economic & Social Statistics will be responsible for coordinating the African Information Highway Initiative (Database and statistical portal management) and provide statistical and analytical support to Operations, research activities and publications.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision and guidance of the Director, Statistics; the manager of Economic & Social Statistics will:

Work program management and execution:

• Set goals of the division, ensuring alignment to the Bank, Complex and Department strategic priorities.
• Establish and monitor work program for the division and introduce changes where required.
• Manage financial resources of the Division and assure its effective implementation.
  • Report on the work program execution, and propose alternative and corrective measures as needed.
  • Actively contribute to the designing and monitoring of the division key performance indicators.

Statistical and analytical support to operation:

• Coordinate activities within the Bank & in Regional Member Countries for streamlining data management & dissemination through the Africa Information Highway initiative to inform policies, strategies & decision making.
• Ensure effective coordination with the Statistical Capacity Building Division on statistical matters relating to concepts, methods, classifications, best practices.
• Manage the statistical component of the One Bank Data System for meeting the data needs for the Bank’s Results Measurement Framework, particularly with regard to development data needs for Levels 1 & 2 indicators.
• Supervise the African Economic Outlook work (data collection; management; forecast analysis and generation of projections of economic indicators for all African countries).
• Provide the Bank and member countries with comparative research analysis, socio-economic data and projections of the most widely used socio-economic parameters relating to Africa’s economy and Bank Group operations
• Define appropriate statistical methods to be used to estimate and forecast key macro, sectorial and social indicator in Regional Member Countries.
• Provide statistical and analytical support to meet the operational and research needs of organizational units throughout the Bank.
• Supervise statistical analyses in support of the activities and ensure accuracy and consistency in the use of statistical data throughout the Bank; and provide guidance on statistical analysis and interpretation.
• Build partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and engage at the appropriate levels to coordinate the Bank’s statistical activities to enable consistent monitoring and evaluation of the Bank’s strategic goals.
• Coordinate the work on statistical harmonization and availing of up to date metadata to aid cross-country comparison of key aggregates in collaboration with other development partners and in liaison with the Operations Departments of the Bank.
• Perform other tasks as requested by the Director and senior management.

Research and publications activities:

• Manage the Bank’s statistical publications.
• Provide statistical input for the Bank Group’s Annual Report, the African Development Report, the African Economic Outlook and other critical Bank publications.
• Establish and maintain relations with other development partners involved in producing data to inform timely decision making.

People and talent management:

• Ensure the division has the appropriate skills-mix at any time for effective delivery of the objectives defined in the work program.
  • Review and validate the staffing needs, and build with the HR department the required recruitment plans.
  • Assess work performance, appraise staff potential and determine training needs.
  • Put in place, with the assistance of the Human Resource department, talent management mechanisms, to build a talent pool for the division for business continuity.

Selection Criteria
Including desirable skills, knowledge and experience:

• Hold at least a Master’s degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics or other relevant discipline.
• Have a minimum of eight (8) years of relevant work experience in a multilateral development institution or reputable organization, of which at least three (3) years will be at managerial level.
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage.
• Solid knowledge and good grasp of programming and effective use of information technologies for statistical analysis.
• Proven ability to provide leadership in statistical and econometric methods and packages in data processing.
• Ability to build and manage strategic partnerships with a results-oriented mind-set.
• Strong capability to make effective and timely decisions.
• Strong analytical and problem solving capabilities, coupled to manage innovation and change.
• Proven ability to build and lead a team; to motivate staff and utilize the talents and expertise of team members in a productive way.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office Suite applications.