Division Manager, Statistical Capacity Building at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/17/115/2
Location: West Africa
Grade: PL2
Position N°: 50092402

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:
  • 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;
  • 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:

• 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,
• 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 Manager, statistical Capacity Building will be responsible for coordinating the Bank’s Statistical Capacity Building activities in Regional Member Countries aimed at developing effective statistical capacity and systems in African countries in order to meet the data needs for the High 5s and Sustainable Development Goals agenda across Africa. These activities include:

• Organizational and methodological work to promote statistical infrastructure development using approaches that fit the African environment;
• Alignment of statistical frameworks and activities with the National Statistical Development Strategies;
• Adaptation of international statistical standards to suit local conditions in Regional Member Countries and the conduct of training workshops on these standards;
• Harmonization of data generation and dissemination practices and standards to ensure comparability of data across Regional Member Countries and with the rest of the world; and
• Training of Regional Member Countries and Sub Regional Organizations officials to strengthen statistical capacity.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision and guidance of the Director, Statistics; the Manager of Statistics will:
1.) Work program validation 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.

2.) Statistical capacity building:

• Coordinate implementation of the Action Plan for Improving Agricultural & Rural Statistics in Africa to inform agricultural development in Africa as well as the Feed Africa agenda of the Bank.
• Manage the Africa Infrastructure Knowledge Program to improve the knowledge base on infrastructure & inform the Bank’s Light Up & Power Africa agenda as well as the overall infrastructure development agenda in Africa.
• Coordinate support to Regional Member Countries in the design and implementation of National Strategies for the Development of Statistics.
• Oversee in collaboration with African Union Commission & Economic Commission for Africa implementation of the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa, developed jointly by the 3 institutions to provide the statistical base for the African integration agenda espoused by the African Union Summit.
• Coordinate the International Comparison Program for Africa to generate purchasing power parity statistics on Regional Member Countries as part of the global program involving over 190 countries worldwide.
• Manage activities aimed at improving economic statistics in Regional Member Countries through: (i) streamlining and improving the timeliness and the quality of country data; (ii) updating survey frames; (iii) integrating frames to reduce duplications and overlaps; (iv) fostering the use of international standards and methods in Regional Member Countries, and (iv) improving staff capabilities through training.
• Coordinate implementation of statistical training programs for Regional Member Countries Officials and support to Statistical Training Centers to improve curricula & its relevance to national statistical systems in Africa.
•  Manage activities aimed at improving labor statistics in Africa to support Regional Member Countries policies as well as the Bank’s Jobs Strategy through: (i) preparing operational and methodological guidebooks to help in the conduct of labor force surveys and household expenditure surveys; (ii) assisting with labor surveys; (iii) providing technical and operational support to countries to undertake labor statistics classifications and to develop business registers; and (iv) providing training for African sampling statisticians.
• Manage activities aimed at improving Social Statistics in Regional Member Countries, especially in 5 key areas: (i) Population and Housing Censuses, (ii) Gender statistics, (iii) SDGs Monitoring and Assessment, (iv) Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, (v) Health statistics, and (vi) Education statistics.
• In collaboration with United Nations Development Program & African Union Commission, support Regional Member Countries to improve Governance Statistics with a view to substantially improving the quality of analysis on governance issues in Africa.
• Supporting Regional Member Countries to improve Environment and Climate Change Statistics to inform the green growth & transformation agenda in Africa.
• Perform other tasks as requested by the Director and senior management.

3.) 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 Human Resource 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 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.
• Excellent statistical analysis and reporting skills.
• Proven ability 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.