Director of Statistics, ECST at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/21/034
Location: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
Grade: EL5
Position N°: 50092395

The Complex

• The Chief Economist/Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management (ECVP) is the Bank’s spokesperson on economic matters and the VP for the ‘Economics Governance and Knowledge Management Complex’.
• The ECVP 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 ECVP inspire, generate and provide direct support to the President and Senior Management of the Bank on a broad range of technical and management issues within the broad remit of economic, finance, public financial governance, management and social economics.

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 Department is also responsible for:

• Providing technical and financial support to African countries in a wide range of statistical domains emphasizing regional and sub-regional activities, where countries can benefit through using internationally agreed common methodologies and approaches, thus achieving economies of scale.
• Supporting the data needs for the Bank’s operational effectiveness and the results measurement framework, as well as for research, policy and financial work.

The Position
The Director of Statistics Department (ECST) is responsible for the following:

• Providing leadership to the Bank’s Statistics team to support 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 SDGs agenda across Africa.
• Managing the Bank’s Statistics team to help mainstreaming results measurement in Bank operations to ensure their operational effectiveness as well as to support the Bank’s research, policy and financial services.
• Providing the necessary leadership to build and strengthen internal and external partnerships to ensure coordinated and effective support for statistical development work in African countries.
• Support the transformation of statistical agencies from exclusively reliant on traditional survey statistics to design, implement and analyze phone survey and big data in general.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall supervision of the Chief Economist/Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, the Director-Statistics performs the following:

• Plans, organizes, manages and controls the activities of the Department:
  • Lead the Department, including setting goals, recruiting top notch staff and provide leadership to deliver high quality statistical products;
  • Provide intellectual and strategic leadership in the development of Statistics as a continuous process across RMCs;
  • Manage human and financial resources of the Department;
  • Build partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and engage at the most senior levels to coordinate the Bank’s statistical activities to enable consistent monitoring and evaluation of the Bank’s strategic goals.
  • Provide efficient and high-quality services to achieve the set objectives.
  • Develop and significantly grow the Bank’s statistical program.
  • Initiate and introduce necessary changes to ensure the Department’s activities respond to current and emerging data needs.
• Plans, manages and advises on up to date approaches of data collection, dissemination and utilization of data to inform applied research on African development issues. This involves among other issues:
  • Advocate for methodological coherence through the harmonization of statistics 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.
  • Avail and promote the necessary data dissemination tools across all RMCs and maintaining the same with a view of enabling real time sharing of development data to inform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)(Agenda 2030); Agenda 2063, the HIGH 5s and a host of other national development initiatives across countries.
  • Establish and maintain relations with other development partners involved in producing data to inform timely decision making.
• Represent the Bank in international and regional conferences, seminars and workshops.
• Perform other tasks as requested by the Chief Economist/Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management and Senior Management

Selection Criteria

• A minimum of a Master's degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Economics or other relevant discipline. A PhD would be a strong asset.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of extensive and progressive experience in the field of statistics and/or data management in a similar organization, five (5) years of which must be at a managerial level.
• Knowledge and experience with programs where big data techniques have been deployed in development context and experience with the transformation of statistical agencies.
• Ability to build internal team dynamics and foster inclusion in a multicultural environment.
• High degree of discretion and tact with the Bank’s external clients.
• Good listener with demonstrated ability to present and win support for ideas.
• Ability to make effective and timely decisions.
• Extensive and in-depth experience on statistical and/or economic development issues in Africa.
• Strong analytical and empirical skills for interpreting data and informing decision- or policy- making.
• Familiarity with the roles of other development finance institutions in addressing the data needs for SDGs & the High 5s agendas across Africa.
• Ability to think strategically and to design long term plans and programs in line with strategic priorities.
• Good leadership skills and ability to attract, motivate and retain high quality professional staff.
• Demonstrated ability to take prudent business risks, develop innovative approaches and make effective, timely and well-determined decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to present and win support for ideas, a good listener and cultural sensitivity, commitment to diversity and capacity to initiate and manage innovations and change.
• Proven ability to build partnerships with a broad range of clients and deliver results that meet the needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the Bank.
• 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.