Senior Policy Economist, ECCE0 at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB / 20 / 175
Location: Tunis, Tunisia
Grade: LP5
Position N°: 50072438

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 Country Economics Department is located in the Chief Economist/Vice-Presidency for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management (ECVP) Complex. The Country Economics Department manages, coordinates, harmonizes and ensures the high quality of the work of Lead and Country Economists across the Bank.
• The Department plays a critical role of strengthening the links between economic knowledge and the Bank’s operations. It leads the development of high quality and analytic country strategy papers, the monitoring of economic and social conditions and policies in regional member countries and, the generation of country-relevant, timely and analytically sound advice to support policy reforms in regional member countries.
• The Country Economics Department is currently engaged in major initiatives aimed at improving the economic analysis content of country strategy papers, improving the harmonization of the approaches and tools, and the management, of the Bank’s Lead and Economists through the establishment of the economics Sector Board, and strengthening the country economic analysis underpinning the Bank’s support to economic reforms in regional member countries with a view towards improving the development impact of this support.

The Position
The main responsibilities of the position holder are:

• Providing real-time economic intelligence (through statements, notes and policy briefs) on current economic development issues in the North African region;
• Supporting the policy dialogue and advisory function of the AfDB on key development issues in the North African region and helping with the organization of workshops, seminars and events in the region;
• Consolidating the implementation of the AfDB’s High Fives and development agenda in the areas of macroeconomic policies, private sector and financial sector developments, regional integration and competitiveness, through the contribution to Bank’s strategic documents, operations and advisory services;
• Enhancing effective collaboration with multilateral and bilateral development partners with a view to harmonizing operational policies and guidelines and coordinating interventions in RMCs.

Duties and Responsibilities
Under the general supervision of the Director ECCE and the Lead Economist for the North region, the Senior Policy Economist’s Duties and Responsibilities will be as follows:

• Provide advisory services and briefing notes based on economic policy analysis in areas of relevance for the North African economies, including macroeconomic policies, private sector development, competitiveness, financial markets, inclusive growth, job creation, social safety nets, etc.;
• Generate business intelligence and economic monitoring depending on country-specific and global contexts and real-time challenges;
• Contribute to the training and capacity development activities and propose short, medium and long-term policy options to policy-makers and AfDB’s Management on selected economic issues;
• Organize workshops with key stakeholders to discuss the AfDB’s vision and policy options on specific economic issues for increased development outcomes in the countries;
• Provide technical and analytical inputs into the Bank’s Operations, Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), Technical Assistance, Economic Sector Work (ESW) and other Bank’s documents;
• Peer review project, program, policy and briefing documents related to the six North African countries;
• Participate in collaborative knowledge and economic analysis activities carried out jointly with regional and international organizations, research and capacity building institutions, and universities in the North African region;
• Perform other duties as may be assigned by Management.

Selection Criteria

• Hold at least a Master’s degree in Economics, Finance, or related social sciences. A Ph.D. in one of these fields would be desirable;
• Minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience with a proven track record of producing economic analysis and policy formulation.
• Demonstrate understanding of the main regional economic and social challenges in North Africa.
• Demonstrate strong communication and organization skills, dealing with various stakeholders with different backgrounds.
• A strong evidence of practical experience in political economy or economic analysis.
• Publication record of studies, reports and articles in peer-reviewed journals is an advantage.
• Knowledge of the practices of major bilateral and multilateral partner development agencies in North African countries is an added advantage.
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other;
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, SAP and/or other integrated document management system).