E T Consultant

Job #: req22179

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Human Development

Grade: EC2

Term Duration: 1 year 0 months

Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Location: Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s): English

Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 4/24/2023 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

The Human Development (HD) Practice Group (PG)

Human development is at the core of the World Bank’s strategy to improve people’s lives and support sustainable development. The Human Development operational program spans education, health, social protection, labor and jobs. The HD PG coordinates with other Practice Groups to ensure a coordinated and integrated approach to development challenges, and through the World Bank Regional Units is expected to deliver the strongest and most pertinent support to our client countries.

Human Capital Project

Human capital is a population’s health, skills, knowledge, experience, and habits. People’s education, health, resilience, and access to labor market opportunities have intrinsic value and are viewed by many as a human right. From an economics perspective, they are equally essential to increase productivity. They are important for inclusive human progress in large part because they reduce inequality, improve welfare, produce intergenerational benefits, and promote growth and economic development.

Human capital however is commonly not utilized to realize its potential and drive economic growth. A good job—with adequate earnings, working conditions and protections—was out of reach for arguably most in low- and middle-income countries. Before the pandemic, 250 million youth – mostly women – were not in employment, education, or training, putting a dent in their aspirations. Just as worrisome, many of those who do work do so in very low productivity activities, often informally, without access to social or legislative protections and with few opportunities to move up the labor market ladder or learn. Informality stood at 70 percent of total jobs even before COVID-19 hit and labor market inequality, especially gender differences, remain large. Many workers today are poor or one shock away from falling into poverty.

The challenges of building, protecting, and utilizing human capital are further complicated by multiple overlapping global shocks, such as COVID-19 and the rising food prices, and long-term trends, such as technological and demographic shifts, urbanization, globalization, climate change, and forced displacement of people due to ongoing conflicts, which are eroding hard-won development gains.

The Human Capital Project (HCP), launched in 2018 to advocate for human capital investments, and is even more relevant now given the setbacks to human capital in recent years. The HCP has been incrementally providing the resources and analytical tools to help the governments prioritize investments that support human capital accumulation, its protection and utilization, and improve the quality and efficiency of that spending to achieve better outcomes. The global HCP team is staffed by a combination of full-time professional staff, short-term and extended-term consultants, and staff on secondment from operational units. The HCP uses a three-pronged approach to support country teams and clients to promote investments in human capital. It offers measurement and indicators on human capital; innovates on the type of analytics and operational support to better inform investments in human capital in a world navigating multiple short term and long-term challenges; and convenes partners, clients, and thought leaders t o influence the global discourse on human capital. Given the growing demands for the global HCP team’s support and its desire to ensure that support remains relevant and timely to the teams in the regions, the global team is seeking to expand its multisectoral expertise that is fundamental to move the agenda on human capital. The HCP is looking for energetic and enthusiastic members of the team who are willing to work as part of a SWAT team that is constantly curating latest global knowledge to offer the best policy advice for clients to safeguard human capital outcomes and channeling this knowledge through creative means for maximum impact.

Duties and Accountabilities

The ETC will contribute to the HCP team’s work across several work streams. Key duties include, but are not limited to: Analytical & Operations:

•  Contribute to the HCP data agenda, including producing HCI country briefs, developing the data portal, and other innovative data initiatives, as needed.
•  Contribute to HCP analytical agenda, including development of guidance materials, organization of staff learning events, and carrying out other related analytical work.
•  Support country and regional teams’ work on human capital operations by connecting them with good practices from other teams’ HC operational work and tracking HC-related operations.
•  Conduct research on in one or more thematic areas of relevance to the HCP (human capital financing, digital technologies and service delivery, climate change, demographic transition, among others).
•  Support the development of Country Impact Notes, including portfolio reviews. Knowledge Management:
•  Develop communications products including blogs, feature stories, intranet stories, briefs targeting external and internal audiences.
•  Respond to corporate and strategic requests for HCP inputs.
•  Analyze data and information to summarize for internal and external reporting.
•  Coordinate the preparation of the HCP monthly update with inputs from HCP team members and regional liaisons.
•  Provide updates to the intranet and external HCP website content.
•  Draft blogs and presentations for internal and external stakeholders, including inputs for Board updates and PG updates.
•  Curate and maintain material for HCP PPTs, such as country team deck and other living documents.

General HCP Team Duties:

•  Conduct research and draft inputs for a variety of briefs, policy reports, HCP internal and external websites, and other media.
•  Coordinate the preparation of HCP Steering Committee (SC) meetings as part of the SC Secretariat, including preparing the agenda, powerpoint presentations, and meeting minutes.
•  Contribute to the organization and implementation of HCP events, such as the HCP Ministerial Conclave, Knowledge Exchanges, and HCP talks, as needed.
•  Carry out other tasks in support of the human capital agenda as requested by the HCP Manager.

Selection Criteria

•  Graduate degrees (Masters or PhD) in economics, public policy and administration, public health, education, business administration or relevant field to human development.
•  Substantial professional experience – typically the successful candidate will have at least 3 years of experience in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility.
•  Familiarity with key human capital concepts and HCP activities.
•  Analytical or operational experience in one or more thematic areas of relevance to the HCP (e.g., human capital financing, digital technologies and service delivery, climate change, demographic transition, etc.) is a plus.
•  Advanced understanding of statistical analysis and data visualization software (Stata and R, particularly).
•  Ability to think and collaborate across sectors within and outside HD beyond the boundaries of the staff member’s professionally mapped GP.
•  Demonstrated skills in integrating multiple inputs into a package of solutions to help achieve development results.
•  Knowledge of WBG financing operations as well as analytical and advisory services, and familiarity with WBG instruments.
•  Experience in managing or supporting innovative ASA which has impacted policy dialogues and reform paths.
•  Excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to write clearly and succinctly and deliver presentations convincingly to a wide range of audiences.
•  Ability to prepare compelling presentation materials quickly.
•  Ability to work independently and in teams, flexibility to adjust to changing priorities and deliver under tight deadlines.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

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Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.