- 170468
- Sr.Education Specialist / Sr. Economist
- Education
- Professional & Technical
- GG
- Bamako, Mali
- International Hire
- English [Essential]; French [Essential]
- 20-Mar-2017
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Background / General description:-
THE WORLD BANK GROUP
Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2014, the WBG committed $65.6 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $22.2 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally. The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). IBRD and IDA are commonly known as the World Bank, which is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions, and – as of July 1, 2014 – has introduced fourteen Global Practices (GPs) as well as five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas (CCSAs) to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.
THE EDUCATION GLOBAL PRACTICE
Education is central to achieving the World Bank Group’s twin goals: it is a reliable route out of poverty because it has large and consistent returns to income for individuals and because it can drive economic growth. It is also a prime vehicle for promoting shared prosperity. The main challenge in the education sector is to achieve “learning for all, learning for life”—that is, to ensure that all children and young people acquire the knowledge and skills they need for their lives and livelihoods. The developing world has achieved great advances in education in the past two decades, most notably in enrolling and keeping children in school and in approaching gender equality. Yet these successes in expanding access to education have highlighted the major remaining challenges: how to remove the educational barriers faced by the poorest people and those living in fragile states, and how to improve the quality of education so that schooling leads to real learning. The WBG and the broader education development community are increasingly shifting focus to learning outcomes. Because traditional input-driven programs often fail to promote learning, the WBG’s education strategy highlights the need for a more comprehensive systems approach to education reform, investments, and service delivery. This approach is about increasing accountability and targeting results, as a complement to providing inputs. And it also requires strengthening the knowledge base on education, to highlight where systems are achieving results, where they are falling short, and what the most effective solutions are. These efforts are increasingly guided by the need to invest early; invest smartly; and invest for all. Through high-quality analytical work, collection and curation of evidence, and practical know-how in these three areas, the WBG is helping its partner countries accelerate their educational progress.
REGIONAL/ GLOBAL UNIT CONTEXT
The World Bank Group serves 48 client countries in the Africa Region (AFR). Clients range from low-income countries among them many fragile and conflict states to a small but growing number of middle-income countries (MICs) but with weak human development indicators. Average annual per capita income varies widely and inequalities persist in most AFR countries, with most of the Region’s people living in poverty. The Bank’s strategy in AFR is focused on two pillars – competitiveness and employment, and vulnerability and resilience – and a foundation – governance and public sector capacity.
The Education Sector Unit for West & Central Africa (GED07) is responsible for policy, analytical and operational work in the education sector in the sub-region. The unit currently has a portfolio of IDA projects, Trust Funds and major studies and technical assistance products in IDA. Particularly, the Early Learning Partnership (ELP) who is a multi-donor trust fund managed by the education sector unit in West & Central Africa. The ELP works with countries to build programs, policies and research that deliver an impact on a global scale to improve early learning opportunities and outcomes for young children. The portfolio spans the full spectrum of the education sector from early childhood education to higher education and research. The unit is committed to delivering high quality technical products to support education development in the Bank’s client countries, and to do so in a manner that builds capacity through collaborative interactions with country counterparts.
In addition, the Government of Mali is in the process of finalizing its ten-year education strategy, which encompasses all sub-sectors, from ECD to tertiary education including TVET. The education sector in Mali benefits from the support of a large number of donors, including but not limited to humanitarian organizations mainly working on northern regions still affected by the 2012 political and security crisis. Although substantial, the Mali education portfolio has opportunities for growth and cross collaboration with other GPs such as social protection, trade and competitiveness, and agriculture, as well as with IFC to better contribute to the economic development of the country.
In the light of the above, GED07 is seeking candidates for an international Sr. Economist/Sr. Education Specialist based in Bamako, Mali, to provide operational support to West & Central Africa projects and related activities.
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 3 year term appointment.
The incumbent will be expected to influence the design and execution of major policy and/or research initiatives for the Bank, the clients, and other donors. S/he will lead or participate in developing innovative operational approaches to challenging financing and policy issues across the education sector. Innovative approaches include finding solutions that involve working across global practices.
Specific responsibilities include:
• Policy Dialogue. Conduct sectoral policy dialogue with the client at the highest policy levels on a range of complex issues at different levels of education, particularly in basic and post-basic education. Identify and nurture opportunities for participating in the broader policy dialogue in the country.
• Technical Advice. Provide technical advice on key issues in the sector and strategic directions for country education development, by bringing relevant international experience and research to assist in developing local solutions on issues such as teacher quality, secondary education, TVET, science and technology education, quality improvement and financing of higher education, early childhood education, among others.
• Operations. Design and supervise operations, both as a leader and as a member of team, in the education sector or in multi-sectoral operations including the full range of Bank instruments (including investment project financing, result-based financing, policy-based lending, etc.). Provide implementation support for the on-going portfolio. Provide timely advice and support to clients in implementing projects and help to build capacity with the relevant ministries.
• Analytical Work and Non-Lending Services. Design and lead in the preparation of “cutting edge” technical products on a broad range of issues (e.g. reform of education finance, management and governance, teacher policies, science and technology education) that respond to critical policy questions identified by the client, which have an impact on policy and operational design. Produce “just in time” notes of high quality as well as lead longer analytical products. Work on cross-sectoral teams to contribute to products such as public expenditure reviews, service delivery surveys, impact evaluations. Contribute to the country diagnostics and other core analytic work. Contribute to the unit’s analytical work by generating “think pieces” and synthesis papers.
• Leadership: Work closely with the Practice Manager and education team and the CMU to identify new business in the education and skills sector, including innovative financing approaches, technical advisory services, fee-based services or other services, as required.
• Partnership. Work constructively with partners, including bilateral and multi-lateral donors, UN agencies, NGOs, private sector and civil society.
Selection Criteria:
GED07 outputs require high quality technical content and analysis. The candidate should have:
• An advanced degree (Masters or higher) in education or economics or equivalent.
• A minimum of 8 years relevant work experience in education; and demonstrated expert-level knowledge of and experience in education and/or human development operations and sector analysis.
• Strong analytical and economics skills (e.g. education, labor economics), along with a solid understanding of issues in public finance
• Strong technical leadership with client orientation, as demonstrated by a range of relevant analytical products produced in response to client needs.
• Experience in analyzing policy options and recommending practical policy options based on evidence; and conceptualizing and implementing monitoring and evaluation of public programs
• Ability to conduct high level policy dialogue with sophisticated clients, including Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and other stakeholders.
• Experience with preparation and supervision of Bank projects. Prior field experience in another low income country would be a plus.
• Excellent interpersonal and team skills. Proven ability to work effectively and collaboratively within and across sector boundaries, and inspire commitment to excellence and teamwork and to liaise tactfully as member of a multicultural team.
• Working knowledge of French is essential.
COMPETENCIES:
The candidate should be able to demonstrate the following competencies:
• Education knowledge and experience: Possesses strong analytical and technical skills, including an understanding of the core education issues especially with regard to quality, relevance, and equity at all levels. Has familiarity with data sets, indicators, tools for analysis of this data, and the use of evidence for education policy.
• General economic knowledge and analytical skills: Possesses a demonstrated track record of working with economic and sectoral data and analytical tools and models to conduct economic analyses and produce user-friendly written outputs; understands underlying statistical concepts.
• Knowledge and experience in development arena: Understands policy making processes; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients. Understanding of political economy issues as well as a good grasp of governance issues in education systems are key given the complexity of the countries in this group.
• Policy dialogue skills: Identifies and assesses policy issues and plays an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.
• Integrative skills: Working to develop an integrated view across all facets of current sector.
• ESW/TA policy, strategic and technical analysis for country/sector Issues: Provides inputs to key AAA documents by analyzing relevant issues, soliciting input from others, and using data and facts to support conclusions and/or position.
• Written and verbal communication: Delivers information effectively in support of team or workgroup in French, and in English.
• Client orientation: Takes personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success.
• Drive for results: Takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results, and has the personal organization skills to do so.
• Teamwork (collaboration) and inclusion: Collaborates with other team members and contributes productively to the team’s work and output, demonstrating respect for different points of view.
• Knowledge, learning and communication: Actively seeks knowledge needed to complete assignments and shares knowledge with others, communicating and presenting information in a clear and organized manner.
• Business judgment and analytical decision making: Analyzes facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others’ work.
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