Impact Evaluation Economist

The World Bank
Washington, DC - United States
S: Competitive

Background

DECIE is seeking to recruit an impact evaluation economist. We seek candidates with interests in empirical field research in developing countries; strong technical skills in the area of impact evaluation and micro-econometrics, and the interest and ability to communicate technical knowledge and expertise in a policy environment. We welcome candidates with a research interest in the areas of labor markets, environment, transport and ICT.

Background

Development Impact Evaluation (DECIE) is a unit of the World Bank's Development Research Group, which houses DIME, a crosscutting program of the World Bank. DIME's purpose is to increase the use of impact evaluation (IE) in the design and implementation of public policy and to develop institutional capacity and motivation for evidence-based policy.

DECIE's work focuses on three areas:
- Evaluating programs at scale to answer policy-relevant questions;
- Building capacity to strengthen country institutions for evidence-based policymaking;
- Building theory on mechanisms in strategic development areas based on high-quality evidence.

DECIE aims to overcome the challenge to identify true cause-and-effect relations in policy programs. By linking researchers to policymakers and feeding results back into policies, DECIE fosters systematic use of evidence, which informs adoption, mid-course corrections, and scale-up of policies. Through workshops and clinics with operational staff and government clients, joint research teams, active field coordination, as well as research products such as seminars, papers, and policy briefs, DECIE builds capacity while forming a wider community practice.

DECIE accompanies impact evaluations during their entire life-cycle. It starts with assessing demand, identifying research questions, defining the best identification strategy, as well as supporting project implementation, high quality data collection, analysis, and dissemination of results.

With a portfolio of more than 170 impact evaluations, DECIE operates across all sectors in about 50 countries spanning the globe. The IEs test a variety of delivery and behavioral mechanisms, to understand why policy succeeds or fail and how to improve policy design and implementation to obtain better results. By working prospectively in collaboration with the clients, DIME employs experimental methods to infer causality whenever possible (79% of the portfolio). 17% of DIME IEs utilize non-experimental methods, while 4% use a combination of the two. From 2009 to 2013 DIME organized 19 IE workshops, training 1,774 people in 231 teams consisting of Bank staff, government clients, donors and academics. This effort resulted in 231 initial concept notes of which 84% are implementing an impact evaluation. More information can be found at http://www.worldbank.org/dime

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 2 year term appointment.

Duties

The Economist will be reporting to the manager of DECIE in the Bank's Research Group, and contribute to the expanding IE agenda in the Bank, carrying out the following specific responsibilities:

• Engaging and working with government counterparts, and country and project teams in the development of impact evaluation products;
• Coordinating support to and development of major impact evaluation sector and country programs, working in partnership with the operational departments, DEC researchers, external academics, and donors;
• Providing intellectual guidance and advice on the use of impact evaluation techniques to define appropriate evaluation questions, and identification and data generation strategies;
• Conducting and leading analytical work;
• Supporting impact evaluation implementation and quality assurance of data collection;
• Championing innovation in client capacity to develop and implement programs on impact evaluation;
• Preparing progress reports to management and donors.

Selection Criteria

• An MA or PhD in economics (or equivalent) and a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in development economics; impact evaluation and economic analysis; microeconomic data; development policies, projects and programs, and analytical work;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are essential; knowledge of French, Spanish and/or Portuguese is an advantage.
• We welcome candidates with a research interest in the areas of labor markets, environment, transport and ICT
• 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 process; distills operationally relevant recommendations/lessons for clients.
• 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.
• Macroeconomic Skills and Country Economics Experience - Demonstrates basic macroeconomic modeling skills and knowledge; understands how different accounts in an economy fit together and links among real, monetary, trade, debt and balance of payments accounts.
• Written and Verbal Communication - Delivers information effectively in support of team or workgroup
• Deliver Results for Clients - Proactively addresses clients' stated and unstated needs.
• Collaborate within Teams and Across Boundaries - Collaborates across boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly receives diverse perspectives.
• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge - Applies knowledge across WBG to strengthen solutions for internal and/or external clients.
• Make Smart Decisions - Interprets a wide range of information and pushes to move forward.
• Leadership within the Profession and Bank - Has a strong foundation on which to begin building thought leadership skills and reputation, specifically: Solid technical grounding and very good training in general economics, with broad knowledge and familiarity with economic problems
• Economic Report Writing - Experience as an applied economist, and a solid grasp of the statistical underpinnings of economic analysis
• Evaluation Approaches and Methods - Understands and applies the approaches, methods, and tools of development evaluation. Develops, or assists in developing, the strongest feasible design to answer the evaluation questions and respond to the evaluation's purpose.
• Gathering and Using Evidence for Monitoring and/or Evaluation - Demonstrates substantive familiarity with policy and process of gathering relevant & accurate information & evidence for monitoring and/or evaluation purposes. Demonstrates objectivity, fairness & balance when evaluating programs, policies & initiatives.
• Communicating and Sharing Findings, Knowledge & Expertise in Monitoring and/or Evaluation - Demonstrates the ability to present and discuss the findings of evaluations to Bank Group and external audiences. Articulates complex ideas, verbally, and in writing, using the most effective means of delivery and appropriate verbal and graphical content.
• Upholds Evaluation Independence, Quality & Standards - Demonstrates skills in upholding evaluation policy, procedure and standards, monitoring own work and the work of others to ensure high standards and professionalism, and independence.
• Leading, Managing and Delivering Evaluations - Leads impactful projects, as evidenced by work influencing or underpinning policy decisions. Builds and maintains constructive relationships with partners, evaluation commissioner(s), and other stakeholders.
• Developing a Results Framework for Monitoring & Evaluation - Knows and applies lessons from literature and practice on developing and maintaining results-based M&E systems in developing and developed countries.

Job summary