Senior Economist

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

Background / General description:

Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff globally.

The vision of the World Bank Group (WBG) is the eradication of extreme poverty by reducing the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day to 3 percent by 2030, and the promotion of shared prosperity by fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent in each country. To achieve that vision, the WBG Board of Governors approved a strategy for the organization that leverages the combined strength of the WBG institutions and their ability to partner with the public and private sectors to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance, world class knowledge and convening services. It has three components: (1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2) promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and ideas.

On July 1, 2014, the WBG launched the architecture underpinning the strategy and instrumental to its success: the new fourteen Global Practices and five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas that, in concert with the WBG regions, will design solutions to address clients' most pressing developmental challenges, and ultimately, enable the WBG to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The Global Practices perform the following functions:

• Defining Strategic Direction: (i) define strategic priorities to deliver solutions and achieve results based on country and regional demands and interactions and global priorities; (ii) define/implement integrated resource strategies, (iii) engage in selected, high priority partnerships, and (iv) establish robust monitoring and reporting systems.

• Developing and Deploying Expertise Globally: (i) lead the development and delivery of solutions to clients by deploying the right technical staff where and when needed; and (ii) invest in developing technical talent.

• Delivering Integrated Solutions: (i) deliver operations, while Regions ensure fit for purpose; (ii) develop public-private integrated solutions that draw on GPs, CCSAs, MIGA and IFC; and (iii) hold the "Concurrence" role in all project/AAA approval steps, ensuring that all technical quality, safeguard and fiduciary requirements (if applicable) are met.

• Capturing and Leveraging Knowledge Effectively: (i) ensure knowledge is used effectively to deliver solutions to clients; (ii) assign staff roles and accountabilities in creating, capturing, sharing and using knowledge' (iii) reward knowledge sharing and learning, in performance management and career development; and (iv) develop knowledge base around key development challenges and solutions sets.

Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice Context

The central contribution of the HNP Global Practice to the World Bank's twin goals is to enable the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), in which all people are effectively covered by essential health services, and nobody suffers undue financial hardship as a result of illnesses. In the quest for UHC, the HNP Global Practice is building on progress made in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, an array of analytical and advisory services, strategic partnerships with partner institutions and other financing agencies, and an active lending portfolio. The HNP Global Practice includes staff members in Washington, DC and many country offices.

The HNP Global Practice is led by a Senior Director, who has overall responsibility for the GP. The Senior Director is assisted by the Director, who serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Practice. The HNP Global Practice Leadership Team, which leads and manages the HNP GP, consists of the Senior Director, the Director, ten HNP Practice Managers and seven Global Leads (for Financing; Healthy Societies; Nutrition; Population and Development; Decision and Delivery Science; Service Delivery; and Private Sector). The HNP Global Practice works with and across multiple sectors, in recognition of the fact that HNP outcomes often depend on actions that lie outside the HNP sector. Accordingly, a capacity to work across GP boundaries, forge coalitions and influence multi-practice solutions is essential for achieving the major objectives of improving HNP outcomes.

The HNP Global Practice covering the Sub-Saharan Africa Region is configured in three units with a Practice Manager for each unit.

The HNP Global Practice is seeking a Senior Health Economist based in Washington DC to support its portfolio and policy dialogue program at national and regional levels, reporting to the Practice Manager for GHN07. The Senior Economist will help enhance the WBG's support to member countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region strengthening their health financing systems and evaluate impacts of alternative interventions to accelerate progress toward UHC.

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.


Duties and Accountabilities:

Duties and accountabilities

The selected candidate will:

• As a member of country task teams, provide rigorous technical assistance to World Bank country teams and government clients to ensure that high quality, relevant, and cost effective program interventions are designed and implemented based on country analytics and in line with international best practice in accelerating achievement of UHC. An emphasis will be on Francophone countries, and experience with incorporating issues specific to this setting is preferred.

• Provide high level policy advice to federal and local governments in selected countries in the area of health financing, efficiency, sustainability, domestic resource mobilization, health systems reform; offer international comparative perspectives; and recommend policy options and implementation strategies;

• Maintain close working relationships with key health sector partners and interact with counterparts in Government and international organizations;

• Engage with key human development partners where relevant and interact with counterparts in Government and international organizations;

• Identify opportunities for collaboration with other sectors to improve efficiency and impact of health sector impacts and to enhance inter-sector collaboration where relevant;

• Contribute to the development of a quality assurance mechanism;

• Contribute to the creation and sharing of knowledge by summarizing and documenting results and lessons learned.


Selection Criteria:

• Advanced degree in Health Economics (or social sector economics) and at least 8 years of relevant experience; a PhD in health economics/economics is strongly preferred;
• World class knowledge and experience of health economics in developing countries, preferably in a variety of country settings;
• Strong knowledge and understanding of Health, Nutrition and Population issues, political economy, institutional economics, and governance;
• Proven analytical and quantitative skills including significant journal publications. Knowledge of impact evaluation will be an asset.
• Excellent English and French-language writing and oral communications skills. Must be a compelling speaker and an effective advocate for effective health policies;
• Strong diplomatic skills and success working in teams both as a team member and as a team leader. Demonstrated ability to deal sensitively in multi-cultural environments and build effective working relations with clients and colleagues. Proven ability to function effectively in multi-disciplinary teams;
• Knowledge of results-based financing (RBF) mechanisms would be an advantage.
• Extensive experience with health systems strengthening and understanding of health systems and their components, as well as the role of government and government policy within the framework of economic efficiency and equity;
• Understanding of links between health financing and other sectors;
• Ability to frame health financing issues in specific country context and identify tailored analytical approaches to underlying problems;
• Expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods;
• Proven experience engaging with senior government officials (both health and non-health sectors) and development partner, civil society, and private sector representatives.

In addition to the above, the successful candidate is expected to demonstrate the following competencies:

Competencies

• Knowledge and Experience in Development Arena: Influences the design and execution of major policy and/or research initiatives; conceive and promotes innovations in development policies, project design, organization and management to improve operational and sector work.

• Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge and Experience: Possesses extensive experience in analytical or operational work strengthening HNP policies and programs, and leading complex projects and diverse teams.

• Policy Dialogue Skills: Has a track record of conducting effective policy dialogue with country counterparts; communicates and defends difficult issues and positions to senior bank management and government officials.

• Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making: Serves as a trusted advisor to others on their decisions, ensuring alignment across units and optimal impact on the organization as a whole.

• In-depth Economic Knowledge and Analytical Skills: Possesses a track record of intellectual leadership and ability to integrate economic-specific knowledge and specific micro/sector fields of expertise; provides quality assurance and assesses technical soundness of work/reports.

• Lead and Innovate: Encourages and works with others to identify, incubate and implement relevant solutions. Identifies opportunities in changing circumstances and energizes others to continuously improve, using intentional strategies to boost morale, team spirit, and productivity in context of WBG's values and mission. Helps others to understand problems, client needs and the underlying context; be able to adapt to changing circumstances, and be bold to increase the Bank's Group's effectiveness.

• Deliver Results for Clients: Develops and implements solutions that show understanding of how clients and/or own work achieves results that are financially, environmentally and socially sustainable. Shares new insights based on in-depth understanding of the client and recommends solutions for current and future needs of clients. Holds self and team accountable for risk management and outcomes.

• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries: Collaborates across organizational boundaries, internally and externally with a sense of mutuality and respect. Consistently engages others in open dialogue, brings out any conflicting viewpoints and incorporates viewpoints into solutions, giving credit where credit is due. Leverages expertise of all team members to ensure successful outcomes. Makes choices and sets priorities with a WBG corporate perspective in mind.

• Create, Apply and Share Knowledge: Ensures systematic sharing of good practice and learning from lessons from across WBG, clients, and partners. Is known across WBG in their subject area and is sought out by WBG colleagues to advise, peer review, or contribute to knowledge products of others. Seeks mentoring opportunities with more experienced staff to deepen or strengthen their professional knowledge and mentors junior staff. Builds networks across the WBG and as part of external professional groups/networks.

• Make Smart Decisions: Applies critical thinking and seeks inputs and experience from others to recommend a course of action consistent with the WBG's strategy. Evaluates risk and anticipates the short and long term implications of decisions. Commits to a decision and takes action once a decision has been reached.

Job summary