UNDP Jobs - 107878- Economic Specialist

Economic Specialist - IPSA 10

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

IPSA (Regular)

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

28-Jul-22 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

IPSA-10

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Office/Unit/Project Description

The UN Reform Resolution tasks UNDP to provide countries with an “integrator function” to accelerate progress towards the SDGs by tackling multiple interlinked and interdependent development challenges. The UNDP Global Policy Network (GPN) draws on expertise globally to provide more effective responses to the complex development challenges countries face in achieving the SDGs and responding to crisis in an integrated and coherent manner. Anchored in the Crisis Bureau (CB) and the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS), the GPN has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan, which is aligned with the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

An SDG Integration Team located with the GPN aims to build a coherent and consolidated menu of services (the SDG Integrator “offer”) emphasizing direct short-to-medium-term engagements to respond rapidly to requests from country offices for support on national implementation and monitoring of integrated policy solutions, qualitative and evidence-driven analysis for accelerated progress, and knowledge sharing and upscaling of innovative approaches to sustainable development.

UNDP's offer on SDG Integration unpacks and leverages the lessons from existing UNDP initiatives to respond with agility to the demand of support from Programme countries in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda, with a focus on the application of evidence-driven data and analytics. To support this work, the SDG Integration Team is looking for an Economist with a background in sustainable development policy, having supported countries focusing on supporting implementation of actions and delivering results on the ground.

Under the guidance of the Global Policy Advisor of the SDG Integration Team, the Economic Specialist will support the Integration Team’s economic analysis of a variety of data and information to strengthen the identification of emerging trends, improve understanding of evolving development issues and lead to the design of better development solutions. The Specialist should have a mastery in various economic modelling and analysis to identify patterns, correlations and causations, in order to perform the economic analysis principles at the global, regional, national and subnational level.

Institutional Arrangement

The Economic Specialist will work under the guidance and direct supervision of Global Policy Advisor of the SDG Integration Team, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support/Global Policy Network and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the scope of work mentioned above.
The Specialist will be given access to relevant information necessary for the execution of the tasks under this assignment.
The Specialist will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.
Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the Specialist is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

The Economic Specialist will support the SDG Integration Team in the following areas:

Provide technical lead on several interdisciplinary complex challenges that requires the application of different economic and statistical tools. This will include but not limited to the application of macro and micro economic tools and recent tools such as the application of data science to understanding and monitoring policy outcomes.
Substantively support the development and direction of the Data Futures Platform and specific insights.
Work directly with UNDP Country Offices and Thematic Teams to support their economic analysis needs;
Write short policy briefs on a range of economic policy matters as background papers oriented toward UNDP Country Offices and national governments;
Lead in the formulation of relevant scenarios to conduct simulations for policy analysis and specify, calibrate and execute relevant economic model(s) to quantify impacts;
Write reports, as needed, that document analytic work that capture context, methods, results, discussion and policy recommendations;

Competencies

Core

Achieve Results:

LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively:

LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously:

LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility:

LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination:

LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner:

LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

Enable Diversity and Inclusion:

LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

*Thematic Area*	*Name*	*Definition*
Business Development	Knowledge Generation	Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need
Business Development	Collective Intelligence Design	Ability to bringing together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, and technology to design services or solutions
Business Management	Working with Evidence and Data	Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making
Business Management	Communication	Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
Business Management	Client Management	Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education	Masters’ degree in Economics, statistics, public policy, development economics or related quantitative social sciences. Bachelor’s degree with additional two years of of experience may be taken into consideration in lieu of Master’s degree
Min. years of relevant Work experience	Master’s degree with 5 years’ relevant experience in economic policy analysis, or Bachelor’s degree with 7 years’ relevant experience
Required skills and competencies	Professional experience in economic modelling and policy analysis in development contexts. Experience with data science and programming tools such as MATLAB, R, GAMS, or Python, etc. Extensive experience using quantitative methods with internationally recognized academic institutions or research think tanks. Experience working in an interdisciplinary team Country-specific and thematically relevant knowledge in at least one of the following areas: CGE modelling, social accounting matrices and existing analysis using CGE models Partial Equilibrium Models and Integrated Assessment Model. Empirical analytic methods (Econometric and statistical analysis) applied to micro and macro datasets. DSGE models
Desired additional skills and competencies	Expertise in designing, constructing and application of position specific quantitative methods Professional experience with a UN agency
Required Language(s) (at working level)	Fluency in written and spoken English (required) Knowledge of another UN language considered an asset
Professional Certificates	n/a