🇸🇱 Job Vacancy @ The World Bank – Senior Education Specialist/Economist

Job #: req21461

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Education

Grade: GG

Term Duration: 3 years 0 months

Recruitment Type: International Recruitment

Location: Freetown,Sierra Leone

Required Language(s): English

Preferred Language(s): French

Closing Date: 3/19/2023 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

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

Western and Central Africa (AFW) Region

We need the best and brightest talent focused on Sub-Saharan African countries in order to harness the potential and innovation happening across the continent. Africa is a continent on the move, with a young population and a growing market of nearly 1.2bn people. We are committed to making the Africa regional teams into leading innovation hubs. Yet, these vast opportunities are tempered by persistent gaps in education, health, and skills, which have Africa only reaching forty percent of its estimated potential. Moreover, conflict, food insecurity, population growth, and the disruptive forces of climate change threaten to curtail or even reverse the progress that has been made over the past decades. In Western and Central Africa, the World Bank is a leading partner with a growing portfolio of 350 projects totaling more than US$38 billion in areas such as agriculture, trade and transport, energy, education, health, water, and sanitation - all to support job creation, gender equality, poverty reduction, and better lives. Across the continent, the World Bank’s program has nearly doubled over the last 10 years. By 2030, about 87 percent of the world’s extreme poor are projected to live in Sub-Saharan Africa, so this is where our mission to end extreme poverty and to promote shared prosperity will be achieved.

Are you ready to make an impact? We are looking for dedicated professionals to join our innovative and diverse team to improve people’s lives and help countries build back better after COVID.

Western and Central Africa (AFW) Region

https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/western-and-central-africa

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 research program spans education, health, social protection, and labor.

Education Global Practice

Education is a human right, a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. It delivers large, consistent returns in terms of income and is the most important factor to ensure equality of opportunities. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education

Country Management Unit Context

The AWCW1 Country Management Unit (CMU) covers the countries of Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Bank has been actively working in the human development sectors for many years through lending operations, analytical work and policy dialogue. The Sierra Leone education portfolio is large and is instrumental in contributing to the country strategy for improving human capital and increased employability and earnings. Despite significant improvements over the last decade, limited access and quality of education and other services, driven largely by system inefficiencies put Sierra at the bottom of Human Development Index (HDI) rankings.

HAWE3 Unit

The Education GP team in the AFW Region is divided into two units (HAWE3 and HAWE2), each covering three CMUs. HAWE3 covers nine countries mapped to three Country Management Units (CMUs): (i) Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo, (ii) Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone; and (iii) Nigeria. Clients range from low-income countries (LIC), among them several fragile and conflict-affected 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 AFW countries, with most of the Region's population living in poverty. Despite the progress achieved in education, the AFW countries face major challenges with high level of learning poverty and out-of-school children, significant disadvantages adolescent girls face in terms of secondary education opportunities, and the low quality and limited relevance of skills programs for youth entering the labor market. The Education GP team in the region works with client countries – at the regional, national, and sub-national levels – to address their unique and shared challenges. We do this by addressing low quality at all levels of education, increasing the efficiency and accountability of education services, modernizing the higher end of the formal education continuum, integrating teaching and learning of science and technology at all levels, and aligning skills formation with the needs of a fast-growing Region, including LICs. It seeks to bring the best possible knowledge to bear on the practical challenges facing client countries and at the same time places a high priority on knowledge generation, including through rigorous impact evaluations of education interventions.

The HAWE3 Unit is responsible for policy, analytical and operational work in the education sector in the AFW region. The unit currently has a portfolio of regional and country projects and programs, analytical and technical assistance activities financed through IDA grants and credits, IBRD loans, Trust Funds, and using investment, including results-based financing (including Program for Results (PforR) operations). The portfolio spans the full spectrum of the education sector from early childhood development (ECD) to basic education, from secondary to technical and vocation education and training and to tertiary education, including the regional higher education projects.

Recent analytical and advisory work includes the development of an AFW Regional Education Strategy to improve education outcomes – specifically, reducing learning poverty, improving secondary education opportunities for girls and increasing opportunities for youth to acquire market-relevant skills. The operationalization of the regional strategy will require Bank Education teams to closely work with the relevant governments in developing their country-specific targets and implementation plans to achieve set those targets.

Education Sector in Sierra Leone

In Sierra Leone, the World Bank actively engages in policy dialogue, analytical work and operational investments in the education sector. The Bank support to the Government has ranged from primary and secondary education to skills and technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Through the IDA-financed Skills Development Project, the Bank is supporting the Government to develop a demand-led skills development system. The Bank-managed Korean Trust Fund complements the project and support to enhance policy dialogue on the labor market relevance and quality of vocational education and skills development and their contributions to fulfill the skills gap in country. The IDA-financed Free Education Project, which is co-financed by the EU, FCDO and Irish Aid through a Bank-administered multi-donor trust fund (MDTF), supports school- and system-level development in primary and secondary education to improve the management of the education system, teaching practices, and learning conditions. An additional financing of GPE COVID-19 Accelerated Funding to the Free Education Project supported covid-19 education responses and was closed successfully in December 2022. The Sierra Leone education team with the Government counterpart is preparing an additional financing (grants from IDA and Qatar Education Above All EAA) for the Free Education Project. Additionally, the team supports key education sector reforms through Sierra Leone Inclusive and Sustainable Growth Development Policy Operation (DPO).

The World Bank is also active in knowledge generation and technical assistance on key issues in the education sector in Sierra Leone, including Skills Assessment, support to improve foundational learning through Accelerator Program, and evidence-based teacher deployment exercise, etc. In collaboration with other GPs, the Sierra Leone education team has been working on cross-sectoral work such as the Human Capital Review and contributes relevant analysis and inputs to cross-sectoral and macroeconomic/public finance reports and strategic documents.

Duties and Accountabilities

In light of the above, the HAWE3 Unit is seeking a Senior Education Specialist/Economist, based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The selected candidate will be expected to engage in high quality policy dialogue with government counterparts and stakeholders on key issues in education and skills development, provide timely and quality implementation support to the governments on the lending operations, lead or co-lead the preparation of new lending programs, and lead or co-lead analytical work and technical assistance. The candidate will further develop and support new business areas of engagement, including partnering with key stakeholders to attain results. The candidate must have: (a) strong education technical expertise and integrity; (b) ability and agility to identify areas for policy and/or institutional reforms that could be addressed through policy and evidence-based approaches; and (c) engage with other global practices to enhance Sierra Leone’s development trajectory. This position will be focused primarily on Sierra Leone, but depending on business need, the work program could occasionally extend to other countries in the unit.

The selected candidate will report to the Education Practice Manager for HAWE3 and will be expected to work in close collaboration with the CMU and other GPs. The selected candidate is expected to work with country office colleagues as well as other team members based in Washington DC working on the different programs. He/she will interact heavily with the Sierra Leone Country Manager in Freetown and HD Program Leader based in Accra, Ghana.

The main responsibilities include:

•  Operations: Design and supervise operations, both as leader and as member of team, in the education sector or multi-sectoral operations, tapping into the Bank’s full range of lending instruments. Provide implementation support for the on-going portfolio. Provide timely advice and support to clients in implementing projects and help to build capacity of the education ministries and institutions and government officials.
•  Policy dialogue and building client capacity: Conduct sectoral policy dialogue with clients at the highest levels, on a range of complex issues at different levels of education. Identify and nurture opportunities for participating in the broader policy dialogue in the country especially in so far as they impact on education or where the education sector can contribute. Build client capacity to use findings of policy research/ analytical work for developing new policies. Provide technical advice on key issues and strategic directions for the country’s education sector development, by bringing relevant international experience and research to assist in developing local solutions, on issues such as strategies to expanding access to quality primary and secondary education, girls education, improving the quality and relevance of skills development, and use of digital technology in education. Lead and contribute to policy dialogue with the government of Sierra Leone on a range of sector issues at different levels of education. Identify and nurture opportunities for participating in the broader policy dialogue in the country especially in so far as they impact on education or where the education sector can make a contribution. Build client capacity to use findings of policy research/ analytical work for developing new policies. Provide technical advice on key issues and strategic directions for the country’s education development, by bringing relevant international experience and research to assist in developing local solutions.
•  Analytical work and non-lending services: Lead and contribute to the design, preparation and dissemination of analytical products (e.g. sector assessment, policy notes, impact evaluation, public expenditure reviews, country systems diagnostics, case studies, etc.); provide input on a range of issues (e.g., education finance, management and governance, teacher policies, skills development) to support education into the respond to critical policy questions identified by the client and which have an impact on policy and operational design. 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. Provide education sector input to regular Bank products and outputs (e.g., HD-wide analytical tasks, CMU tasks). Liaise with HD staff on integrated HD inputs and activities.
•  Leadership: Work closely with the Practice Manager, the education team, the CMU and other sectors to identify, develop and support new business areas of engagement, including innovative financial products, technical advisory services and other services, as required.
•  Education and human development sector work: Provide education sector input to regular Bank’s products/outputs (e.g. HD sector briefings and memos, background reports, project performance reviews, etc.). Liaise with HD staff on integrated HD inputs and activities. Respond to ad-hoc information requests from internal and external parties.
•  Partnerships: Work closely with funding partners including MDTF participating donors and trust fund partners and lead coordination and collaboration among partners. Work constructively with Local Education Group (LEG), partners, including bilateral and multi-lateral donors, UN agencies, NGOs, and private sector partners. Contribute to alignment and coordination around country led priorities.

In performing these roles, the selected candidate will interact with counterparts in government and in a variety of international and other partner organizations and with Bank colleagues and managers within the GP Education sector, the CMU, as well as those in other GPs. She/he will be expected to work in close collaboration with the other members of the education team and colleagues in other GPs.

Selection Criteria

The Education GP is seeking an experienced, versatile, and highly motivated candidate to work on a large and growing portfolio as part of the education team based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The ideal candidate will combine excellent team work and client dialogue skills, excellent technical skills, a capacity to translate analytical findings into policy and into innovative Bank operations to help clients shift policies in new directions or to pilot new approaches; and operational skills to provide effective implementation support for the Bank’s growing portfolio. The candidate should have:

•  Education: A minimum of a Master’s Degree (preferably PhD) in economics, education (economics of education, education policy, etc.), public policy, or a related field.
•  Experience: A minimum of 8 years directly relevant work experience in education; and demonstrated expert-level knowledge of education policy. Experience in World Bank operations as demonstrated through TTL-ship and or being core member for lending operations. Demonstrated experience on education policy. Experience working clients to build capacity and engage in dialogue on education service delivery. Experience working with development partners. Knowledge of the GPE and/or other trust fund processes is plus.
•  Strong analytical/technical skills: Analytical and economics skills (e.g., education, labor economics), education policy analysis, including an understanding of the core education data sets, indicators, tools for analysis of these data, and the use of evidence for education policy.
•  Strong client orientation. Ability to conduct high level policy dialogue with clients, including Ministries Education, Ministry of Finance and other stakeholders.
•  Excellent teamwork and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated ability to lead teams. Excellent interpersonal skills, with proven ability to work effectively and collaboratively in a team and multicultural environment, with minimum supervision.
•  High levels of energy, initiative, and flexibility. Proactive attitude to challenges and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements. Ability to juggle numerous competing demands and priorities, respond quickly to internal and external client requests, and set realistic priorities for self and others.
•  Language and communication skills: Excellent written and oral communication skills in English. The candidate will be expected to write concisely and expediently; present technical information to clients; and represent the WBG education team among donors and the client.
•  Willingness to travel, as required by the different tasks.

Competencies

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

•  Education knowledge and experience: Possesses technical skills, including an understanding of key core education issues with regard to quality, relevance, and equity at all levels. Has familiarity with analytical resources, data sets, indicators, tools for data analysis, 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 and produce user-friendly written outputs.
•  Policy Dialogue Skills: Possesses political judgment, diplomatic acumen, and negotiating skills; applies cross-country development knowledge to discussions with clients and development partners; anticipates needs and requests in the field and develops/offers relevant tools to clients.
•  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.
•  Integrative skills: Demonstrates strong integrative thinking and ability to support project teams in developing an integrated point of view around development challenges.
•  Analytical Services and Advisory (ASA) policy, strategic and technical analysis for country/sector Issues: Provides inputs to key ASA 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.
•  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

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.

Closing date: Sunday, 19 March 2023