Description
Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? 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. Visit www.worldbank.org.
The Poverty and Equity Global Practice:
The Poverty and Equity Global Practice, within the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions Practice Group, plays a central role advancing the World Bank Group’s mission to end extreme poverty on a livable planet.
Despite decades of hard-won development progress and sustained poverty reduction, current projections indicate that the world is off track to achieve the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. Several major overlapping crises and shocks led to three years of lost progress between 2020 and 2022. The global poverty rate is now back to pre-pandemic levels, but low-income countries, which were most impacted, have yet to recover. Today, around 700 million people struggle to survive on less than $2.15 dollars per day, the international extreme poverty line. More than half of them are children. Millions more people live without adequate access to health, education, housing, water, or electricity – deprived not only of essential needs, but also of opportunity, hope, and dignity.
The Poverty and Equity Global Practice uses the latest evidence and analysis to help governments develop sound policies that help the poorest in every country and focus our investments in areas that are critical to improving lives. The Global Practice is organized into seven regional units that are responsible for the delivery of country programs, and one global unit that is responsible for the delivery of global programs and corporate priorities. Comprising a worldwide team of more than 200 microeconomists, social scientists, statisticians, data scientists, and operational and administrative staff, the Global Practice delivers on its mandate through a series of thematic global programs, analytical and advisory services, operational solutions, and strategic collaboration with internal and external partners.
The Global Practice works across a broad range of priority areas, including strengthening national data systems and statistical modernization, global data for monitoring progress on Sustainable Development Goals, innovations for real-time monitoring of welfare, the welfare implications of climate change and climate action, equitable fiscal and social policy, the role of markets and institutions in combatting poverty and inequality, the welfare implications of conflict and fragility, and gender.
Scope of Engagement:
The Poverty and Equity GP is looking for an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) to support the Office of the Global Director. This is a unique opportunity to become an integral part of our dynamic front office team, where your contributions will have a direct impact on shaping the global dialogue on poverty and equity. As an ETC, you will work closely with the GP’s leadership to contribute across a range of areas including:
• Public engagement of the Global Director: Collaborate in the preparation of compelling presentations, talking points, speeches, briefing materials, blog posts, and social media content for the Global Director. This includes materials for mission travel, stakeholder meetings, high-level events, panel discussions, and academic conferences.
• Delivery of strategic initiatives: Contribute to the organization of strategic global convenings (e.g. high-level events, Advisory Group meetings, team retreats, research conferences) and the delivery of priority global products (e.g. preparing strategic communications materials to highlight key messages or lessons learned from analytical and/or operational work).
• Corporate commitments: Coordinate selected corporate processes, including tracking requests, identifying and liaising with relevant staff members, and preparing timely responses.
• Research assistance: Provide analytical support on a wide range of poverty and equity topics. This may include analyzing and visualizing data, preparing literature reviews, or drafting other types of research inputs for analytical work as needed.
Selection Criteria
• Master’s degree in international development, public policy, economics, or related subject; or bachelor’s degree with a minimum of two years of related professional experience.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritize, work well under pressure, and capably handle multiple tasks within tight deadlines.
• Excellent written and visual communication skills, with the ability to effectively distill complex ideas into clear messages tailored to different audiences. Keen interest in applying creative and innovative approaches.
• Strong analytical skills, with demonstrated experience in conducting academic research, analyzing data, and visualizing data.
• Solid general knowledge in development economics and public policy issues related to poverty, inequality, and vulnerability.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to collaborate effectively with diverse staff from all levels and to work effectively in a position in which confidentiality and discretion are essential.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (including Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Teams) and in tools for data analysis and visualization (e.g. Excel, Stata, R, Tableau, Flourish, Data Wrapper).
• Fluency in English required; proficiency in additional languages is an asset.
Supervision:
The position will be based in Washington, DC. The ETC would work in the office of the Global Director for Poverty and Equity, under the supervision of Kimberly Bolch (Special Assistant to the Global Director).
World Bank Group Core Competencies
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.
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