Senior Country Economist

As a Senior Country Economist, you will lead PHCO’s economic sector work, including dialogue with the government, coordination with development partners and other partners, and preparation of knowledge solutions sharing. This includes the conduct of regular economic analysis, monitoring, and diagnostics. You will help implement the Philippines Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), which is aligned with the Philippines’ development plans and ADB’s Strategy 2030, and the development of the country program. You will also provide support to engagements between government and various ADB divisions in the design and processing of loans and technical assistance; in non-lending products and services and knowledge solutions; and for regional cooperation plans. You will also support external relations activities, including coordination with development partners, civil society, and the press.

You will:

• Strategy and Programming· Support the country partnership strategy (CPS) implementation and apprise Management of its progress.· Lead the development of and facilitate and monitor the implementation of the country’s knowledge plan, and plans for climate change investment, private sector development, and gender action, and women’s empowerment.· Support donor coordination, promote the donor and harmonization agenda and help manage communications and external relations.· Establish and maintain cordial relations with senior government officials and serve as the communication link between the Philippines and ADB in resolving policy and CPS implementation issues.· Support the Country Operations Head in country programming including through the provision of secretariat support for the Philippines Country Management Team (CMT).
• Economics and Knowledge Operations· Lead, conduct, ensure the quality of complex economic, country, sector, and thematic diagnostic studies (including the private sector, climate, gender, governance, and public finance) and provide advice to the Country Director and CMT on priority areas that create the greatest development impact.· Lead the preparation of the Philippines chapters for the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) and ADO Update and other economic reports, such as the Asian Bond Monitor and economic monitoring documents. · Prepare briefing papers for use by Management during visits to the Philippines.· Provide strategic leadership and preparation of policy dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and other distribution activities, including forums, seminars, workshops, press conferences, news releases, and social media.· Lead the Country Performance Assessment and annual policy actions under the Sustainable Development Finance Policy for the Philippines.· Be the PHCO’s focal point for the macroeconomic working group.· Help collaborate with the government for developing regional cooperation activities, especially relating to ASEAN and BIMP-EAGA.
• Project and TA Processing and Implementation Support· Support ADB’s sovereign and non-sovereign operations and to the design and processing of loan and TA projects, ensuring ADB’s cross-cutting concerns are addressed and providing the country context in project design. · Lead in the processing and implementation of country-level technical assistance projects in areas related to strategic priority one on promoting sustainable public finance under the CPS.
• People Management· Provide technical advice and mentor staff and long-term consultants in PHCO’s economics team.· Oversee reporting staff, including their performance and development. Ensure the ongoing learning and development of reporting staff. Take the role of a mentor to develop the capabilities and potential of reporting staff.· Perform other responsibilities that may be assigned and as reflected in the your workplan.

Qualifications:

You will need:

• Master’s degree in economics, political science, public policy, public administration, or other fields relevant to the sector/area (Ph.D. an advantage) and at least 5 years of specialized professional experience in knowledge-related work can be considered.
• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in development planning and policy formulation and operations
• Evidence of high-quality knowledge outputs; publications in international peer-reviewed professional journals a plus.
• Demonstrated expertise in economic research and development in developing countries.
• Strong quantitative, analytical, and conceptual skills in economics.
• Broad-based exposure to country programming
• International experience working in development in several countries. Relevant experience in Southeast Asia and the Philippines is an advantage.
• Proven interpersonal, cross-cultural with the ability to collaborate with senior staff, Management, and senior government officials.
• Please refer to the link for ADB Competency Framework for IS5.

Source: https://www.adb.org/careers/240776