Inter-American Development Bank

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

Background: As part of The Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness (SPD), the Strategy Development Division (SPD/SDV) is currently looking for an Economist. SPD/SDV is responsible for the implementation of the Development Effectiveness Framework (DEF), a series of tools developed to track the performance of Sovereign Guaranteed (SG) projects from design to completion. At entry, the Development Effectiveness Matrix (DEM) assesses the degree of evaluation of projects: During implementation, the Progress Monitoring Report (PMR) captures the status of each project at a given point in time vis-à-vis its execution plan during the design stage. At completion, the Project Completion Report (PCR) assesses the likelihood that the project’s development objectives were reached.

The team: The Office of Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness (SPD) provides technical guidance in order to develop a culture of results within the Bank, and to help the Bank innovate its core business and ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of its products and methods over time.

What you’ll do:
•Assess the development effectiveness of Sovereign Guaranteed Operations, Country Strategies, Sector Notes and Country Programming Documents through the application of the DEM. Representing SPD, lead and/or participate in multidisciplinary teams in the conceptualization and development of new corporate initiatives related to development effectiveness. May lead and provide technical guidance on the design of project result matrices and of evaluable projects, and provide input on content questions related to project design, monitoring and evaluation that may arise from the users in the process.
•Maintain client focus and contribute to identifying issues related to the functions of the DEF and appropriate solutions, and contribute to the identification and communication of good practices in development effectiveness. Monitor and promote the consistent application of tools, methodologies, procedures, policies and best practices in project design, execution and evaluation. May lead the collection and processing of data to report on DEF issues, such as project design, progress on outcome, output indicators, project performance and results classification. Contribute to/Lead the analysis of data collected from the DEM (as well as future convergence system), including generating statistics, analyzing reports and preparing presentations and comments for discussion on future improvements to the DEM system and its implementation.
•Train Bank staff and government officials on the use and application of the DEF. Oversee and participate in specialized training for personnel on technical evaluation techniques, and in the dissemination of results of different analytic products, including preparation of presentations, executive summaries, or other materials, as required.
•May lead and participate in the design and oversight of randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental impact evaluations, and other evaluations related to IDB projects. Collect data and carry out econometric and statistical analysis, as required, related to impact evaluation and studies.
•Contribute to the development of technical notes and evaluation guidelines by topic or sectors and originate, participate in and oversee specialized analytic and research papers or background studies on areas of strategic importance to the IDB. Contribute to the development of new or revised tools, methodologies, procedures and policies that allow for better design, implementation and monitoring, and evaluation of the Bank’s portfolio.
•Participate in the writing of different product documents, as required. Participate in project missions to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries, when needed, to provide input on issues related to development effectiveness and evaluation.
Coordinate and oversee visualization tools. May guide, coach and mentor more junior staff. First responsibility

Skills you’ll need:
Education: Master's degree in Economics, Actuary, Statistics, Political Sciences, Sociology, Information Systems, Public Administration, or other related fields.

Experience:
•Minimum of 4 years of relevant professional experience, preferably in a similar organization working directly on project related data and with a thorough understanding of the corporate priorities, policies and procedures;
•In-depth knowledge and direct use of the relevant operational and corporate information systems, including experience with designing customized tools/instruments for data extraction/analysis;
•Ability to consolidate, summarize and critically analyze multiple sources of qualitative and quantitative information to compose concise and strategically relevant conclusions to be used for a variety of internal and external purposes; skilled at presenting quantitative data;
•Ability to work under limited supervision and considerable time constraints; takes personal ownership and accountability to meet deadlines and achieve agreed-upon results;
•Strong interpersonal skills to work in high performing teams both within SPD and outside SPD as an effective team leader and/or team member.

Languages:
Excellent verbal and written communications skills in both English and Spanish.

Additional Requirements:
In addition to your CV, cover letter and complete application please include as attachment the following samples:

1.Writing sample. The ideal sample includes the discussion of economic models and econometric or statistical analysis of data. Please include only samples which represent your own abilities -as opposed to co-authored documents that reflect your team ability.

2.Code sample (simple text format). The ideal sample of code shows programming to carry out statistical analysis. We welcome code in STATA, R, SPSS, SAS or similar statistical packages.

Opportunity Summary:
Starting date: March 1st, 2018
Location: Headquarters
Requirements: Candidates must be citizens of one of the IDB’s 48 member countries and have no family members currently working at the bank.

Our culture: Working with us you will be surrounded by a diverse group of people who have years of experience in all types of development fields, including transportation, health, gender and diversity, communications and much more.

About us: At the Inter-American Development Bank, we’re devoted to improving lives. Since 1959, we’ve been a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social, and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. We do more than lending though. We partner with our 48 member countries to provide Latin America and the Caribbean with cutting-edge research about relevant development issues, policy advice to inform their decisions, and technical assistance to improve on the planning and execution of projects. For this, we need people who not only have the right skills, but also are passionate about improving lives.

The IDB offers a competitive remuneration and benefits package.

The IDB is committed to diversity and inclusion and to providing equal opportunities in employment. We embrace diversity based on gender, age, education, national origin, ethnic origin, race, disability, sexual orientation, and religion. We encourage women, Afro-descendants and persons of indigenous origins to apply.