E T Consultant

Contract

This is a World Bank Group grade: EC1 contract. More about World Bank Group grade: EC1 contracts.

E T Consultant

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. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org

The World Bank Group (WBG) twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity reflect a new global landscape: one in which developing countries have an unprecedented opportunity to end extreme poverty within a generation. Nonetheless, the progress that many countries had seen at the turn of the century came to a full stop -and even lost- due to the global crises and ever-changing economic landscapes. The most recent global crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic had put enormous pressure on countries and governments, while making the elimination of poverty and boosting the income of the poorest a harder goal to reach. To protect the vulnerable and regain the pace of sustainable economic growth, clients will need to address several critical development challenges.

Brazil presents a case of interest in the Latin American context. After seeing historical drops in poverty and inequality between 2000-2012, poverty and inequality progress was halted by the economic crisis of 2014/19. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed Brazil to unprecedented social and economic challenges. However, the enormous fiscal package (where one of the components was the emergency cash transfer Auxilio Emergencial) allowed poverty and inequality to decrease significantly in 2020. Still, the continued precariousness of the jobs available – even in a context of labor market recovery- made poverty rate estimates to suggest a significant deterioration of households’ welfare in 2021.

In 2019, close to 20 percent of the Brazilian population was estimated to live in poverty (defined as earning less than US$6.85 per day per capita, 2017 PPP). After the drop in 2020, poverty rates bounced back to above pre-pandemic levels in 2021 (28.4), responding to the major changes in the social protection system and the weak labor market dynamics. As economic recovery continues and the labor market strengthens, poverty may go back to a declining trend, though it is uncertain how much dependent vulnerable households will be on government transfers.

Poverty and Equity Global Practice

The Poverty & Equity Global Practice is a family of empirical micro-economists with deep expertise in household surveys and poverty measurement, and broad experience in using household and other "micro" data to inform the design and implementation of policies and programs to reduce poverty and enhance shared prosperity.

We work with government and external partners, at the country-level and globally, in ensuring their efforts to eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity are enhanced by integrative empirically-grounded analyses of household welfare. Internally, we work with country, regional and global teams across all practices to operationalize the twin goals of the WBG by providing robust evidence base and analytics using micro data.

The Poverty and Equity Global Practice delivers the following to our clients in support of these critical development challenges: Advice and knowledge to help better understand the relationship between growth, poverty, and inequality. Diagnostics to help identify key policies and multi sectoral solutions that effectively reduce poverty and benefit the less well-off. Monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs to enhance the poverty impact of interventions and inform mid-stream correction. Monitoring and tracking poverty and other welfare outcomes. Capacity-building and knowledge sharing (in client countries and within the WBG) of distributional impacts analytics. Innovative data collection and measurement methods that can help fill crucial data gaps.

Scope of Work

The Poverty and Equity Global Practice in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region is seeking to hire an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) to contribute to its analytical and operational programs in the LC5 Task Team (Brazil). The consultant will participate as a core member of the Poverty team, responsible for providing:

- Support the implementation, update and maintenance of microsimulation tools to obtain poverty projections, and the likely distributional impact of policy changes, especially those related to fiscal and social policies.

- Conduct data management and data analysis. Analyses should consider alternative methodologies and pursue the most suitable empirical methods and data sources. Produce literature reviews.

- Conduct analysis using harmonized databases and World Bank datasets and tools, such as data libweb, WB-SEDLAC, LABLAC, LEL, among others.

- Support dissemination of findings of analytical work under different formats: research papers, policy notes, presentations, conferences.

- Develop excellent working relationships with country management units and other Global Practices within the WBG.

Timing

This contract is for a full time position in Brasilia. The contract is for one year starting in June 2023. A renewal for a second year is possible contingent on good performance.

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. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org

The World Bank Group (WBG) twin goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity reflect a new global landscape: one in which developing countries have an unprecedented opportunity to end extreme poverty within a generation. Nonetheless, the progress that many countries had seen at the turn of the century came to a full stop -and even lost- due to the global crises and ever-changing economic landscapes. The most recent global crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic had put enormous pressure on countries and governments, while making the elimination of poverty and boosting the income of the poorest a harder goal to reach. To protect the vulnerable and regain the pace of sustainable economic growth, clients will need to address several critical development challenges.

Brazil presents a case of interest in the Latin American context. After seeing historical drops in poverty and inequality between 2000-2012, poverty and inequality progress was halted by the economic crisis of 2014/19. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed Brazil to unprecedented social and economic challenges. However, the enormous fiscal package (where one of the components was the emergency cash transfer Auxilio Emergencial) allowed poverty and inequality to decrease significantly in 2020. Still, the continued precariousness of the jobs available – even in a context of labor market recovery- made poverty rate estimates to suggest a significant deterioration of households’ welfare in 2021.

In 2019, close to 20 percent of the Brazilian population was estimated to live in poverty (defined as earning less than US$6.85 per day per capita, 2017 PPP). After the drop in 2020, poverty rates bounced back to above pre-pandemic levels in 2021 (28.4), responding to the major changes in the social protection system and the weak labor market dynamics. As economic recovery continues and the labor market strengthens, poverty may go back to a declining trend, though it is uncertain how much dependent vulnerable households will be on government transfers.

Poverty and Equity Global Practice

The Poverty & Equity Global Practice is a family of empirical micro-economists with deep expertise in household surveys and poverty measurement, and broad experience in using household and other "micro" data to inform the design and implementation of policies and programs to reduce poverty and enhance shared prosperity.

We work with government and external partners, at the country-level and globally, in ensuring their efforts to eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity are enhanced by integrative empirically-grounded analyses of household welfare. Internally, we work with country, regional and global teams across all practices to operationalize the twin goals of the WBG by providing robust evidence base and analytics using micro data.

The Poverty and Equity Global Practice delivers the following to our clients in support of these critical development challenges: Advice and knowledge to help better understand the relationship between growth, poverty, and inequality. Diagnostics to help identify key policies and multi sectoral solutions that effectively reduce poverty and benefit the less well-off. Monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs to enhance the poverty impact of interventions and inform mid-stream correction. Monitoring and tracking poverty and other welfare outcomes. Capacity-building and knowledge sharing (in client countries and within the WBG) of distributional impacts analytics. Innovative data collection and measurement methods that can help fill crucial data gaps.

Scope of Work

The Poverty and Equity Global Practice in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region is seeking to hire an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) to contribute to its analytical and operational programs in the LC5 Task Team (Brazil). The consultant will participate as a core member of the Poverty team, responsible for providing:

- Support the implementation, update and maintenance of microsimulation tools to obtain poverty projections, and the likely distributional impact of policy changes, especially those related to fiscal and social policies.

- Conduct data management and data analysis. Analyses should consider alternative methodologies and pursue the most suitable empirical methods and data sources. Produce literature reviews.

- Conduct analysis using harmonized databases and World Bank datasets and tools, such as data libweb, WB-SEDLAC, LABLAC, LEL, among others.

- Support dissemination of findings of analytical work under different formats: research papers, policy notes, presentations, conferences.

- Develop excellent working relationships with country management units and other Global Practices within the WBG.

Timing

This contract is for a full time position in Brasilia. The contract is for one year starting in June 2023. A renewal for a second year is possible contingent on good performance.

Selection Criteria

* Master’s in Economics, Statistics, or other related disciplines, with strong analytical and quantitative skills, and at least 2 years of relevant work experience required.

* Outstanding analytical skills and experience in the following areas: (a) poverty, inequality and labor markets; (b) econometrics and quantitative analysis of household surveys including panel data; and (c) programing knowledge in Stata. Programing in R is highly desirable.

* Highly motivated, with initiative and a positive attitude.

* Ability to work under pressure and work flexibly on a range of assignments, to adjust to changing needs, and to prioritize among evolving tasks.

* Ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary bank staff teams. Strong interpersonal, and team skills; demonstrated client orientation; sensitized in working in a diverse and multicultural environment.

* Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present complicated analyses to non-technical audiences.

* Full proficiency in Portuguese and English.

* Master’s in Economics, Statistics, or other related disciplines, with strong analytical and quantitative skills, and at least 2 years of relevant work experience required.

* Outstanding analytical skills and experience in the following areas: (a) poverty, inequality and labor markets; (b) econometrics and quantitative analysis of household surveys including panel data; and (c) programing knowledge in Stata. Programing in R is highly desirable.

* Highly motivated, with initiative and a positive attitude.

* Ability to work under pressure and work flexibly on a range of assignments, to adjust to changing needs, and to prioritize among evolving tasks.

* Ability to collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary bank staff teams. Strong interpersonal, and team skills; demonstrated client orientation; sensitized in working in a diverse and multicultural environment.

* Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present complicated analyses to non-technical audiences.

* Full proficiency in Portuguese and English.

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.

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

Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.