E T Consultant

This opening expired 1 year ago. Do not try to apply for this job.

Application deadline 1 year ago: Thursday 5 May 2022 at 23:59 UTC

Open application form

Contract

This is a World Bank Group grade: EC2 contract. More about World Bank Group grade: EC2 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. Visit www.worldbank.org.

The World Bank Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice seeks a M&E Project Coordinator to provide technical and logistics support for the implementation of a new project to Strengthen M&E of Smart Specialization Programs in Europe. The M&E Project Coordinator will be an integral member of the World Bank team and liaise closely with the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) as well as key ministries and implementing agencies in Europe.

FINANCE, COMPETITIVENESS AND INNOVATION GLOBAL PRACTICE

This initiative is led by the World Bank Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice in collaboration and with the support of DG REGIO.

The World Bank Group’s Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice (FCI) combines expertise in the financial sector with expertise in private sector development to foster private sector led growth and help create markets in client countries. Through this work, FCI strengthens the World Bank Group’s evolving approach to development finance: to maximize finance for development and to leverage private sector investments for sustainable and inclusive growth.

Within countries, FCI works with governments to create an enabling environment where financial stability, access to finance and risk management provide a foundation to crowd-in private sector investment, create capital markets, and accelerate equitable growth. At the same time, the practice is focused on identifying firm- and industry-level constraints to deliver reforms which can drive growth and accelerate job creation (including access to finance, innovation, special economic zones, industry solutions, entrepreneurship, etc.). Boosting firm-level efficiency and productivity centers on adopting better technologies, including digital ones.

FCI comprises close to 800 staff working across more than 120 countries, and focuses on six thematic areas:

- Financial Stability & Integrity (ensuring countries’ financial systems are stable, sound and transparent)

- Financial Inclusion, Infrastructure & Access (strengthening market infrastructures, and ensuring households and firms have access to financial services)

- Firm Capabilities & Innovation (creating the enabling environment for businesses to be competitive, efficient and cutting-edge)

- Long-Term Finance (helping countries deepen and diversify their financial sectors, facilitating long term finance through capital markets, and strengthening the role of institutional investors)

- Climate & Risk Management (supporting countries to become more resilient and able to mitigate the impact of natural disasters combining financial and insurance tools)

The current project is being led by the team working on the thematic area “Firm Capabilities & Innovation” based in the European Union.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND THE EU SMART SPECIALIZATION STRATEGY

In order to promote sustainable and inclusive growth across European regions, with special emphasis on lagging ones, EU cohesion policy provides support in various areas including (among others) research and innovation, smart specialization, support to enterprises, infrastructure, human capital and support for administrative and institutional capacity. Funding for regional and cohesion policy in 2014-2020 amounts to €351.8 billion out of which €123 billion is invested in research and innovation, digitalization and SME competitiveness. Furthermore, in the current programming period, EU Member States or regions were required to prepare Smart Specialization strategies, as an ex-ante conditionality to get access to this EU funding. These strategies are intended to set priorities to build competitive advantage by developing and matching research and innovation strengths to the comparative advantages of various European countries and regions as well as firms’ needs to address emerging opportunities and market developments, i.e. be demand driven. Smart specialization strategies should be developed in the continuous and structured dialogue facilitated by public authorities with business, research and civil society.

EU Member States are obliged to establish standard monitoring and evaluation systems and conduct ex-ante, mid-term, and ex-post evaluations, as the basis for accountability to DG REGIO and relevant EU bodies. Managing Authorities responsible for country-level Operational Programs collect significant information from beneficiaries during the project selection and implementation phases, though much of this data is underutilized.

At the same time, there is increasing demand for evidence on results of EU investments and it becomes crucial to develop a complementary M&E framework for smart specialization that enables better and more timely use of extensive data collection efforts in the EU, explicitly emphasizing key aspects of smart specialization implementation, including key processes and its governance.

This Project aims at strengthening real time program management and learning, for doing this it will provides technical assistance under 3 pillars which will be implemented in distinct phases.

- Pillar 1 focused on the design of a complementary M&E system for 2 countries (complete);

- Pillar 2 will focus on 2 ex-post impact evaluations of smart specialization programs;

- Pillar 3 will focus on 2-4 rigorous impact evaluation (ex-ante designed RCT) of smart specialization programs. The implementation of pillar 3 will be conditional on the results of pillars 1 and 2 and will be validated through a mid-term progress review of this engagement, involving DG REGIO and the Bank team.

THE POSITION

The position offers an opportunity to develop policy advisory, analytical skills and management experience on coordinating the implementation of this project on the ground. The M&E Project Coordinator is a full-time consultancy position involving activities in participating countries in Europe. The M&E coordinator must be based in Vienna or Brussels. The team seeks to hire a consultant for one year, with the possibility of extension up to one year. The consultant will ideally start by May 15, 2022.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Specifically, the consultant’s tasks include but are not limited to:

• Engage in initial consultations with participating national agencies.

• Provide inputs and recommendations in the methodology at all stages.

• Contribute to delivering advisory activities and trainings. This includes and is not limited to assessing existing M&E systems for participating agencies, reviewing available data on projects, provide recommendations and support in adapting current M&E systems to policy needs.

• Participate and, as necessary, lead visits to participating institutions.

• Contribute to and, as necessary, lead the drafting of reports and presentations.

• Contribute to impact evaluations designs and be responsible for data collection and analysis. Coordinate the collection and compilation of complementary (additional) data for monitoring and evaluation (e.g. administrative data, surveys, interviews etc.).

• Be responsible for quality control for data collection and data entry activities at all stages of the program (including helping in training relevant staff, monitoring data collection, identifying outliers, conducting random spot checks of the activities, and clarifying potentially misleading information with survey firm., etc.).

• Preparing weekly progress reports.

• Perform other related tasks related to the project, upon request.

Selection Criteria

• Graduate degree (Masters or PhD) in economics, applied economics, public policy, or related fields is required.

• Ability and willingness to relocate to Vienna preferably or Brussels is required, and willingness to travel in participating European countries when necessary.

• Minimum of 4-5 year of relevant experience is required.

• Strong technical background in M&E, impact evaluation and quantitative methods for impact evaluation is required.

• Experience in coordinating impact evaluation work is desirable.

• Experience analyzing quantitative survey data or secondary data is required.

• Experience with firm level data analysis is desirable.

• Experience with data collection and survey design is a strong plus.

• Knowledge of monitoring principles in the context of complex projects is required.

• Computer skills: advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word), Stata (preferred) or R skills, or other data analysis software is required.

• Can demonstrate experience and ability to manage high-level relationships with policy makers and governmental organizations.

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to present positions and to negotiate with senior officials.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of other European languages, including Croatian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish would be an advantage.

• Demonstrated ability to work with large teams, intercultural environments, and coordinate complex projects.

• Excellent management and organizational skills are required.

• High level of personal and professional integrity.

• Flexible, self-motivating, detail and results-oriented, proven problem-solving skills, able to prioritize, and manage multiple tasks simultaneously with minimal supervision.

APPLICATION

Please submit the following documents with the subject line “EU M&E Project Coordinator”: (1) a cover letter of no more than 2 pages, clearly addressing your qualifications for the various responsibilities listed above,

(2) Curriculum Vitae or resume, and

(3) three relevant references with their contact details and their relationship to you; candidates may be asked for a reference letter from any one of them.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted for an interview and assessment process. Applications will be accepted until April 28, 2022. Interested applicants are advised to apply as soon as possible. The finalist will be invited and will ideally attend an important stakeholder workshop being hosted in Lisbon at the end of May 29-June 3, 2022.

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.

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: worldbank.org