Economist

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, color, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.

Job Title: Economist

Type of Contract: Regular Consultancy

Division: **Economic and Market Analysis Unit /Research, Assessment and Monitoring Division

Duty Station (City, Country): HQ-Rome

Duration: 7 months (to commence ASAP, with possibility of extension)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Research, Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) Division of the World Food Programme (WFP) seeks to fill an Economist position in the Economic and Market Analysis Unit (RAME) based at WFP’s Headquarters (HQ) in Rome, Italy. The RAM Division in WFP HQ leads WFP’s food security analysis, supporting a large network of analysts in regional bureaus and country offices in approximately 80 countries across the world. Food security analysis is a cornerstone of the organization’s work. It provides WFP, governments, and partners with the essential information to identify populations in need and target the most appropriate type and scale of interventions as well as the necessary knowledge to inform policy decisions and advocacy efforts. Analyses span emergency assessments, in-depth household surveys, spatial analysis, early warning information, economic and market trends analyses and food security monitoring. Researching and analyzing global and local economic environments, market data and their influence on food security is a critical part of the RAM Division’s work. RAM-E carries out such analysis. In particular, the unit supports country-level market assessments and develops novel market methodologies, such as the Market Functionality Index, to underpin these assessments and inform WFP operations; maintains a global food price database, undertakes price analysis and publishes RAM’s Global Market Monitor; supports Essential Needs Analysis, specifically the development of minimum expenditure baskets and household expenditure gap analysis, to inform program design, in particular for cash-based interventions; uses modeling techniques to predict the impact of various types of shocks on food security and how assistance can counteract the effects; and undertakes a range of on-demand research work, such as on the impact of COVID-19 on global food insecurity, country-level economic analysis, as well as monitoring of global economic trends.

Within the RAM-E initiatives, the Shock & Assistance Platform for Economy-Wide Simulations (SHAPES) uses household surveys to simulate the impact of negative shocks on households and the local economy and assess the direct and indirect benefits of assistance provided to households to offset those shocks. SHAPES is currently available for three countries with a plan to scale it up to other countries where WFP operates. It can be used as an early warning and anticipatory action tool, for the simulation of various impacts to inform decision-making and program design and to support advocacy. SHAPES users interact with a web platform through a user-friendly interface to define a fully customizable scenario quantifying parameters for shocks (such as inflation, exchange rate, income changes including remittances, extreme rainfall, and temperature) and assistance (cash or food transfers, number of beneficiaries assisted, transfer values, and targeting and prioritization choices). User-defined simulations run on a cloud-based computational engine, where three models are triggered: 1) Climate-impact, 2) General-equilibrium, and 3) Household-impact. Each model’s output becomes the input for the next model. More in detail:

• The Climate-impact model uses a combination of rainfall and temperature conditions experienced over the agricultural season to model the impact on crop production. This model is written in R;
• The General-equilibrium model creates representative household groups and simulates how assistance recipient households buy goods and services in the market to meet their essential needs and to purchase production inputs, and to what extent this spending generates a round of spillover impacts to the local economy including non-assisted households. It is developed based on the ‘Local Economy-Wide Impact Evaluation’ (LEWIE) model and scripts are written in GAMS; and
• The Household-impact model takes the information generated for the household groups and applies estimated impacts to the households in the sample using a two-stage budgeting allocation procedure to estimate food consumption and eventually food security outcomes. It is developed based on the ‘Shock Impact Simulation Model’ (SISMod) and scripts are written in STATA.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the supervision of RAM-E Lead Economist and in close collaboration with the Head of Unit, the consultant will be responsible for the following activities:

1. Support the rollout of SHAPES.
2. Lead the implementation and development of the General-equilibrium and Household-impact models.
3. Lead the scalability of SHAPES across WFP Country Offices through field missions, also supporting household data collection exercises.
4. Contribute to the validation of SHAPES methodology and findings through working papers and journal articles.
5. Explore ways to improve SHAPES, both in terms of existing and new capabilities.
6. Support the automation and interoperability of SHAPES within RAM data ecosystem,and in particular with the forthcoming household database.
7. Carry out any other tasks when required

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

The expected key outputs of the consultant are:

1. Contribution to the rollout and scale-up of SHAPES. 2. Calibration of the General-equilibrium model in at least 5 new countries. 3. Support to household data collection exercises when required. 4. Validation paper drafted for submission to peer-reviewed journals. 5. Improvement of SHAPES codes and maintenance of the project GitHub repository. 6. Operationalization of the forthcoming household database into SHAPES.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Education:

Advanced degree in economics, agricultural economics, statistics, or a related field. PhD is an advantage.

Experience:

Five years of post-graduate, progressively responsible, experience in economic and/or food security analysis.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Advanced command of STATA and GAMS software. Knowledge of GitHub, Phyton, R, SQL (SQL ServerPostgreSQL), and Amazon Web Services is an advantage.
• Experience in conducting quantitative economic analysis, economic modeling, and applying econometric techniques, in particular using general equilibrium models and agricultural household models.
• Demonstrated ability to use econometric and algebraic software.
• Experience with household survey design and data collection is desirable.
• Good writing skills as evidenced by written publication records, including high-profile consensus reports, working papers, journal articles, and short publications for generalist audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to manage, analyze, and present quantitative information clearly and effectively.

Languages:

Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English. Limited knowledge of French, Spanish, and Arabic (intermediate – level C) is an advantage.

Terms and Conditions:

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

Deadline for applications: 27 April 2023

Ref.: VA No. 799804

WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.