Economist P4

Finance & Economy

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

1 October 2026-23:59-GMT+01:00 Central European Time (Rome)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, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: https://www.wfp.org and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

WHY JOIN WFP?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment.
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Economic and Markets Unit (PRGFE) of the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service of the Programme Division (PRGF) of the World Food Programme (WFP) seeks to fill an economist position, which will be based at the Headquarters of the United Nations World Food Programme in Rome, Italy.

The PRGF Service in WFP Headquarters leads WFP’s food security analysis, supporting a large network of analysts in Global Headquarters (GHQ) and Country Offices (COs). 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 with the necessary knowledge to inform policy decisions and advocacy efforts. Analyses span emergency assessments, in-depth household surveys, food security monitoring, early warning and forecasting, spatial analysis and economic and market analysis.

PRGFE combines expertise in market systems, operational efficiency, economic modelling, and strategic analytics to provide economic and market analysis and cross-cutting strategic and analytical support for operational decision-making and evidence-driven advocacy. The unit provides tools, guidance, and support to WFP COs to enhance their capacity to monitor food prices, assess markets, analyse essential needs and adjust programmes in contexts of economic shocks, ensuring that interventions are both timely and effective. PRGFE further monitors economic trends and risks, analyses food security implications of global economic shocks and runs scenario simulations, based on cutting-edge economic research.

Within the unit, the Economist will provide senior technical leadership across WFP’s economic and market analysis, developing and applying advanced methods (economic modelling, scenario simulation, demand analysis, composite indices and market assessment) that turn complex, multi-source data into credible, timely evidence for decision-making. The purpose is to strengthen WFP’s capacity to anticipate and respond to the economic shocks and market conditions affecting food security, directing resources where they most effectively alleviate hunger and malnutrition. As needs evolve, the Economist will design and validate new methods and tools and bring them into operational use at scale.

The Economist will also provide technical supervision and on-demand research advice and country support across other unit initiatives.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the supervision of the Head of PRGFE, the Economist will specifically undertake the following tasks:

• Lead global economic modelling that quantifies how major shocks (including armed conflict, energy and commodity price spikes, macroeconomic crises) transmit to food security worldwide, producing the evidence base for WFP’s strategic prioritization, response and advocacy;
• Lead country-level demand and scenario analysis that models how households and local economies respond to shocks and to assistance, and develop, validate and scale these methods so that timely evidence reaches operational decision-makers;
• Develop composite indices and analytical metrics that rank country needs, guide the allocation of funding, and inform resource prioritization and corporate early warning;
• Lead the development of market assessment tools and methodologies, spanning market functionality and the availability and affordability of nutritious foods, to inform cash-based transfer and nutrition-sensitive operations;
• Design and validate new analytical methods, indicators and tools as WFP’s economic and market analysis needs evolve, bringing them into operational use at scale;
• Set technical direction and advisory support for collecting, integrating, modelling and visualizing economic and market data within PRGF’s data ecosystems, and for the tools that turn them into decision-ready evidence;
• Support PRGF Service’s efforts on economic analysis and research on food security and its policy implications;
• Lead capacity strengthening in economic and market analysis for WFP CO staff as well as to partners;
• Contribute to resource mobilization, including securing sustainable funding for analytical tools and drafting funding proposals or section thereof;
• Supervise and mentor other team members;
• Perform any other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

• Advanced degree (MSc) in economics, agricultural or development economics, or a closely related quantitative discipline, with strong formal training in econometrics and economic modelling. A PhD in Economics is an advantage.

Experience:

• At least 8 years of progressively responsible professional experience across macro- and micro-economics, market assessments, food security and vulnerability analysis, emergency needs assessment, and quantitative and econometric analysis in humanitarian or development operations.
• Extensive field experience designing and conducting market and price surveys in challenging operating environments, including in remote and hard-to-access settings.
• Demonstrated record of developing analytical tools, indicators or models, rooted in field experience, that have been validated and adopted at scale across multiple country operations, including a peer-reviewed publication record evidencing methodological rigour and the ability to publish validation studies.
• Experience designing and delivering training and capacity strengthening on economic and market analysis, and leading methodological collaborations across academic, institutional and private-sector partners.
• Experience with food security and emergency operations, in management and inter-agency coordination, and in resource mobilisation, including the development of funding proposals, is desirable.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Exceptional analytical and conceptual skills, able to turn complex data into clear evidence for decision-makers.
• Strong econometric and modelling skills, including applied micro-econometrics across cross-sectional, panel and time-series data, and economic modelling for policy analysis, consumer demand analysis, price and income elasticities, and the micro-macro linkages needed to trace how shocks reach households, markets and food security.
• Questionnaire design, sampling, enumerator training and data-quality control for market and price surveys.
• Strong writing skills with a demonstrated ability to produce clear, concise analytical briefs and publications.
• Advanced command of at least one statistical computing environment (e.g. Stata, Python or R), with proficiency across more than one an asset; good command of MS Office.
• Proven ability to build and maintain automated, reproducible pipelines over large, multi-source datasets (price, market, household, assistance, climate), for both analysis and data visualisation.
• Experience with cloud computing environments (e.g. AWS, GCP) and version control (e.g. Git).
• Problem-solving attitude and creativity.
• Ability to work both with minimal supervision and as part of a team, including supervising staff.
• Ability to establish effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Languages:

• Fluent written and spoken English (level C)
• Working knowledge (level B) of French, Arabic or Spanish is an advantage

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact: [email protected]

NO FEE DISCLAIMER

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• All applications must be submitted exclusively through our online recruiting system. We do not consider CVs or applications sent by email, LinkedIn, or any other channel.
• We strongly recommend that your Workday profile is accurate and complete, and that all sections are filled in, including your employment history, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN grade (if applicable). Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
• If you experience technical issues while submitting your application, you may contact us at [email protected]. Please note that this email is only for technical issues with an application - unsolicited applications or documents sent to this inbox will not receive a reply.
• At the application stage, the only required documents are your CV and Cover Letter. Additional documents (passport, certificates, recommendation letters, etc.) may be requested later in the process.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and invited to proceed to the next stage of the recruitment process.

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

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Added 1 hour ago - Updated 1 hour ago - Source: wfp.org