IC on Financing for Development

Finance & Economy

Overview

Provide research support for financing development country profiles.

You have:

• University degree in economics or finance (Bachelor or Master's degree) is required.
• Good knowledge in economic research and data analysis and in regression analysis and econometrics in general is desirable.
• Fluency and excellent command in English and Arabic is required.
• Strong writing skills in English is required.
• Knowledge in quantitative research methods and statistical tools (e.g. STATA, e-views, etc...) is desirable.

Result of Service The IC will provide research support to the overall work on financing for development with a focus on assisting in the substantive contributions that will feed in preparing the above-mentioned country profiles.

Work Location Beirut

Expected duration 2 months starting the date of signature of the contract

Duties and Responsibilities Financing is considered as the prime means to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda). The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) adopted at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) serves as a new global framework that guides the means of mobilizing resources to finance the 2030 Agenda through aligning all financing flows and policies with economic, social and environmental priorities and ensuring that financing is stable and sustainable.

The Arab region shares the challenges faced by other regions in securing sustainable means to finance development. Yet, unlike the others, decades of failed policies have brought about unprecedented development deficits for the Arab region that aggravated both material and perceived socio-economic inequalities. Commitment to the FfD is therefore becoming more pressing in the Arab region in the face of mounting geopolitical risks casting doubt on FfD sustainability. In its assessment of the 'The State of Financing Development in the Arab region (2019)', ESCWA found that the resources required to achieve the SDGs ($5.9 trillion by 2030) exceeded the financial and non-financial means currently available to the Arab region.

The above findings call for devising Development Finance Assessment (DFAs) and Integrated Financing Frameworks (INFFs) that aim to support national sustainable development strategies as called upon by the recently published report of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development (IATF-FfD). These assessments look at the full range of financing sources and non-financial means of implementation available to a country and lays out a financing strategy to raise different types of resources appropriate to its specific characteristics and risks (synergies and trade-offs).

It is worth noting that many national sustainable development strategies to-date have not sufficiently addressed key issues of financing, and only a quarter to these strategies entail financing components. In fact, more than 75 percent of national development plans do not provide specific costings of how they would be financed, and this weakness is mirrored in most Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) that have been undertaken thus far. The 2018 Arab Forum for Sustainable Development (AFSD), on its part, recognized the value of introducing financing components into the VNRs in as much as the IATF began to provide guidance over the design, implementation and mechanisms for monitoring, review and accountability for each assessments/framework to be operationalized.

In light of the above, and as part of ESCWA's mandate to augment the capacities of Member States to develop and implement policies that enhance their economic planning and policymaking in support of sustainable development, the Shared Economic Prosperity Cluster is developing "country profiles" for Arab countries that serves as an integrated Development Finance Assessment to implement nationally adopted SDGs. In order to fully capture the financing landscape related to developing these profiles, ESWA perceived the need to study the investment efficiency in each tested country.

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: University degree in economics or finance (Bachelor or Master's degree) is required. Fresh graduate with good academic records can also be considered. Experience: Good knowledge in economic research and data analysis and in regression analysis and econometrics in general is desirable; Knowledge in quantitative research methods and statistical tools (e.g. STATA, e-views, etc...) is desirable. Language: Fluency and Excellent command in English and Arabic. Strong writing skills in English is required.

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: careers.un.org