Programmer - Financing for Development

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

The incumbent will be responsible for:

• Substantive contribution to the dynamic integrated development toolkit for financing for development for Oman and substantive contributions that will feed in the outputs pertaining to the project for Oman. • Results of the econometric analysis for incorporation in related outputs of the project (e.g. technical paper/policy brief). • The IC is responsible for maintaining the files and data used in an electronic format.

Work Location

UN-House ESCWA

Expected duration

2 Months

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Background

The Sultanate of Oman has pursued ambitious economic and developmental strategies since the mid-1970s to enhance the quality of life for its citizens. These strategies, embodied in five-year development plans -that underscore the country’s commitment to sustainable economic and social development- aim to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability. Economic diversification is a key goal, reducing reliance on oil revenues by developing sectors such as manufacturing, fisheries, agriculture, mining, and services. The country prioritizes infrastructure development, including roads, ports, and airports, fostering economic growth, facilitating transportation and trade, and attracting foreign investments.

The tenth five-year plan (2021-2025), part of the "Oman 2040" vision, emphasizes achieving financial balance, reducing budget deficits, and enhancing economic integration with neighboring countries. The plan focuses on key economic sectors and international competitiveness.

The plan focuses on policies and program choices to tackle development challenges. Oman places significant importance on financial transparency, technological development, and preparing for the fourth industrial revolution. Efforts include creating a comprehensive statistical information system and conducting censuses and surveys to provide necessary indicators until 2030.

In 2021, Oman outperformed the Arab world's average on development challenges but aligned with the global average. Despite challenges, the country demonstrated improvements in addressing inequality and governance, emphasizing the importance of inclusive development.

2. Objective

The objective of the project is to conduct a comprehensive evaluation and review of Oman's tenth five-year development plan, aligning with the mandate outlined in Article 8 of Royal Decree No. 1/2021. This evaluation aims to assess the plan's performance over the past years, identify necessary adjustments for the remaining period, and estimate financial gaps to ensure successful implementation.

The project further seeks to support Oman's commitment to active strategic planning by launching initiatives that align with global standards. This includes evaluating and documenting the outcomes of the tenth plan, analyzing the efficiency and effectiveness of strategic programs, and determining the future direction for the remaining period. The overarching goal is to provide a guiding framework for the formulation of the eleventh five-year plan (2026-2030) and contribute to Oman's 2040 vision.

The project also plays an integral role in evaluating the financial, fiscal, and financing aspects associated with achieving the indicators, objectives, and national goals of the 10th NDP and Vision 2040 in Oman. It focuses on monitoring and tracking available financing sources, including public, private, local, international, and innovative options. The project seeks to simulate various funding paths, calculate savings from financing decisions, and enhance the developmental impact of the government budget. This comprehensive assessment considers the connectivity of financing sources, both local and international, and evaluates their impact on the plan's objectives and the overarching vision for Oman's development.

In the context of the Financing for Development profile, ESCWA is initiating a series of activities that underscores ESCWA's commitment to enhancing financial frameworks and bolstering sustainable development efforts in the region. ESCWA strives to support policymakers and national stakeholders by offering a range of dynamic and interactive tools to assist in the design of integrated financing strategies, support the transition to SDG-centric financing, and advance the implementation of national sustainable development strategies, plans and macroeconomic frameworks. As part of this initiative, ESCWA intends to assign an individual contractor to assist in developing a dynamic integrated development toolkit tailored for financing development.

3. Tasks

The Individual Contractor (IC) is tasked with providing support related to Financing for Development. The IC's specific responsibilities include:

• Leverage various Machine Learning Techniques to project national progress in attaining the sustainable development goals and their respective landing zones for Oman. • Systemize the coding process related to the implementation of a Machine Learning Integrated Budgeting Toolkit (ML-iBIT) for Oman. • Assist the development and implementation of quantitative empirical analyses and tools on FfD-related topics in Oman, leveraging various statistical and econometric software (Phyton, STATA, excel). • Employ and/or build a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to project prime financing channels at the national level for Oman. • Develop a nowcasting dynamic model/apparatus to capture prime financing flows in Oman. • Collect data and conduct research on socioeconomic and financing issues. • Undertake dataset compilation, analysis and cleaning. • Prepares a variety of tables, lists, charts, and generate graphs, figures and fact sheets on the different aspects of financing for development. • Assist in the preparation of background notes, briefs, and concept notes. • Provide support in drafting and updating of documents and analytical summaries. • Support in the preparation of literature reviews, research papers and presentations. • Assist in the preparation of FfD upcoming activities for Oman and other substantive tasks.

Qualifications/special skills

Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Finance or related area is required. An advanced University degree in the above fields is desirable.

All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. For this post, no previous work experience is required. Knowledge of STATA statistical package to process and analyze data is required. Knowledge of econometrics is required. Knowledge of Python is desirable. Knowledge in econometric models is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA.

For this position, fluency in English and Arabic is required.

Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Recruitment for this position is on a local basis. The incumbent is required to have the legal right to live and work in the specified working location.

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.