Researcher

Contract

This is a IPSA-8 contract. This kind of contract is known as International Personnel Services Agreement. It is normally internationally recruited only. It usually requires 1 years of experience, depending on education. More about IPSA-8 contracts.

Background

Instructions to Applicants: Click on the "Apply now" button. Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. Please ensure that CV or P11 and the Cover letter are combined in one file.

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Travel:

1. UNDP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only in the event that the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and excludes working from home arrangements.
2. Any travels related to official performance of duties will be covered by UNDP.

Office/Unit/Project Description

The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) is a joint project of the United Nations Development Programme and the Brazilian Government. It was created 1200 with the objective of promoting the exchange of experiences, knowledge and technical and institutional capacities for the design, formulation and evaluation of development policies that contribute to inclusive growth, poverty and inequality reduction and human development. The Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), a think-tank under the Ministry of Economy, is the focal point of the Brazilian Government at the IPC-IG. Ipea also physically hosts the IPC-IG and contributes through the participation of its researchers in the Centre’s activities.

Since 2004 the Centre has been providing advisory services to countries worldwide, receiving study tours, hosting international research fellows and interns, facilitating capacity strengthening and knowledge-sharing through training, conferences and various publication series, as well as building networks of researchers and practitioners on development policies.

Until now, the IPC-IG has carried out more than 120 projects with over 65 partners. These projects are grouped around the Centre’s three pillars: knowledge production, knowledge-sharing, and capacity-strengthening. They span a wide range of subjects covering five thematic areas: social protection; inclusive growth; technological innovation; sustainable development; poverty and living standard measurement and poverty reduction policies.

On the knowledge production pillar, the Centre has a focus on producing high quality research that inform policy recommendations for inclusive growth and that is also used to support evidence-based South-South exchange and learning. The Centre regularly publishes Working Papers, Policy Research Briefs, One Pagers and its flagship publication, Policy in Focus, to encourage policy debate and dissemination of knowledge.

The objective of this consultancy is two-fold (i) to supervise and coordinate a research team working on the several deliverables of the on-going collaboration between the IPC-IG and the UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, ensuring the high-quality of all products under this project, and (2) to lead the quantative analysis within IPC-IG, implementing robust microeconometric analysis (using microdata from household surveys) and macroeconomic analysis, including fiscal space and public expenditure reviews.

The researcher will be working under the supervision of an IPC-IG Project Research Coordinators.

Duties and Responsibilities

In line with the abovementioned objectives, the researcher will provide the following services:

1. Coordination of research teams working on social protection assessments.
2. Implementation of quantitative analysis, including poverty and living conditions measurement and analysis of their determinants;
3. Design of robust impact evaluation of social policies and anti-poverty strategies
4. Analysis of fiscal space and public expenditure with a focus on social protection, including active labour market policies
5. Provision of high quality advisory services to the Government and facilitation of knowledge building and management
6. Liasing with key research and policy related partners and institutions with projects with IPC-IG;
7. Attending missions that are part of IPC-IG projects;
8. Contributing to IPC-IG publication series;

Competencies

UN CORE VALUES AND COMPETENCIES

Professionalism: Shows pride in work and achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients " and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; Monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

Master in Economics, Political Science, Social Science or Development Studies

Min. years of relevant Work experience

At least 1 year of working and/or academic experience in quantitative research

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Fluency in written and spoken Englishand in a second UN language proven by certificate, personal or working experience abroad.

Desired additional skills and competencies

• Working and/or academic experience in conducting quantitative analysis, including econometric analysis on social protection, labour markets, poverty and inequality, covering a variety of countries (to be verified from the academic, research, working experience and publications listed in the P11, hyperlinks should be provided);
• Working and/or academic experience in conducting macroeconomic analysis covering issues related to fiscal space, tax policies, public finance (to be verified from the academic, research, working experience and publications listed in the P11, hyperlinks should be provided);
• Working and/or academic experience in social protection and fiscal space analysis cover variety of countries and regions of the world (to be verified from the academic, research, working experience and publications listed in the P11, hyperlinks should be provided);
• Working experience at/for the United Nations or other International Organizations; research institute or university;
• Working skills of data analysis and/or statistical packages.