World Bank Kenya Economist

Job #:122369s
 

Job Title: Economist (Kenya)
 

Job Family: Economic Policy
 

Job Type: Professional & Technical
 

Grade: GF
 

Location: Nairobi, Kenya
 

Recruitment Type: Local Hire
 

Language Requirement: English [Essential]
 

Closing Date: 29-Oct-2012

 Background / General description:

The Kenya Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) unit wishes to recruit an Economist with excellent technical and analytical skills to be based in the Nairobi office to support the overall work-program of Kenya-PREM, and specifically its Fiscal Decentralization Knowledge Program (FDKP). 

The Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit (PREM) for East Africa and the Horn (AFTP2) is looking for an Economist to join its team in Kenya. 

The position is based in the World Bank’s Nairobi office, one of the largest country offices in Africa. 

The selected candidate will be expected to work closely with professional counterparts in the Government, as well as the community of international development partners. 

The Kenya PREM team has responsibility for analytical work and the associated policy dialogue across a range of economic issues, including growth and competitiveness, public financial management, governance, and poverty. 

Core work-streams of PREM include: 

• Public finance and public financial management, notably through yearly Public Expenditure Reviews 
• Macro-economic monitoring and policy advice, through the bi-yearly publication of Kenya Economic Updates, real time monitoring of economic trends and policy developments as well as a dedicated program on growth and employment promotion 
• Poverty, through direct engagement with the KNBS on household surveys, poverty monitoring and statistical capacity building 
• Governance, with a special focus on public financial management and public sector reform 
• Fiscal decentralization, via an integrated program of analytical work, technical assistance and policy dialogue. 

This is a two year position (with possibility of extension). 

The position involves traveling in Kenya and elsewhere as appropriate. 

The selected candidate will be operating within a matrix management framework, reporting to the AFTP2 Sector Manger in Washington DC and working in close collaboration with the Country Director and the Sector Leader based in Nairobi. 

S/he will also work and coordinate closely with the various Bank task managers working on economic issues in Kenya. 

Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 2 year term appointment.
 

Duties and Accountabilities:

The Economist will be based within the Nariobi PREM office and report to the Sector Manager in Washington DC. 

The selected candidate is expected to devote a significant share of his/her work program to the devolution work-stream, with specific focus on data collection and analysis to provide the evidence basis on which to ground policy advice. 

Specifically the economist would be expected to take the lead on the “county performance monitoring work-stream” of the devolution program, including 

(a) overseeing the development of comprehensive county databases,

(b) engaging all relevant stakeholders on monitoring and evaluation at county level 

(c) working out the methodology for county performance tracking, and 

(d) organizing annual events and outreach around county performance. 

The devolution work program is supported by a grant from the Governance Partnership Facility (GPF) with activities across three components including: 

i) Devolution and service delivery. 

ii) Citizen engagement in devolved service delivery. 

iii) Public financial management and public sector reforms. 

The selected candidate will also be expected to contribute on: 

(i) Public expenditure analysis and preparation of the yearly Public Expenditure Reviews, including background analysis, drafting and dissemination 

(ii) Macroeconomic monitoring with direct inputs into the bi-yearly Kenya Economic Update publications and associated dissemination

Selection Criteria:

The candidate should have:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience.
• Fluent English.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including demonstrated experience of developing policy relevant material for government policymakers, with particular emphasis on fiscal decentralization.
• Strong quantitative skills and experience in developing/managing complex databases
• Education to masters degree level in economics, public administration or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience of independently managing work programs
• A record of relevant publications.
• Experience of working in and a deep understanding of devolution processes in one or more developing country contexts, with a particular emphasis on fiscal decentralization and the transition to devolved government.

How to apply

Click here to apply online