World Bank Job Vacancy for Lead Human Development Economist

Job Title: Lead Human Development Economist. Job Ref: # 121132
Job Family: Human Development
Job Locations: New Delhi, India
Appointment Type: International Hire
Job Posted 03-May-2012
Closing Date: 17-May-2012
Language Requirements: English [Essential]

Job Background / General description:

The South Asia Region comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Together, the countries have a population of over 1.5 billion people, ranging from the Maldives and Bhutan (with less than one million inhabitants) to populous India with 1.2 billion people. The demographic window in South Asia is still open and implies that there will be between 1 and 1.2 million new labor market entrants per month over the next two decades. Creating productive employment for the massive amount of new labor market entrants and increasing productivity of those already working are hence priorities across countries in the Region. Economic development also varies, from less than US$900 in Afghanistan to almost $5,000 in the Maldives. South Asia has enjoyed rapid economic growth since the 1980’s which was second only to that of East Asia. Growth has been accompanied by higher wages for wage workers and lower poverty rates for the self employed across all countries in the region. Yet, the region is still home to half a billion poor people. Nutrition indicators lag all other regions of the world and several South Asian countries are unlikely to meet most of the health Millennium Development Goals and are off-track to achieve education completion rate targets. Several countries in the region are in the midst – or just emerging from – from conflict. Also, the Region shows very low levels of economic integration. Countries exhibit tremendous infrastructure needs.

The Human Development Department of the South Asia Region (SASHD) has an exciting and innovative portfolio of operational and analytical work in Health, Nutrition and Population; Education; and Social Protection and Labor. SASHD has about 100 staff of which 65% are based in the Region. The total portfolio has over 40 projects with total commitments of $7.3 billion. Trust Funds are regularly leveraged to support the operational and knowledge work of the department. The department is embracing results-based operations; the combination of policy dialogue with analytical, lending and TA services; and impact evaluations of interventions. Analytical work is a fundamental pillar of all operational work, both at the country as well as regional level. Recently, the department led the Regional Flagship report “More and Better Jobs in South Asia”.

The Human Development Department is now looking for a Lead Economist to be based, preferably, in Delhi/Colombo or, alternatively, in Washington DC. We seek candidates who have successfully led complex policy dialogues, transformational AAA and have strong experience in at least more than one sector in Human Development.

The Lead Economist is a member of SASHD’s management team, headed by the Sector Director, and composed of Sector Managers for each of the three sectors and the Office Manager.

Method of Application:
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