The Development Economics Group (DEC) increases understanding of development policies and programs by providing intellectual leadership and analytical services to the World Bank and the wider development community. DEC is the premier research and data arm of the World Bank Group.
If you are interested in this area, please see below all the positions available in the different Departments:
I – The Development Prospects Group (DECPG)
The DECPG analyses likely future developments in the global economy. Its work ranges from predicting near-term cyclical developments to uncovering emerging trends and developing long-term-scenarios. Against the backdrop of these future developments, the group provides in-depth policy analysis that is either utilized to advise senior management, or published in two high-profile publications and frequently cited by leading business and economic publications. The first of these flagship publication is the Global Economic Prospects report and it contains short- and medium-term analysis. The second flagship is the Global Monitoring Report, it analyses progress towards the World Bank Group’s Goals.
Economist: will be a PhD level Economist with relevant work experience and works with the senior level Economists and provides policy research and analysis resulting in papers for publication and policy notes. Second, the role requires preparation of speeches and certain presentations and contributing to the review of DEC flagships, including the publication of the WDR. Third, the Economist will support Bank Operations, through preparation of analysis that aid the review of Bank project proposals and policies, and research/analytic support and advice to operational units (including through direct work on Bank projects). Fourth, the Economist will support various corporate initiatives and mandates, such as the Bank’s engagement with the G20, middle-income country agenda, etc.
Lead Economist: will be a PhD Economist with at least 10 years of relevant experience: The position involves working closely with the Chief Economist to define and lead policy research and analysis resulting in papers for publication and policy notes. The role requires independent preparation of key speeches and presentations and leading the review of DEC flagships. The Lead Economist will support Bank Operations, through leading reviews of Bank project proposals and policies, and research/analytic support and advice to operational units (including through direct work on Bank projects); will play a key senior role in supporting various corporate initiatives and mandates, such as the Bank’s engagement with the G20, middle-income country agenda, etc.
II – Development Data Group (DECDG)
Good data, combined with knowledge and experience and augmented by new technologies, have the capacity to transform the development process. They document successes, bear witness to failures, and throw light on complex problems. They give governments and citizens the information needed to make decisions and control their own development. The mission of the Development Data Group is to make national and international data and statistics widely accessible to clients within and outside the Bank and to improve the capacity of member countries to produce, use, and make accessible the data they collect.
Statistician: DECDG is seeking to recruit candidates with a Master’s Degree, plus 3 years of relevant experience in one of the focal areas of DECDG’s work, such as Open Data, statistical capacity building operations, or economic statistics. The work program will include working closely with the Open Data Working Group, develop, enhance, and provide applications and tools to enable the Bank’s Open Data suite of products to remain responsive to the evolving needs of the user community. Analyse existing systems and platforms and give enhancement recommendations, identifying feasible alternative solutions for better products. Provide support to client countries and country teams to identify needs and develop statistical capacity building programs. Participating in and occasionally leading country missions to identify, appraise, supervise, and evaluate statistical capacity-building activities. Coordinating country projects on statistical capacity-building and international comparisons. Designing best practices in data and metadata quality and applications for developing country work. Participating in the quality assessment of price and national accounts data, reviewing metadata submitted by the countries, and conducting statistical checks to ensure that prescribed methodologies are properly implemented. Contributing sections in publications on data quality assessment and processes. Participating in projects on innovative methods and solutions for data collection, processing, visualization, and dissemination and promoting partnership with regional and national agencies.
Data Scientist: The Data Scientist will have a Master’s Degree plus 3 years of relevant experience and work on data collection, database management, and statistical publications, including the World Development Indicators, Global Development Finance, and online databases. The successful applicant will sustain and expand the ongoing Open Data Initiative, a key corporate priority of the Bank, and improve the coverage, quality and use of curated datasets. The post-holder will work closely with teams that produce statistical databases and publications, manage and curate datasets relating to sustainable development and economic management, and other groups in DECDG. The work will also require close collaboration with other key partners, such as staff in Development Economics, staff working in sustainable development, Operational Policy and Country Services, External and Corporate Relations, and the Information Management and Technology Network.
III – Private Sector Development, DECIG
DECIG is the unit in the Bank’s research organization that has built the Doing Business project. The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 189 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level. By gathering and analysing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more efficient regulation, thus driving growth and enabling shared prosperity and decreasing poverty.
The Private Sector Development Specialist: should have a PhD, or a Master’s degree with a minimum of 3 years of relevant experience and will work on the following activities:
• Administering surveys to local experts, verifying survey responses, data entry, undertake data coding, and conducting policy analysis of the data.
• Develop and maintain internal and external networks of stakeholders in the subject matter and related regulatory policy.
• Participate in relevant policy research and dialogue activities to stay abreast of and contribute to the business climate field.
• Contribute to overall project development and strategy, supporting the Program Manager in project design, project management, and donor relations as necessary.
• Write and substantively review content of reports and related presentations.
• Develop and disseminate other knowledge management tools to support the product, including case studies, smart lessons, or issue notes.
• Participate in dissemination activities including presentations to governments, donor agencies, private sector organizations, as well as communicating with the media.
The Operations Analyst: should have a Master’s degree and some relevant experience to work on the following activities:
• Be responsible for maintaining a specific set of indicators – including administering surveys to local experts, data entry, and coding under the supervision of the topic leader.
• Analyse and assess indicators on a country by country basis – including verifying survey responses with primary data sources and publicly available information, checking survey responses against each other, and following up with survey respondents until a final, verified country file is produced.
• Be responsible for preparation of comparative analysis related to the set of indicators on a country by country and regional basis under the supervision of the topic leader.
• Maintain effective links with local external partners, leading new local partners’ recruitment through web search, World Bank Group country offices, embassies, and other creative sources to obtain the information needed for Doing Business report and dataset.
• Substantively contribute to writing the Doing Business chapters, case studies, smart lessons and related presentations under the guidance and supervision of the topic leader.