Economist/Statistician - The World Bank - Malabo

The Global Practice for Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management (MFM) comprises about 320 staff working across more than 100 countries.  The Practice houses the Bank’s country economists as well as professional staff with expertise in macroeconomics, fiscal policy, growth, and statistics.  About fifty percent of MFM professional staff is decentralized to the field working very closely with the CMUs and in proximity to clients.  MFM professionals most often work across sectors helping carry out key integrative functions.  In this context MFM professionals are responsible for the preparation and delivery of the majority of the Bank’s Development Policy Operations using both IDA and IBRD resources.  MFM professionals also lead or participate in a wide variety of AAA and client advisory work requiring an integrative functions that add to the core MFM expertise.  As such MFM staff often lead or participate in the preparation of Strategic Country Diagnostics, Country Economic Memorandums and cross sector Public Expenditure Reviews.  An important additional element of engagement in macroeconomic and fiscal policies is carried through work on debt management supported by the Debt Management Facility.  Knowledge and learning is a central part of MFM with work focused on 5 thematic areas: (a) macroeconomics; (b) fiscal policy; (c) growth; (d) economic management in resource rich environments; and (e) statistics. 

Background & General Description :

The Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management (MFM) Global Practice is looking for an Economist / Statistician to support the implementation of a project to strengthen statistical capacity in Equatorial Guinea. This position will be based in Malabo / Equatorial Guinea.

The need to develop adequate, reliable and timely statistical information to serve as tools for the implementation of the National Development Plan ‘Horizon 2020’ is imperative for Equatorial Guinea. The country also needs reliable and timely statistical data for the monitoring and evaluation of progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the implementation of programs to alleviate poverty. The World Bank is supporting these efforts through an extensive technical assistance project aimed at promoting both the production and use of data in public decisions making and the institutional development of the recently founded National Statistics Institute of Equatorial Guinea. The project is currently being implemented through two resident senior advisors in Malabo, to which the selected candidate would be added. 

As the National Statistical System (NSS) is emerging in Equatorial Guinea, there is no central data bank for the country that gathers and disseminates all available statistical data that is being produced. To this end, the recently created Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Guinea Ecuatorial (INEGE), with the support of the World Bank, is gathering the various statistical datasets produced in Equatorial Guinea in an integrated data bank, from the various sources from administrative data and census or surveys. In this process, INEGE is working with various agencies within the public sector at both central and provincial levels to conduct outreach activities on data collection and reporting to the national data bank.

Duties and Accountabilities:

i) Link the various data sources of official statistics within the Equatoguinean statistical system to the INEGE;
ii) Establish routines for data collection, processing and storage in the National databank in INEGE, including metadata (i.e. information on how the data were collected);
iii) Train staff of INEGE and other public entities in charge of data collection, dissemination, storage and conservation;
iv) Work with relevant public entities to establish digitalized data collection formats, in particular, develop a tool to digitalize tax and customs declarations for the needs of the National accounts team in INEGE;
vi) Assist the team in Malabo and Washington with other activities as needed.

Desired Skills and Experience

1. Advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in Statistics, Computer Science, Mathematics, or related discipline with a minimum of five years of demonstrated experience with database development and statistical capacity building.
2. Demonstrated experience with public communication and outreach activities.
3. Proven sense of initiative, results orientation, team work and leadership qualities, and ability to work effectively across sectors/GPs.
4. Fluency in English and Spanish with strong verbal and written communication skills.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in race, gender, nationality, culture, and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

For further details and to apply, please go to www.worldbank.org/careers and under “current job openings” seek vacancy number 151101. Deadline for applications June 25, 2015.