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VPU Context: 

The World Bank Group serves 33 client countries in Latin America and the Caribbean Region (LCR). Clients range from large rapidly growing sophisticated middle-income clients to IDA countries to small Caribbean states to one fragile state, and to varying degrees face three key challenges – low productivity and growth, low quality jobs and low resilience to shocks.  The region is tackling these challenges with a strong WBG approach, underpinned by selectivity and complementarity between the value added of public and private arms, and in strong partnership with relevant regional development partners.

A. The challenge of low growth: After recovering lost output, the region is returning to pre-pandemic low growth and productivity scenario. After a solid post-pandemic rebound in economic activity (7.2% and 3.9% growth in 2021 and 2022 respectively), GDP growth returned to the pre-pandemic low growth around 2.2% in 2023 and 2024, with a medium-term outlook of 2.5%.  With an average Gini co-efficient of [0.52] LAC remains also one of the most unequal regions in the world. It is a region where the bottom 50% earn 27 times less than the top 10%. It also represents stark differences in opportunity, a child born today in the poorest 20% quintile in LAC will on average be 17 percentage points less productive than a child born in the richest 20%.

B. The challenge of quality jobs: the need for better quality jobs is paramount, with 6.2% unemployment rates, these low levels mask a deeper issue of job quality. Reflecting stagnating living standards, labor earnings have only grown by 1% or less per year in most countries over the past decade, and some 19% of workers in the region are earning incomes below the poverty line. 

•Investing in foundational infrastructure critical to job creation, LAC needs to invest at least 3.1% of GDP in infrastructure investments per year, yet it only invests 2%, which is significantly lower than the world average of 5.4% of GDP. This underinvestment in physical infrastructure, including in key infrastructure sectors (including resilient transport, water, energy etc.) is holding back potential for better jobs. The region is supporting clients by supporting selective transformative infrastructure projects (e.g. urban mobility, regional transport and connectivity).   On human infrastructure challenge, firms in the region continue to cite skills shortages (55% of firms in LAC vs 45% in MIC regions) as a key barrier to growth and job creation. A child born in LAC is expected to reach only 56 percent of their productive potential. Three out of four 15-year olds fail basic math proficiency and cannot read adequately the soft side involves supporting clients revamp their education and health sectors. The region is supporting clients to revamp their education and health care sectors.  

•The LAC region also needs to foster a predictable, business-enabling policy and regulatory environment. These include ensuring macro stability, eliminating restrictive business regulations in product and factor markets, and improving access to finance, especially long-term capital. Labor market regulations in LAC are noted to be on par with the most restrictive labor market regimes among OECD countries. Further, enforcement of competition policy needs to be supported due to high levels of market concentration in LAC markets: the 50 largest firms in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile have revenues greater than 30% of GDP.  At 55% of GDP, domestic credit to the private sector remains much lower than EAP (178%).

•Private capital needs to be appropriately incentivized to support the provision of public goods and investments in key sectors, especially those that have the highest potential to enable and/or create better quality jobs. However, at only 19.8% of GDP, gross capital formation remains lowest among all regions (EAP is at 38% and South Asia at 30%). Private capital mobilization in the region is being held back by shallow capital markets, lack of long-term finance, high cost of capital, regulatory and institutional barriers (including in PPP frameworks). Based on country contexts, the WBG will support investments in productive clusters (energy/mining, value added manufacturing, agribusiness, tourism, etc) across the public-private spectrum.

C. The challenge of vulnerability to shocks.  Building resilience of the countries to shocks, including natural disasters, through contingent financing and other innovative risk management platforms at country and regional levels is critical given the high exposure to climate–related disasters and natural hazards. The Central America and the Caribbean have recurrent hurricanes that have impacts on GDP significantly higher than the regional average of 1.7%. Several countries are experiencing deep, long droughts, increasingly intense storms, and floods that disrupt economic activities and affect livelihoods, with impacts on the most vulnerable populations.

CMU and Country Office Context

LC2 is the CMU responsible for overseeing the World Bank's program in Central America and the Dominican Republic, including country strategy formulation and implementation, policy dialogue, portfolio management and country relations.  The CMU Management Team consists of the Division Director, and the Country Operations Manager, who will be based in Panama; a Country Manager based in El Salvador, who is also the country manager for Costa Rica; and a Resident Representatives based in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The CMU works with a diverse set of clients:  two IDA countries (Honduras and Nicaragua), two lower middle income (El Salvador and Guatemala), and two upper middle-income counties (Costa Rica and Panama). Central America has the economy with the fastest growth rate in Latin America (Panama) and one with the biggest growth challenges (El Salvador); countries where poverty tops 25 percent (Honduras), and countries that are close to the 3 percent poverty objective for the Bank twin goals (Panama); countries that have managed to transform its economy entering in high value-added sectors (Costa Rica), and countries where the structural transformation of the economy needs to happen (Nicaragua). Central America has been significantly affected by the COVID pandemic both on the health and the economics front (GDP is projected to contract on average by 4.3% in the Central American countries) and this will have a significant impact on poverty. On top of this, macroeconomic and governance challenges were already an issue in most of the countries before the pandemic.

The successful applicant for Office Assistant position will receive a two-year fixed term position in the Panama Country Office (LCCPA), subject to local recruitment and the local salary scale.  The Office Assistant will report primarily to the World Bank Country Manager and will receive day-to-day guidance on priorities and fulfillment of responsibilities from the World Bank Senior Executive Assistant in the Panama Country Office.

The Office Assistant will provide support to the Panama Country Office, specifically to sector coordinators, visiting missions as well as support to all office related activities, specifically providing back-up support to other team members, including the reception and assist in ad-hoc activities.

Responsibilities will involve collaboration with team members in the Panama Office and in other World Bank Group Units, as well as frequent interaction with external counterparts such as consultants, service providers, vendors and members of the private sector and civil society.

Duties/Accountabilities

Support to Teams

•Make arrangements for meetings, travel, visas and other logistics related to the program as required.

•Assist with the logistical organization and implementation or events related to their programs in Panama as required. This may include compilation, preparation and translation of written materials and arrangements with providers for a range of visual materials; and

•Provide support operations-related matters, including processing of lending or implementation support documents, and seeking out Bank guidelines on processing these documents, including distribution lists, formatting, required documents, etc.

Support to Visiting Missions:

•Assist with visiting missions in coordination with Task Team Leaders as needed, including scheduling meetings, and organizing transportation, or other logistical support.

•Follow up with visiting missions through the LC2 Clearance process on Mission Announcement Letters (MALs

Support to Communications Teams:

Assist with the preparation of the Panama Daily News and provide administrative support to the team as required.

General Office Support:

Update the Panama Master Contact List regularly.

•Serve as backup to colleagues as required, to contribute to the effective workflow of the office;

•Draft routine letters, memos and other internal and external correspondence as required;

•Assist in filing and archiving WB documents;

•Assist in event preparation; and

•Other duties as assigned.