Economic Analysis Specialist, TA - NOC, 11 months

Post opened to BURUDIAN ONLY. Under the general guidance of the Chief of Social Policy, Advocacy and Evaluation, the economic analysis specialist is accountable for providing technical support and assistance in all stages of social policy programing and related advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable results

BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION

The political crisis of 2015 halted eleven years of positive economic growth since the signing of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement in 2000. Real GDP declined by 0.6 percent in 2016, although this contraction was less drastic than in 2015 when the GDP growth rate stood at 3.9 percent. Even if the impact of the 2015 crisis can be contained, economic growth is expected to remain weak in 2018 (0.1%; IMF) — with attendant adverse effects on per capita income and poverty. The economy is functioning far below its estimated potential growth rate of 3-5 percent. Donor support has been very important, if highly unpredictable, furthermore, since the crisis, there has been a dramatic decrease in donor finance. Donor support has served as an important fiscal buffer. However, the disbursement of external aid has been unpredictable and volatile, mainly due to its link to the implementation of complex, but critical, public finance management (PFM) reforms. It has also fluctuated during times of political instability and conflict.

Within only a short period of time, Burundi has experienced an increase in food prices (food inflation of 14.3% in March 2018 compared to 2.3% in March 2015 according to ISTEEBU), negatively impacting the purchasing power of household and adversely impacting on the state of well-being of children and families. At the same time, the country revenue has drastically reduced due to the economic activity downturn. The total current revenues grew by 120 percent from 2007-2009 to 2010-2014, that is, from 11.9 percent of GDP to 13.7 percent before the crisis. However, the tax revenue-to-GDP ratio declined to about 11.4 percent in 2015, down from 12 percent in 2014. Many donors have withdrawn their fund due the current political crisis. This situation has reduced Government ability to provide social services to children and women, especially those who are most vulnerable.

To help Government of Burundi (BCO) to cope with this situation, Burundi Country Office (BCO) is engaging with the Government in policy dialogue to protect and increase some child sensitive budget lines for more impact on children. Budget Briefs are served as support documents for the policy dialogue and fundraising. UNICEF is also engaging with Government and World Bank to evidence generation work to ensure public spending are effective, efficient and equitable for more results on children. Moreover, UNICEF is supporting the Government in Child poverty and deprivation measurement and ensure the utilization of that to feed the national development plan and raise awareness of national counterparts on the issues of child deprivation. All these initiatives aiming to inform decision-making process at real time to enable Government of Burundi and other relevant stakeholders to adjust their interventions according to the current context. For this end BCO, is looking for an Economic Analysis Specialist; NOC (TA) to support Social Policy, Advocacy and Evaluation section.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

Under the general guidance of the Chief of Social Policy, Advocacy and Evaluation, the economic analysis specialist is accountable for providing technical support and assistance in all stages of social policy programing and related advocacy from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of concrete and sustainable results. This includes programmes aimed at improving (a) public policies to reduce child poverty; (b) the transparency, adequacy, equity and efficiency of child-focused public investments and; (c) evidence generation. This encompasses both direct Programme work with government and civil society partners as well as linkages and support to teams working on Education, Health, Child Protection, Water and sanitation, and Communication and Participation.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES, DUTIES AND TASKS

Under the supervision of Chief Social Policy, the economic analysis specialist will be accountable of for following duties and key end-results.

1. Social Policy dialogue and programme development

• Provides professional assistance in UNICEF’s engagement in social policy dialogue and development with the Government, maintains constructive dialogue and partnerships between international and local stakeholders to support the development of social policies and programmes contributing to the progressive realization of children’s rights and strengthening of implementation and monitoring mechanisms at all levels of society, and ensures that the services reach out in innovative, effective ways to those most vulnerable pockets of children and families that have been previously left out.
• Promotes the advocacy for juvenile justice reform, supports child rights-based reviews of national, provincial and local legislation, in close consultation with community-level structures and supports the health and education sectors and the social welfare system for children.

 

2. Public finance for children

• Collect data, update current information on State budget and perform budget analysis in the main sectors (Child Protection, Education, Health, Nutrition, Social Protection, WASH) and the overall budget (Budget Brief);
• Perform economic analysis to update the country macroeconomic and vulnerability situation;
• Support the Country Office evidence-based work for more resource and equity, efficiency in state budget utilization for more results for children and vulnerable groups (Budget advocacy);
• Support policy dialogue with Government in strengthening the efficiency, effectiveness and equity of government spending;
• Support the develop of an impact strategy for each evidence product developed (Budget Briefs, investment case, fiscal space analysis, equity analysis, etc.) to ensure wide dissemination;
• Support the institutionalization of PF4C working group within the office, to engage sections in the budget advocacy work;
• Strengthen the national capacity in PF4C and raise the Government awareness on the importance to increase investment for children;
• Support sectors to improve the quality and effectiveness of expenditures through budget analyses, promotion of equity-based budget allocation formula, Public Expenditure Reviews and Tracking Surveys.
• Support national capacity for more transparency and accountability in PFM for more resource for children and vulnerable people (Open Budget Survey, BOOST, etc.…);

3. Child poverty and deprivation analysis

• Support the Country capacity in child poverty measurement and analysis. Ensure monitoring of monetary and non-monetary child poverty in the context of SDG;
• Support the Child Poverty National Group to raise the Government’s awareness on child poverty issues;
• Ensure wide dissemination of key findings from child poverty analysis or equity analysis;
• Perform equity analysis with national dataset available: DHS; Households Consumption Survey;
• Support the national dialogue to integrate child poverty issues (monetary and multi-dimensional) into the national statistical plan.

4. Data collection, analysis and results-based approach

• Identify and support key relevant research topic and ensure quality control for research/studies. Promote the utilization of evidence for programming within the Country Programme and within Government programmes as well;
• Collects systematically qualitative data for the sound and up-to-date assessment of the situation of children and women to provide the base-lines for result-based decisions on interventions and evaluations.  Provides technical support for the development of information systems for monitoring child rights indicators, with emphasis on community and child participation.
• Provides timely, regular data-driven analysis for effective prioritization, planning, and development; facilitates results-based management for planning, adjusting, and scaling-up specific social policy initiatives.  Support maintenance of information system for monitoring gender/sex disaggregated data.
• Contributes to the analysis of the macroeconomic context of social policy programmes and its impact on social development, emerging issues and social policy concerns, as well as implications for children, and proposes and promotes appropriate responses in respect of such issues and concerns, including government resource allocation policies and the effect of social welfare policies on the rights of children.

5. SDG and National Development Plan

• Contribute in the monitoring of the SDG in close collaboration with UN Agencies;
• Support the development of the National Development Plan and ensure that its monitoring framework is child sensitive;
• Contribute to update the situation of children against each Sustainable and Development Goal and Targets to establish baseline and annual situation;
• Support Government to define spending targets in key sectors for children and identify markers for SDG spending in each sector;
• Promote the development of a national monitoring framework to report against SDG commitments and spending that reduces inequality.

6. Partnerships

• Contributes to the establishment and enhancement of effective partnerships with the Government, bilateral and multilateral donors, NGOs, civil society and local leaders, the private sector, and other UN agencies to support sustained and proactive commitment to the Convention of the Rights of the Child and to achieve global UN agendas such as the Millennium Development Goals and the World Fit for Children (WFFC) agenda.  
• Identifies other critical partners, promotes awareness and builds capacity of partners, and actively facilitates effective collaboration within the UN family.

7. UNICEF Programme Management

• Supports and contributes to effective and efficient planning, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the country programme.
• Ensures that the social planning project enhances policy dialogue, planning, supervision, technical advice, management, training, research and support; and that the monitoring and evaluation component strengthens monitoring and evaluation of the social sectors and provides support to sectoral and decentralized information systems.

QUALIFICATION AND COMPETENCIES

Education

-  Master degree in Economics, Development Economics, Social Sciences, International Finance, or other relevant disciplines.

Work Experience

• Five years of relevant professional experience in economics, public financial management. A proven track record in quantitative economic analysis and multi-dimensional poverty/deprivation analysis would be a strong asset;
• Proven ability to manage relationships with partners, including government ministries, universities, intellectual leaders, UN organizations, NGOs and the private sector;
• Strong writing and communication skills and the aptitude to handle competing messages and priorities with various audiences;
• Fluency in English and French (written & verbal) is required.
• Background/familiarity with Emergency.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

• Creates a sense of team spirit by encouraging harmony, co-operation and communication.
• Anticipates the information needs of the intended audience and tailors the amount, content and style of communication to deliver maximum clarity.
• Quickly builds rapport with individuals and groups and establishes good working relationships.
• Makes logical and well-reasoned judgments from an analysis of the information available.
• Analyzes and integrates potentially conflicting numerical, verbal and other data from a number of sources.
• Sets realistic timescales for the overall completion of major projects, ensuring that any deadlines set by others in connection with a project fit into the overall timescales.
• Creates measures and criteria to monitor progress of overall projects against key organizational objectives, maintaining constant vigilance regarding all issues that may impact upon project completion.
• Demonstrates, applies and shares expert technical knowledge across the organization.

Core Values

• Commitment
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Integrity

Core competencies

• Communication - Level II
• Working with People - Level II
• Drive for Results - Level II

Functional Competencies

• Leading and Supervising - Level II
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts - Level II
• Analyzing - Level III
• Relating and Networking - Level II 
• Persuading and Influencing - Level II
• Planning and Organizing - Level III

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.