Education Specialist

Job #: req8747

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Education

Grade: GF

Term Duration: 2 years 0 months

Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Location: Djibouti,Djibouti

Required Language(s): English, French

Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 10/27/2020 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. Visit http://www.worldbank.org/.

The MENA Region – Human Development and Education

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region covers Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, the Gulf States, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank and Gaza (Palestinian territories) and Yemen.

These countries include low-income and middle-income countries that look for technical advice and financial support, and high-income countries that request Reimbursable Advisory Services. The MENA region has been undergoing major changes over the past several years and the World Bank is poised to support the countries in the region to achieve peace and stability for economic and social development.

The Bank’s MENA Regional Vice Presidency has placed Human Development including education at the heart of its engagement as a critical part of its strategy in supporting countries rebuild trust between citizens and the state, promoting regional cooperation, building resilience in countries amidst the refugee challenges in the region, and supporting recovery and reconstruction. The MENA Human Development team is led by a Director and encompasses three units (Health, Nutrition and Population; Social and Protection and Jobs, and Education). The team is guided by the MENA Human Capital Plan that aims to help MENA become a region that realizes its vast potential by harnessing its greatest untapped assets: the human capital of its population, including youth, women, and the elderly.

Countries in the MENA region have taken great strides in education in the past few decades, but challenges remain, particularly in the areas of education quality, inequality, governance and accountability, and the relevance of skills for the labor market. The World Bank MENA Education Unit focuses on helping countries build the human capital required for economic growth and social development by providing analytical products, technical and financial support, as well as advisory services. As such, the MENA Education Unit supports countries in developing and implementing strategies for learning at all levels of education from childhood to tertiary. Teams work closely with countries to improve their systems of delivery, promote equity in education, and foster better management. We also work closely with education colleagues from other regions of the World Bank as well as colleagues in other Global Practices in MENA.

The Education Global Practice

Education is central to achieving the World Bank Group’s twin goals: it is a reliable route out of poverty because it has large returns to income for individuals and because it can drive economic growth and shared prosperity. The main challenge in the education sector is to achieve ‘learning for all, learning for life’—that is, to ensure that all children and young people acquire the knowledge and skills they need for their lives. The developing world has achieved great advances in education in the past two decades, yet major challenges remain: how to remove the educational barriers faced by the poorest people and those living in fragile states, and how to improve the quality of education so that schooling leads to real learning. The MENA Education Unit is part of the Education Global Practice. We draw upon global knowledge and tools and experts. In turn, we contribute to the global agenda and make available our expertise to other regional education units.

The World Bank Group’s program in Djibouti takes a multi-pronged approach in education. Comprehensive reforms are needed to improve learning at all levels, by: (a) promoting early childhood development and particularly preschool, (b) use teacher incentives and accountability tools, (c) strengthen tertiary education and TVET, and (d) adopt ICT-enabled education to serve remote and rural schools. The World Bank will focus on strengthening basic as well as tertiary and vocational education to enhance human capital and better align skills to job opportunities. With its focus on improving access to and quality of education, the proposed project is aligned with the goals of the Human Capital Project and responds to a Government request to scale up and prioritize engagement on human capital. The Bank program also focuses on refugees and other vulnerable populations, and fosters resilience, and in turn promote an environment conducive to tackling poverty and supporting economic growth for all.

The MENA Education Unit is looking for an Education Specialist/ Economist to support the Bank’s Education engagement in Djibouti. Based in the Djibouti WB office, the successful candidate will work in close collaboration with the Task Team Leaders of the various projects, other education team members, as well as colleagues in other sectors and the Country Management team.

Duties and Accountabilities

The primary responsibility of the Education Specialist/ Economist will be to contribute to the development and implementation of the Education GP’s work program in Djibouti.

• Contribute as core team member to the preparation and implementation of selected operations in education and multi-sectoral ones all stages of the project cycle
• S/he will work closely with other education team members to provide oversight and on the ground leadership
• Provide project implementation support to the Djibouti MOE to ensure all activities are achieving expected results
• Engage and contribute to the policy dialogue with government officials
• Liaise with donor partners and represent the Bank in all activities related to education in Amman
• Support external communications related to education in Amman
• Lead or contribute to analytical work in the education sector and produce reports and presentations, as needed
• Work closely with other Global Practices in the field to ensure synergies
• Respond to ad-hoc and urgent requests from management, as requested
• Contribute to other tasks as needed including potential work on other countries in the region, preparing new projects, events and conferences

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in Education, Economics or relevant field.
• Minimum of five years of directly relevant experience in education.
• Experience in supporting education system reform in at least one country.
• Experience working with clients to build capacity and engage in policy dialogue on education.

Technical Ability

• Proven experience working in, or closely with, government education departments or related agencies on broad issues such as teachers, pedagogy, curriculum, student assessment.
• Strong analytical skills, including an understanding of core education data sets, indicators, tools for data analysis, and the use of the resulting evidence for education policy-making.
• Good communication skills in presenting complex analytical conclusions and policy implications to policy makers, donors, education stakeholders and other non-specialized audiences.
• Good understanding of education systems, and how they interact in different social and development contexts and institutional arrangements.
• Full understanding of the World Bank’s development initiatives and policies and practices related to lending and non-lending operations.