Description
Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2018, the WBG committed $67 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $24 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188-member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally.
The WBG consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The World Bank is organized into six client-facing Regional Vice-Presidencies, several corporate functions and thirteen Global Practices to bring best-in-class knowledge and solutions to regional and country clients.
The World Bank Group, with 189-member countries, is the largest provider of development finance and solutions for social protection and jobs (SPJ), working with high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries to develop country-tailored solutions for specific social protection and labor challenges. These range from increasing the efficiency with which resources are spent (where well-designed social safety net programs, pension reforms, aged care programs, and integrated social protection systems are proven solutions), to improving labor market outcomes through employability programs, job creation and associated policy reforms, often most effective when targeted at the poor or the vulnerable.
East Asia and Pacific Region (EAP) comprises of more than 20 countries and is highly diverse, ranging from high- and middle-income countries to low Income countries, and ranging from large countries in terms of size and population, such as China and Indonesia, to small island states such as Tonga and Vanuatu. Despite unprecedented economic growth and poverty reduction, poverty and vulnerability remain widespread across EAP, with 460 million people living on less than US$2 PPP a day. In many countries, inequality is on the rise. In addition, the region is experiencing multiple transformative trends, including rapid urbanization and population aging, which are changing the composition of societies and labor markets. In response to this context and these trends, the SPJ EAP unit, as part of the SPJ global practice, is mainly engaged in three areas: (a) social safety nets that aims to help clients establish tailored programs that provide immediate relief from hardship for the poorest and promote long term human capital accumulation for sustainable exits from poverty; (b) social insurance and aged care programs that confront the challenge of population aging, address the low coverage and adequacy of the programs, and (c) labor and jobs that helps improve the returns to productive work in a rapidly changing labor market through well-designed labor market policies as well as programs to improve skills. The unit leverages global knowledge and expertise for EAP clients tailored to their development context.
China SPJ program also focuses on these three areas through the provision of analytical and advisory services and lending operations. Since the mid-1980’s, the World Bank has established the partnerships with the central authorities and expanded the collaboration to the provincial level counterparts throughout social insurance reform, labor market development, poverty reduction and social assistance programs. In the context of a rapidly ageing population, the engagement includes the analytical work on building an equitable, efficient and sustainable aged care system in China. The current World Bank social protection and jobs engagement in China comprises (a) policy research and dialogue in strengthening systems and improve service delivery in social insurance, social assistance, labor, and aged care, including policy reform and financing, better consolidation and coordination within social protection and labor market programs and between social protection, labor and other social programs, and monitoring and evaluation of social protection and aged care reform pilots; and (b) financing lending operations on aged care services, social security system integration, and skills development. The development challenges and fiscal structure requires innovative business model for operations. With the accelerated population aging, aged care has become a priority area for business development and collaboration with clients.
Duties and Accountabilities:
The World Bank is seeking an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) to join the SPJ team in China based in Beijing. S/he will be expected to actively contribute to the delivery of a mixture of lending operations, technical assistance, analytical work and partnership activities. While the ETC would be expected to contribute as needed across the analytical and lending program there would be a particular focus on the work program on aged care and social services in China. The initial terms of the assignment would be for one year but would be subject to a further year’s extension subject to satisfactory performance and mutual agreement of the Bank and the consultant. Her/his main responsibilities include:
- Undertake technical analysis. Review government policies and programs; collect, manage and analyze relevant data; perform statistical and econometric analysis; contribute to the analytical task(s) on aging, aged care and social services including drafting background papers, working papers, research reports, policy briefings, or other deliverables as required.
- Support the preparation of lending operations on aged care. Collect background policy documents, materials and data and summarize the basic facts and key issues/policy recommendations; support and participate in relevant workshops, meetings and missions, and prepare meeting minutes, mission documents and project documentations; contribute to economic and technical analysis for the project preparation and to technical design in particular on key innovative ideas and modalities; and maintain regular interaction with government counterparts and other partners to ensure smooth communication and timely information flow.
- Support the implementation of aged care projects. Review the implementation progress and work plan; participate in missions and field visits and contribute to the mission Aide Memoir; provide inputs to the government counterparts on selected technical areas issues such as monitoring and evaluation; design the TA interventions including analytical services, capacity building and training; and provide hands-on technical support.
- Promote knowledge sharing and experience dissemination. Summarize knowledge and global best practice to meet the requests from clients; prepare knowledge briefs and case studies based on lessons learned from SPJ lending operations in China; provide inputs to the communication reports (e.g. newsletters, blogs) for the lending operations; play an active role in the planning and organization of seminars, workshops, conferences or other events, including with regard to logistics.
- Contribute to policy dialogue. Participate in policy dialogue in aging and aged care sector development at the national and subnational levels; monitor the government policies and strategies in this field; prepare policy updates and share with the team; and provide inputs to policy notes as required.
Reporting :
The successful candidate will report to the Practice Manager of SPJ Global Practice for EAP. S/he will work closely with China SPJ team based in Beijing under the guidance of task team leaders (TTLs).
Selection Criteria
- At least Master’s degree in economics, public policy or related field (sociology, demography) with at least four years of work experience or corresponding combination of education and work experience in related areas. Preference for a Ph.D. focus in areas of relevance for social protection or jobs, with work experience in these areas.
- Excellent analytical skills and proven ability to conduct policy and empirical-relevant analytics, translate theory into practical applications, and adapt professional knowledge and technical skills to analyze, diagnose and propose solutions to policy issues and challenges.
- Demonstrated ability to capture knowledge for communicate of main messages in policy notes and analytical work, as well as for presentations for high level audiences.
- Strong engagement skills with counterparts; client focus with an ability to provide prompt and high-quality responses; demonstrated ability to capture knowledge for institutional learning, knowledge transfer and capacity building.
- Familiarity with China social protection and labor sector, aged care reform initiatives, engagement and participation in policy analysis and policy dialogue highly desirable.
- Excellent communication skills in English and Mandarin, both written and oral.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with aptitude for entrepreneurism and innovation, and results-orientation; proven ability to work in a team and intercultural environments, with minimal supervision; demonstrated ability to be proactive, to communicate ideas effectively under pressure and to build relationships around a common goal.
Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.
The World Bank Group values diversity and encourages all qualified candidates who are nationals of World Bank Group member countries to apply, regardless of gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability. Sub-Saharan African nationals, Caribbean nationals, and female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
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