Stellenbeschreibung

WORLD BANK GROUP

Junior Professional Officer Program (JPO) Chiffre Nr. 2026-1-22

GENERAL INFORMATION

Title: JPO Junior Professional Officer

Agency: World Bank Group

Division/VPU: Development Data Group (DECDG)/ Development Economics Vice-Presidency (DECVP)

Country and Duty Station: Washington DC, USA 

Duration: 2 years with possibility of extension for another year. The extension of appointment is subject to yearly review concerning priorities, availability of funds, and satisfactory performance.

Please note that for participants of the JPO-Programme three years work experience are mandatory when applying for the World Bank. Relevant work experience can be counted. In order to assess the eligibility of the candidates, we review the relevant experience acquired after obtaining the first university degree (usually bachelor’s degree).

BACKGROUND

The Development Economics Vice-Presidency (DECVP) is a widely-recognized hub of knowledge generation, data management and curation, and overall intellectual leadership both within and beyond the World Bank Group. DECVP is responsible for monitoring progress towards the World Bank’s goal of ending extreme poverty and several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As part of carrying out this mandate, the Development Data Group (DECDG) is seeking to hire a Junior Professional Officer to join a team working on the analysis and measurement of global poverty and inequality. The team is responsible for monitoring key SDG indicators of global poverty (SDG 1 – End poverty in all its forms everywhere) and inequality (SDG 10 – Reduce inequality within and among countries), as well as the World Bank’s own corporate scorecard.

In addition to regularly updating the data, the unit’s overarching goal is to improve the quality and validity of the data used to generate global poverty and inequality statistics. A particular focus is placed on capturing detailed characteristics of the population living in poverty, such as gender, education level, and place of residence. More granular data enables better targeted programs, not only World Bank operations but also national policies, which is especially important given limited financial resources.

As part of its new Corporate Scorecard, the World Bank has committed to contribute to tackling high inequality. A significant factor contributing to inequality are geographical disparities, which are exacerbated by localized shocks such as climate change and conflict. To operationalize this commitment, more comprehensive and precise information on the geographic distribution of global poverty is needed than is currently available. The currently available data is limited to the spatial representativeness of household surveys. Poverty mapping techniques overcome this limitation through modelling together with other more granular data (e.g., based on satellites). Such poverty maps have been constructed for many countries, but not combined at a global harmonized basis.

This data will enable targeted analysis of whether the World Bank’s current projects are actually reaching the poorest regions and populations. Furthermore, this information can be directly incorporated into the planning of new projects to better address distributional aspects. Furthermore, this work will ultimately improve the data underpinning the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform, the tool for producing and disseminating global poverty and inequality data. 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Reporting to the Manager, Analytics Division, in the Development Data Group, the JPO will:

• Support the team in developing a global database with comprehensive subnational data on poverty and inequality. This database will unify existing poverty maps and close existing data gaps through innovative analytical methodologies, such as those based on satellite data.
  
• Work closely with other teams within the Data Group, particularly in the areas of geospatial data and geotagging of the World Bank’s current portfolio (i.e., assigning geographic coordinates to projects or data points). In the context of the World Bank, this means that projects in the current portfolio will be tagged with their precise location to better analyze their impact.
  
• The JPO will coordinate with Country Poverty Economists, particularly regarding existing poverty maps, and support take-up of the granular spatial information for planning new operations.
  
• Develop tools that support the use of this granular spatial information in planning World Bank operational projects.
  
• Contribute to analytical work using the newly constructed database, especially on whether existing World Bank projects have been effectively allocated to reduce spatial inequalities.
  
• Contribute to publications (e.g. Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report), working papers, and corporate requests for on-demand analysis.
  
• Present and disseminate findings within the World Bank and to partner countries and other stakeholders as appropriate.
  
• As needed, contribute to the wider work of the team and the Data Group.
  

Note: 

The selected candidate will not be assigned to programs involving their own government such as donor coordination and trust fund management.

SELECTION CRITERIA

• Master’s Degree in economics or related discipline and at least three years of relevant experience (which may include time in a PhD program).
• Research experience and academic publications on the measurement of poverty and inequality.
• Applied experience in data analysis, data visualization, and data management, including familiarity with analysis of household survey data.
• Familiarity with Stata and/or R, as well as general programming skills.
• Experience working with geospatial data, as well as methods used in poverty mapping, will be a plus.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English with ability to translate complex research and methods into policy-relevant language.

Bitte senden Sie Ihre JPO-Bewerbung direkt an das Büro Führungskräfte zu Internationalen Organisationen (BFIO) unter Angabe der Chiffre Nr. 2026-1-22 auf dem Bewerbungsbogen

Alle Informationen finden Sie unter www.bfio.de