Economic Affairs Officer

The Economic Affairs Officer will monitor economic developments, conduct studies, develop policy recommendations, and support intergovernmental bodies and technical cooperation activities related to disaster risk reduction financing. The role involves engagement with UN Country Teams, national governments, and financial sector partners to accelerate access to financing and risk-informed investment under the Sendai Framework.

Responsibilities

• Monitors economic developments in a defined area and identifies recurrent and emerging issues of concern to the United Nations.
• Designs and conducts studies of selected issues in economic development and drafts resulting reports.
• Develops draft policy recommendations pertaining to area of work.
• Formulates proposals for development strategies, policies and measures for presentation to intergovernmental bodies and others.
• In coordination with regional offices, engages in supporting United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs), National governments and other partners in accelerating access to financing and risk-informed investment.
• Prepares speeches and other inputs for presentations by senior staff.
• Provides substantive support on economic issues to intergovernmental bodies such as the General Assembly, ECOSOC Financing for Development, and relevant regional subsidiary bodies.
• Represents organizational unit at international, regional and national meetings.
• Coordinates the delivery of the financing for disaster risk reduction catalytic area of focus, working in cooperation with regional offices and external partners.
• Engages the private financial sector in supporting the delivery of Sendai Framework targets.
• Undertakes missions to member states as part of technical cooperation activities.
• Prepares global, regional, national or sector analyses to advise national governments on economic development issues.
• Conducts training seminars and workshops for government officials and others.
• Supports and coordinates the planning, implementation and evaluation of UNDRR policies and programming on risk-informed investment across various global and regional initiatives.
• Supports junior staff, reviewing their work and providing feedback.
• Participates in intra- and inter-branch undertakings to represent the views or interests of the organizational unit.
• Performs other related duties including administrative tasks necessary for final delivery of the work unit’s service.
• Undertakes on-the-job and other training activities, both internally and externally.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in economics or related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in economic research and analysis, economic policy formulation, application of economic principles in international development programmes or related area is required.
• Two years of experience in disaster risk reduction financing initiatives is required.
• Experience of working in LDCs, SIDS or emerging markets on financing initiatives is desirable.
• Experience in building strategic alliances and partnerships in financial and private sector is desirable.
• Experience of working in global or regional multilateral development financing institutions/banks is desirable.
• Experience of sustainable finance initiatives, lending and investment practices, as well as compliance and regulatory regimes is desirable.
• English is required.
• Either Spanish or Arabic or Chinese (Mandarin) or Russian or French is desirable.

Skills

• Economic Research
• Economic Policy Formulation
• Disaster Risk Financing
• International Development Programmes
• Strategic Partnerships
• Finance Sector Engagement
• Sustainable Finance Initiatives
• Lending and Investment Practices
• Compliance and Regulatory Regimes
• Policy Recommendation Development
• Intergovernmental Coordination
• Technical Cooperation

Languages

English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Russian, French