Inter-Regional Adviser on Structural Transformation

The Inter-Regional Adviser (IRA) will provide high-level technical expertise and capacity development support to governments and stakeholders in developing countries on structural transformation towards sustainable development. The role involves policy advisory, macroeconomic modelling, development of capacity building materials, and contribution to global and regional development discussions under the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Responsibilities

• Provide capacity development and policy advisory support online and/or through short-term field missions to Governments and other relevant stakeholders in developing countries on structural transformation towards higher-productivity and higher value-added economic activities and increased diversification in support of sustainable development.
• Use macroeconomic forecasting tools such as the World Economic Forecasting Model (WEFM) of DESA, Financial Programming model of the IMF, structural Vector Autoregression Models and similar models to quantitatively capture and analyze trends in structural transformation in developing countries.
• Provide guidance on empirical research and scenario development on selected macroeconomic and development issues to strengthen capacities of relevant national stakeholders.
• Develop and adapt economic, social and environmental models (including open-source approaches) to support national capacities for analyzing macro-development linkages and advancing long-term, multidimensional policy options aligned with the SDGs.
• Connect sectoral development approaches such as energy, digitalization and human capital to structural transformation and prepare capacity development materials and policy advisory notes to support national partners and global discussions.
• Participate in the design, development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of capacity development programmes, projects and activities at national, regional and global levels, including development of e-learning and training materials.
• Monitor implementation of gender mainstreaming guidelines by assessing implications for men and women of planned actions including legislation, policies or programmes.
• Make substantive contributions to global, regional, sub-regional and national workshops, seminars, colloquia and other training events, and liaise with relevant professional networks including the United Nations Economist Network.
• Contribute to the Department’s resource mobilization strategies, notably for extra budgetary funding.
• Assume other tasks within the area of expertise and in line with capacity development guidance as requested by the supervisor.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in development economics or related field.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience within the UN development system and/or an international organization/globally recognized think tank in the area of economic development is required.
• At least four (4) years of professional experience in capacity development/policy advisory work in developing countries, preferably in more than one region, is required.
• Experience in macroeconomic modelling and knowledge of econometric estimation techniques is required.
• Experience in the use of R, Python and relevant software is required.
• Experience on the key implications of a green energy transition on the structural transformation of least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, or small island developing states is required.
• Experience in international technical cooperation and capacity development is desirable.
• Experience in the use of quantitative tools for analyzing structural transformation in developing countries is desirable.
• English language proficiency at UN Level III in reading, writing, listening and speaking is required.

Skills

• Development Economics
• Policy Advisory
• Capacity Development
• Macroeconomic Modeling
• Econometric Estimation
• R Programming
• Python Programming
• Green Energy Transition Analysis
• Structural Transformation Analysis
• International Technical Cooperation
• Quantitative Analysis
• Economic Development
• Capacity-building materials development

Languages

English