Vacancy Announcement : Research Analyst Consultant for Social Protection, Labor and Jobs Global Practice (SPL) at the World Bank Office Jakarta

            RESEARCH ANALYST CONSULTANT VACANCY

1.       Background

 Currently Indonesia is building towards a comprehensive and integrated social protection framework and strategy. Currently there are a number of individual programs existing in parallel, but lacking a common and aggregated vision and with little coherence across social assistance, social insurance, and labor market programs. As a result, social protection is not currently operating as a system across the whole population that ensures that the appropriate policies, financing strategies and instruments are in place for different groups to address their various needs in a timely, predictable and coherent manner. While Indonesia has many of the key programs and systems in place, there is now an acknowledgement in government that Indonesia’s poor and vulnerable needs to be better served by a comprehensive social protection system that is effective, coordinated and integrated, and that Indonesia needs to get better value for the significant budget it invests in the sector..

The Ministry of Finance requested the World Bank to produce a forward-looking strategy and approach to social protection in Indonesia. The forward look should address key challenges recognizing that the current system is fragmented, with disconnected social assistance, social security, and employment promotion elements, offering different benefits to different segments of the population, but without taking into account their interaction, duplication, and potential inefficiencies. The demand for the work has since been confirmed by the National Planning Agency, Bappenas, who will be the principal Government counterpart for this work and has agreed to collaborate on relevant social protection inputs for the upcoming national development plan (RPJMN) 2020-2024.

The proposed Social Protection Flagship aims to provide analytical and advisory inputs to inform the Government of Indonesia (GoI) in its efforts to develop a Social Protection Strategy and build a comprehensive social protection system that includes social assistance, social insurance, and active labor market policies. The flagship will answer the following key questions: (i) what reforms are needed in the Social Protection system to ensure that in the aggregate there is a coherent set of objectives, policies and programs to serve the needs of Indonesia’s population and at the same time allow the Government to improve efficiency of spending; (ii) what is the institutional and financial architecture required for the system to be conducive to promoting a well-functioning and coherent system; (iii) at the program level, and in the aggregate, what are the significant gaps and overlaps in coverage across the income distribution that needs to be filled or rationalized; and (iv) at the delivery systems level, what is needed to achieve coherence, efficiency and client responsiveness.

The World Bank has a unique position to partner with GoI on this Social Protection Strategy. In Social Assistance, since 2009 the Bank has supported a range of analytical work that has strengthened the overall sector, supporting the conceptualization and setup of unconditional cash transfers, the PKH conditional cash transfer program across all its delivery system, and the establishment social registry and targeting development (Unified Data Base). In Social Insurance, the Bank has been key partner in the design and implementation of the National Social Insurance System, and well into its implementation, through different stakeholders. In productive inclusion, jobs and broad skills development, the Bank engagement is working across several ministers to act to address the jobs challenge. All these areas are also directly aligned with the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Indonesia 2016-2020, which emphasizes the strategic role of improving delivery of social services, spending better, and boosting shared prosperity, equality, and inclusion^[1].

2.       Immediate objectives

 

The research analyst will support the task team with data analysis, research and specific analytical tasks as part of the Social Protection Strategy report, background papers and presentations.

      3.       Scope of work and activities

      The research analyst would work closely with the Staff Social Protection Specialists, and Task Teams Leaders. He or she would play an important role in the delivery of a flagship Social Protection Strategy Report and associated analytical work underpinning it, the background papers and presentations.

      Beyond the immediate objectives, the research analyst work program will include, but may not be limited to, the following tasks and responsibilities:

• Contribute to analytical and advisory activities (AAA) in the area of Social Protection and Jobs in Indonesia and other country programs as requested.  
• Provide support to high quality policy advice as required in response to on-demand analytical requests from the Government of Indonesia, development partners, and from within the Bank;
• Collect data and other public policy and program information from various government institutions, including central ministries, subnational government and statistical agencies; and use these data to conduct quantitative and qualitative research and analyses on public expenditure related to social protection and jobs issues.
• Play a key role in the interpretation of analytical findings and formulation of key messages from research findings, supporting the articulation of policy recommendations based on analytical inputs.
• Help prepare presentations, written briefs and policy notes, and draft technical sections of reports based on the above analyses under limited supervision

            4. Selection Criteria :

      The successful applicant for the research analyst consultant position will meet the following qualifications:

• Master’s degree in public policy, economics, or related sector (mathematics, statistics, development economics, public policy or political science) with at least 2 years of experience in areas related to social protection and/or poverty reduction.
• Demonstrated experience in leading analytical and technical assistance activities designed to support the development and strengthening of social protection and jobs programs and generate a range of engagement products (presentations, policy briefs, memos, etc).
• Strong analytical skills (quantitative and qualitative) and proven ability to conduct independent policy- relevant research, translate theory into practical applications, and adapt professional knowledge and technical skills to analyze, diagnose and propose solutions to policy issues and challenges.
• Proficiency in programming with STATA
• Working knowledge of major Indonesia statistical datasets such as SUSENAS, SAKERNAS required, PODES and IFLS preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to provide prompt and high quality responses as well as capture knowledge and communicate main messages in knowledge briefs, policy notes and power point presentations for varied level audiences (technical and high level audiences).
• Demonstrated high quality of written and verbal communication skills in both English and Bahasa Indonesia.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with proven ability to work in a team in a collaborative way, delivering cross-support and building relationships around a common goal as well as in intercultural environment, with minimal supervision.

 

5.       Indicative timeline

The work program described under the immediate objectives is expected to be carried out within a 4-month period between November  2018 - February 2019. The research analyst would initially be hired for 30 days and receive an extension based on performance and on an as-needed basis.. 

 

 

6.       Application procedure

Please submit a CV and a one page cover letter to mpuspitawati@worldbank.org by the 30^th of October. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidentiality.