Division Manager, Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting (ECMR.1) at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

Job Title: Division Manager, Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting (ECMR.1)

The Position

• The role of the Division Manager, ECMR.1, is to provide effective and strategic technical and managerial leadership to staff in the Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting Division to enhance productivity and management of resources for effective delivery of the work program.

Key Functions

• Provide professional and intellectual leadership in the conceptualization of analytical and research work on key development issues and challenges facing the African continent in order to expand the research program of the Bank.
• Proactively identify the key priority areas of policy research and ensure that these are in line with the High 5s transformational agenda and other operational priorities of the Bank.
• Provide mentorship and identify and design package of incentives to stimulate intellectual curiosity and potential of staff.
• Assist economists (macro and sector) throughout the Bank to employ standardized economic methodologies and tools, to utilize appropriate economic indicators in their operational work and to identify, access and interpret the results of relevant economic research undertaken within the Bank or by collaborating with external research institutions and government agencies.
• Strengthen the link between the research activities (and other economic, sector and thematic knowledge products of the Bank) and country level policy dialogue and advisory services and ensure that research economists are directly mapped to country teams and contribute rigorous macroeconomic analytical thought leadership in the preparation and peer review of Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) and knowledge products.
• Lead the dissemination of development research output and flagship publications internally and externally through various fora, including the dedicated departmental and divisional microsites; conferences within and outside Africa, High Level Policy Dialogue and other seminars.
• Play a leadership role in the provision of advice on other policy work of the Bank to ensure alignment with current economic development thinking; provide leadership in helping the Bank meet the macroeconomic challenges facing the RMCs; lead the network of the Bank’s economists engaged in research-related work and promote high standards of work and peer review mechanisms.
• Lead the design and delivery of professional development and intensified training of all economists of the Bank to upgrade their technical skills and share best practices on macroeconomic and development issues.
• Develop robust technical and financial cooperation arrangements with other agencies and institutions undertaking research related to the Bank’s development research priorities.
• Review and clear major statements and briefs prepared for the President and Senior Management by the Division on all macroeconomic and broader socio-economic development issues.
• To assist the Chief Economist’s office in advising the President and Senior Management of the Bank on macroeconomic, debt sustainability and broader economic development issues on Africa.
• Manage the Division’s annual administrative and non-administrative budget to ensure effective utilization of financial and human resources.

Plans, organizes, manages and controls the activities of the Division by:

• Determining the strategic objectives of the Division and establishing the annual and medium-term work program.
• Making assessments in the recruitment of highly qualified staff for the Division.
• Assessing work performance, appraising staff potential and determining work related training and personal development needs.
• Take responsibility for staff appraisals and provide advice where necessary to ensure improved
• Ensuring accountability and designing appropriate incentive structure for deserving staff, whilst sanctioning noncompliance to agreed performance objectives and key performance indicators.
• Monitoring implementation of the Division’s work program and introducing changes where necessary to ensure that work objectives are met.
• Monitoring the implementation of the budget in line with the work program.

Plans, manages and organizes activities relating to the conduct of economic research on African development issues.
This involves:

• Provide the Bank and RMCs with comparative research analysis, socio-economic data and macroeconomic projections of the most widely used socio-economic parameters relating to Africa’s economies and Bank Group operations.
• Develop a comprehensive knowledge dissemination framework for the Division’s flagship reports and other knowledge products.
• Spearhead strategies aimed at ensuring effective knowledge sharing and improvement of the quality of work generated from the Division’s activities.
• Determine ways of ensuring that knowledge generated for the Division’s activities is applied in Bank’s Operations.
• Provide analysis of RMCs economies using appropriate techniques and assessing regional and continental economic development strategies.
• Promote and maintaining relations with institutions dealing with economic research and development policies, especially as they relate to Africa.
• Represent the Bank in international and regional conferences, seminars and workshops where such papers will be presented.
• Perform other tasks as requested by the Director and Senior Management

Requirements

• A minimum of a Master’s Degree in Economics; Applied Macroeconomics; Public Policy or other relevant discipline.
• A minimum of eight (8) years highly relevant experience, in a multilateral development institution, government agency or reputable organization involved in applied research including at least three (3) years of experience at leadership, managerial or highly supervisory level.
• Proven ability to build and lead a multicultural team of motivated staff and utilize the talents and expertise of team members in a productive way to ensure effective delivery of the work program.
• Communicate and write effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other
• Extensive and in-depth experience in the use of statistical and econometric packages (EViews, Stata, MATLAB, R, Stata, GAMS, etc.) and methods in data processing and analysis, in Microsoft software packages (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Access) and SAP.

Application Instructions:

The application deadline is 15th February, 2025. Therefore, qualified and interested candidates can “CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT APPLICATION” It is important to visit the official website (link found below) for detailed information on how to apply successfully for this vacancy.

Website:
Official Job Website: https://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/careers