Work with us in Ethiopia on an exciting impact evaluation and implementation support for the Employment Promotion and Protection pilot! This position is based in Addis Ababa, with frequent travel to refugee hosting areas in Asosa, Jijiga, and Shire.
Please send your application with a cover letter and resume to Victoria Strokova (vstrokova@worldbank.org), Christian Meyer (christian.meyer@nuffield.ox.ac.uk), and Thomas Ginn (tginn@cgdev.org). Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until position is filled.
Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2018, the WBG committed $67 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $24 billion was concessional finance to its poorest members. It is governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120 offices with nearly 15,000 staff located globally.
The Social Protection & Jobs (SP&J) Global Practice of the World Bank delivers operational approaches and evidence-based solutions to help individuals and families manage risk, cope with chronic/transitional poverty, and access better livelihoods and jobs.
These include:
In addition, SPJ has a growing portfolio of analytical and advisory services (ASA) in the area of social safety nets and labor markets. Currently, SPJ co-leads several analytical pieces on jobs aimed at providing evidence base to support the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) in the design and implementation of policies and programs aimed at improving jobs outcomes and inform preparation of World Bank operations.
Ethiopia hosts approximately 900,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers and is the second largest refugee-hosting country in Africa after Uganda. Ethiopia has had an open-door policy for refugees since its present government came to power in 1991, permitting refugees and asylum seekers the right to reside in Ethiopia in officially designated camps managed by the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian partners. Most refugees are of Somali, Eritrean, Sudanese, and South Sudanese origin and live with very limited socio-economic rights in underdeveloped peripheral regions, in some cases surviving entirely on humanitarian aid.
The Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has recognized the difficulty of this situation, including the limitations of continuing humanitarian aid and has proposed measures to promote self-sufficiency. In September 2016, the GoE has made an ambitious commitment toward a more comprehensive refugee response through nine government pledges, constituting a policy shift from a focus on encampment to more sustainable management of refugee situations. In February 2017, Ethiopia became one of the first countries to initiate the implementation of the UN-supported Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework
Analysis by the WBG indicates that refugees face significant constraints toward accessing productive employment such as low skill levels, language barriers, childcare responsibilities, remote location of camps and lack of desire to move far from camps.
To help support refugees in overcoming some of these barriers, the WBG will support a pilot program which will provide a package of services to help connect refugees to economic opportunities. A pilot program, called the Employment Promotion and Protection (EPP), targeting up to 10,000 refugees, will be delivered for a total of two years by 1-2 service providers across four refugee hosting areas (Addis Ababa, Asosa, Jijiga, and Shire). The providers will be contracted with outcome-based payments tied to placement and sustained employment (not service inputs); focusing the program on results and encouraging innovation. The package of services for each refugee will be personalized, but it is likely to entail: initial engagement and screening; goal setting; supported job search and matching; psycho-social support, including functional language and soft skills; short, demand-led vocational training or business planning; assistance with legal requirements; relocation support, settling-in allowances or the purchase of tools, and particularly intensive early in-work support. The service providers will be procured by the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) and pilot implementation lies with the GoE, specifically, the program coordination unit (PCU) established at EIC to coordinate EOP activities and EPP implementation, among other duties.
The EPP pilot program is supported by WBG staff led by Task Team Leader (TTL) Victoria Strokova, Senior Economist with the Social Protection & Jobs Global Practice (collectively “project team”).
The EPP pilot will be accompanied by a comprehensive impact evaluation (IE) that aims to understand program effects on beneficiaries and host communities. This IE is led by two external academic principal investigators (PIs) and supported by the World Bank team (collectively “Research Team”).
The primary objective of this consultancy (position) is to support the EPP pilot program and its IE through a combination of planning, coordination, outreach, and research support. This would require close coordination with the Government of Ethiopia, development partners, other stakeholders, the project team, and the research team.
Because the IE is tightly integrated into the broader EPP pilot program, this position involves a unique combination of operational work and academic field research. We are looking for a creative self-starter who is looking to gain extensive hands-on experience in program management and research in an extremely dynamic environment. This position is well-suited for individuals looking to pursue a professional career in international development and/or advanced studies in economics, political science, public policy, public health, or related fields.
Start date is as soon as possible, with some flexibility over the next 2 months. The successful candidate will be offered a World Bank short-term consultancy (STC) contract for up to 90 days, with the possibility of extension based on candidate interest, performance, and business need. The position is likely to start as part-time and potentially evolve into full-time when the field work commences.
This position is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with frequent travel to refugee hosting areas in Asosa, Jijiga, and Shire, which are part of the EPP pilot. The successful candidate will need to undergo a comprehensive safety and security training by World Bank Group Corporate Security. The World Bank will cover one round-trip, economy class ticket from their current location to Ethiopia, if needed. Consultants are responsible for all other expenses during their time in Ethiopia. The cost of local travel for business purposes will be covered as well following World Bank travel reimbursement policies.
The Consultant is expected to have the following responsibilities:
The consultant will report directly to the TTL Victoria Strokova (WBG SPJ GP) and to the two academic PIs Thomas Ginn (Center for Global Development) and Christian Meyer (University of Oxford).