Analyst

Analyst Job #: req33072 Organization: World Bank Sector: Human Development Grade: GE Term Duration: 3 years 0 months Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): Spanish, French Closing Date: 5/23/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

 Description

The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges.  For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.

Background and Context:

The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG)'s mission is to improve World Bank Group (WBG) development results through excellence in evaluation. IEG is responsible for the assessment of the relevance, efficacy, and efficiency of WBG operational policies, programs and activities, and their contribution to development effectiveness. IEG's evaluations aim to enhance accountability and learning to inform the formulation of new (and course corrections of ongoing) core work of the WBG.

IEG is directly responsible for:

• Proposing strategic choices about the IEG work program after consultations with external stakeholders, the Boards, and WBG management, ensuring it is relevant and aligned with the Institutions' key strategic priorities, overall resources, and with the main development challenges affecting its member countries.

• Evaluating whether the WBG Institutions' core work is producing the expected results, including global, regional, and other programs in which the institution(s) is a participant.

• Incorporating evaluation assessments and findings into recommendations designed to help improve the development effectiveness of the WBG's core work, and their responsiveness to member countries' needs and concerns.

• Reviewing the Institutions' operational self-evaluations.

• Reporting regularly to the Boards on actions taken by the institution(s) in response to evaluation findings, and on the measures, being taken to improve the overall operations evaluation system and enhance learning, including dissemination and outreach activities.

• Identifying, disseminating, and promoting the uptake of evaluation findings and lessons to maximize contributions to the WBG's learning and knowledge framework and reinforce learning and accountability within the WBG in reference to achieving the corporate goals.

• Contributing to the international evaluation community, including knowledge-sharing with other multilateral and bilateral institution

• Encouraging and assisting member countries to build effective monitoring and evaluation partnerships, capacities, and systems.

IEG's organizational structure comprises: The Office of the Director General, Evaluation (IEGDG) which includes the Methods Advisory Function (IEGMA); the Human Development and Economic Management Department (IEGHE); the Finance, Private Sector and Sustainable Development Department (IEGSP); and the Knowledge and Communications Department (IEGKC). Through the VP and Director General of Evaluation (DGE), IEG reports directly to the Board of Executive Directors.

Human Development and Corporate Evaluation Unit (IEGHC)

Within the Human Development and Economic Management Department (IEGHE), the Human Development and Corporate Evaluation Unit (IEGHC) covers four main areas of work:

*  Evaluations and validation of self-evaluations of Human Development projects (comprising the Global Practices: Education; Health, Nutrition & Population; Social Protection & Labor; and the Gender Equality Cross-Cutting Solution Area [CCSA]); 

*  Thematic Evaluation: evaluation of the impact and effectiveness of sector and thematic strategies and programs of the WBG in the above-mentioned thematic areas; 

*  Leading on Corporate evaluation and preparation of the IEG’s Review of Results and Performance of the World Bank Group; 

*  Leading on the evaluative angle of the thematic areas related to the Human Capital Project and similar.

Duties and responsibilities

IEGHC is looking for an analyst to fulfill the responsibilities laid out below:  

The analyst will be responsible for data extraction, cleaning, exploratory and statistical analysis, structured qualitative data analysis, as well as writing and data visualization tasks in support of IEGHC products. The analyst will also collaborate closely with the IEG Methods Advisory Function team on text mining (e.g. tokenization), Natural Language Processing (LNP), Large Language Models (LLM), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), machine learning, and geospatial analysis.

Work is expected to include: 

• Contribute intellectual input to the design and implementation of evaluations, grounded in sound evaluation principles and methodologies.  Contribute to the development of conceptual frameworks and assist in formulating and testing hypotheses.

• Extract operational and corporate data from World Bank and/or IFC internal information systems, including IEG DataHub, Data Explorer, Data Studio, Standard Reports, Imagebank, and other relevant IFC systems. 

• Extract data on various macroeconomic and/or sectoral indicators from internal or external database and repositories.

• Design analytical protocols and develop codebooks to support portfolio identification, portfolio analysis, and other evaluative activities.

• Portfolio identification: in consultation with evaluation team, use the evaluation questions and conceptual framework to design and implement data extraction queries to identify operations relevant to the evaluation.

• Portfolio review: collect, manage, and process data and documents related to evaluation questions.  This may include coding of narrative data, such as interviews or project documents, using various qualitative techniques to generate final datasets suitable for analysis.

• Portfolio analysis: develop visualizations (e.g., tables, charts, maps, dashboards) to present descriptive statistics, explore analytical questions, and communicate findings effectively. Create clear and compelling graphs and diagrams to summarize quantitative evidence, accompanied by concise explanatory text, as needed. Propose and conduct more systematic analyses, including econometric methods or other relevant approaches, using coded portfolio data and external data to address evaluation questions 

• Geotagging: collect and prepare data on projects’ implementation locations from internal operations data systems for geospatial analysis of portfolio. For operations with missing geolocation data, extract relevant information from project documents.

• Collaborate with the IEG Methods Advisory Function team to develop and apply data science techniques for portfolio identification, review, and analysis. This includes geospatial analysis, text mining, supervised text classification, text clustering/topic modeling, as well as the use of generative AI models.

• Participate in and contribute to knowledge sharing and learning activities of the Data Science & Statistics Community.

• Prepare and present data visualizations, dashboards, and PowerPoint presentations to effectively communicate evaluation findings and other insights for 
IEG products.

• Prepare evaluation portfolio data packages based on the IEG data package requirements.

• Participate in brainstorming meetings with TTLs and other team members.

• Contribute to case study analysis. 

• Contribute to the drafting and editing of reports and communication materials.

• Write appendix(es) or background papers to report on analysis.

• Write summaries, sections, or paragraphs for main report.

• Proofread and enter text edits in report documents as needed.

• Draft text for blog posts and similar online outreach.

• Respond to data and information requests from other IEG teams, World Bank Group units, and other global institutions (e.g. multilateral development banks) if needed.

• Orient new team members to tasks, datasets, documents, and other information as needed.

• Contribute to the dissemination of findings by preparing message-driven PowerPoint presentations, blogs, and other materials, supported by both quantitative and qualitative data and evidence.

• Other tasks as agreed with Task Team Leader or Manager.

Selection Criteria

Essential skills and technical knowledge:

• Proficiency in general programming languages such as Python, with a broad understanding of relevant libraries/packages and experience working with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Basic knowledge of SQL is required, while use of R or Stata is a plus. 

• Proficiency in data visualization is essential, with expertise in tools such as Tableau and PowerBI for creating visualizations and developing interactive dashboards. 

• Excellent command of Excel. 

• Knowledge of advanced statistical and econometric modeling techniques.

• Experience in conducting research analysis in the human development sectors.

Desirable skills and technical knowledge:

• Experience working with World Bank, IFC, MIGA and/or other MDB’s operations data. Working knowledge of World Bank, IFC, MIGA instruments and project life cycles and milestones, and operations policies and procedures. Experience in working with World Bank Group internal data systems (IEG DataHub, Data Explorer, Data Studio, Standard Reports, Imagebank, and similar IFC systems).

• Knowledge of additional programming languages such as JavaScript and C/C++ is desirable.

• Experience in web scraping is a plus.

• Knowledge of causal inference techniques and counterfactual analysis (Randomized Control Trials, quasi-experimental techniques, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), other case-based analysis, cost benefit and cost effectiveness analysis, computer assisted qualitative data analysis and financial analysis).

• Understanding of the main concepts in development evaluation (e.g. theory of change, results frameworks, process evaluations, summative evaluations, etc.).

• Experience working with cross-country human development sectoral and macroeconomic data, and knowledge of relevant databases (e.g., DHS, UNESCO, OECD, WDI, WEO, WGI, HMIE, EIU, Datastream, and Bloomberg). 

• Strong understanding of the data life cycle, the dimensions of data quality, reproducible research practices, data protection, and Open Science.  

General Competencies

• Strong analytical and conceptual skills demonstrated by relevant experience and results.

• Ability to work flexibly and quickly, sometimes under tight deadlines, on a range of tasks, being able to adjust to evolving priorities.

• Excellent written and oral English communications skills and ability to quickly draft and prepare technical reports for the review of more senior colleagues.

• Strong interpersonal communication and listening skills, and awareness of one’s own assumptions and biases.

• Ability to work respectfully and constructively in a team-oriented, multi-cultural environment that values diversity.

• Resourcefulness, creativity, and ability to request information clearly and diplomatically.

• Ability to work efficiently and independently with little supervision, as well as ability to work constructively under supervision.

Minimum Education / Experience 

• Master’s degree in social sciences with a quantitative focus such as economics, sociology, political science, public policy, or related field. Bachelors’ degree in quantitative field such as statistics, mathematics, or engineering is a plus.

• Three (3) years of work experience in international development operations, research, evaluation, data management, or data analysis.

**This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/ temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.**

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.