Country Economist (Senior) Specialist

Country Economist (Senior) Specialist

Location: Belize

The IDB Group is a community of diverse, versatile, and passionate people who come together on a journey to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our people find purpose and do what they love in an inclusive, collaborative, agile, and rewarding environment.

About this position

We are looking for an experienced Economist to join our team in the Country Office of Belize. As a Country Economist, you will develop a wide range of functions that contribute to the country's economic growth and social development, providing economic monitoring and analysis of development needs and results within the context of the IDB's mandate.

You will be a member of the Country Team who reports directly to the Regional Economic Advisor (REA), working closely with the IDB Representative in Belize, under the Country Department for Central America, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, and Dominican Republic (CID), which is responsible for promoting and developing the Bank’s country strategies and programming in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.

What you’ll do:

Dialogue with the country

• Analyze and monitors Belize's macroeconomic development by raising knowledge for the Bank and supporting the identification of risks and opportunities. Keeps up to date with the main problems at the microeconomic level that inhibit the functioning of certain markets/sectors (labor market, banking sector).
• Keep up to date with the country’s main social trends, such as poverty, internal migration, urbanization, political economy, etc.
• Identify research topics for the Bank's Country Development Challenges (CDC), Country Strategy, and the design and implementation of the Bank's program in the country. Identify critical areas for the Bank's dialogue with the country and the agenda needed to sustain this dialogue.
• Coordinate the evaluation, preparation, and monitoring of progress and results of the Country Strategy. Articulate and participates in the dialogue with counterparts (MEF, Central Bank) on policies and reforms in strategic areas identified by the Representative; support dialogue with the private sector and other relevant counterparts.
• Provide technical support to relevant counterparts in different areas, as required and supported by the Country Representative.
• Keep abreast of the activities of other multilateral agencies and donor in the country and support coordination with them.

  Knowledge management

  • Generate knowledge that provides growth solutions for the country and the region.
  • Identify the needs of the Country and the Counterparts in economic terms, including sectoral issues. Keep updated on the trend of the country, the opinion of authorities and other institutions.
  • Develop and coordinates a program for the generation, improvement, and dissemination of knowledge for the country.
  • Identify best practices and knowledge products relevant to the IDB internal and external to the IDB. Provide country-level knowledge inputs to other sectors of the Bank.
  • Participate in economic forums to contribute and capture knowledge on factors affecting countries and maintain external networks to access and expand knowledge.
  • Accompany sectoral specialists to put into context studies coordinated by them, ensuring that policy recommendations or sectoral and multisectoral actions reflect the country's reality.
  • Design an annual work plan on the country's economic issues aligned with the region's plan.
  • Remain up-to-date on of generating knowledge from other relevant institutions in the country and externally.

    Internal corporate management

    • Represent the Bank in discussions that address institutional initiatives at the strategic level.
    • Contribute to the local vision of transversal regional initiatives.
    • Prepare inputs for periodic reports and reports on the economic, political, and social situation in the country.
    • Manage the relevant activities of the country's work plan with the Coordinator.

      Programming

      • Prepare the documents for the institution's macroeconomic safeguards and coordinates with the REA on the approval process.
      • Support in the identification of operational risks and opportunities.
      • Participate and provide strategic and analytical inputs for programming dialogues.
      • Support country programming processes and their alignment with the Country Strategy.
      • Ensure the consistency of operations with the country's challenges and the logic of intervention based on the available information about the country.

        Design and Execution

        • Review the viability and alignment of lending operations and technical cooperation with the bank's program priorities in the country.
        • Participate in the project cycle of the operations, contributing to the quality of the projects, central and/or strategic issues, and the results matrix schemes.
        • Analyze trends in lessons learned in the economic, social, and political/institutional areas at the close of operations.

          What you’ll need

          • Education: a master’degree in Economics, International Development, or Public Policy. Ph.D. is preferred.