Post of Duty: Washington, DC
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
The Infrastructure and Energy Sector (INE) is responsible for conceptualizing, preparing, supporting execution, and supervises the IDBโs operations related to energy, transport, and water and sanitation. Its functions include preparing the Bank sector policies, strategies, operational guidelines and programs in infrastructure and energy; conducting relevant research and analytical work, best practices, and case studies in the sector; and provides specialized sectoral technical support to activities and operations in borrowing member countries. The sector works with the country departments to design and execute country and regional financial and non-financial programs and projects and evaluates the development results of such interventions. It also performs quality enhancement functions for social development projects and programs, including guiding, designing, and preparing Bank productsโ execution, and analysis and mitigation of risks. INE is divided in the Energy Division (INE/ENE), the Transport Division (INE/TSP), and the Water and Sanitation Division (INE/WSA).
The Knowledge Team of INE leads the identification and development of groundbreaking analytical work and research products using robust theoretical and empirical tools to inform policy design and decision making in infrastructure.
Energy, transportation, water and sanitation are vital to economic and social development and key in the fight against climate change. Infrastructure services are critical inputs for production and business supply chains since the quality and/or lack of these services directly influence the cost structure and competitiveness of the productive ecosystem.
Latin America and the Caribbean faces the challenge of achieving universal access to quality, affordable, and sustainable services to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. The region needs to drive sustainable and inclusive development effectively. This requires boosting investment by attracting more resources to infrastructure while improving funding and financing, especially private financing, innovation and efficiency. However, Latin America and the Caribbean not only needs to invest more in infrastructure, but it also needs to invest better. To this end, the region must prioritize the adoption of a wide range of policies to improve how infrastructure investment is made. Policy reforms that guide infrastructure investment should be considered a key element of a new social compact. Regulatory and institutional frameworks that foster efficiency in the provision of services and promote competition, including infrastructure planning, to ensure that it is carried out with technical criteria and to achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives. Likewise, legal stability generates confidence and attracts private investment and policies aimed at introducing incentives for innovation by utilities (or service providers) and consumers. All these actions are necessary to expand the quantity and quality of the region's assets, but they must also be accompanied by reforms in infrastructure governance, promoting a regulatory framework with institutions that use modern regulatory instruments fairly and transparently to ensure the provision of sustainable infrastructure services
Within this context, INE aims to develop new knowledge products and technical assistance programs for LAC countries. The knowledge products produced will inform, guide, and offer a menu of policy recommendations to policymakers, and active participants in the infrastructure and energy markets, including consumers, utilities, and regulators.
You will work with a team in the INE sector under the supervision of Tomas Serebrisky (INE/INE)
What youโll do:
(The candidate is expected to support the knowledge and analytical agenda of the sector in the following areas:
- Provide support in designing, preparing, and delivering key research products, reports, and policy brief notes (potentially as a co-author).
- Conduct research and help grow the knowledge agenda of the sector, including developing methodological notes.
- Identify, compile, and organize databases.
- Perform econometric and statistical analyses.
- Design and support the implementation of surveys and economic experiments.
- Analyze information from a diverse set of structured and unstructured data to derive meaningful insights and communicate findings using visualization and other means.
- Prepare literature reviews.
- Write papers, with quality standards compatible with publication in peer reviewed journals.
- Synthesize and translate research into implications for policy and best practices to promote data-driven decision making.
- Coordinate calls for proposals for infrastructure and energy studies, prepare Terms of References and contract packages, and firm evaluations performance.
- Provide operational management assistance to research and data projects, supervise knowledge project implementation, and follow up, and perform quality control on deliverables.
- Support the elaboration of ad-hoc analysis on infrastructure and energy issues.
- Other activities as deemed necessary.
What you'll need:
ยท Education: Masterโs degree or Ph.D. in Economics (with strong quantitative background), in an accredited university.
ยท Experience: Five to nine years of relevant experience in conducting research on infrastructure economics using robust theoretical and empirical tools. Previous experience working with household surveys and/or firm level data is essential.
ยท Languages: Advanced writing and speaking of English is required. Proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese is highly desirable.
Key skills:
ยท Strong background in econometrics and statistics.
ยท Proven programming skills in Stata. Knowledge of other program languages like Python, R, and ArcGIS/QGis is a strong plus.
ยท Interest in research, ability to work independently, and to participate in research teams.
ยท Excellent writing skills focused on research protocols, research papers and descriptive reports for diverse audience.
ยท Flexibility and adaptability, in particular, willingness to learn new skills.
ยท Excellent interpersonal skills.
Requirements:
ยท Citizenship: You are a citizen of one of our 48-member countries.
ยท Consanguinity: You have no family members (up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and second degree of affinity, including spouse) working at the IDB, IDB Invest, or IDB Lab.
Type of contract and duration:
ยท Type of contract: International Consultant Full-Time.
ยท Length of contract: 12 months, with the possibility of extension of up to 36 months based on performance.
What we offer:
The IDB group provides benefits that respond to the different needs and moments of an employeeโs life. These benefits include:
ยท A competitive compensation packages.
ยท Leaves and vacations: 2 days per month of contract + gender- neutral parental leave.
ยท Health Insurance: the IDB Group provides a monthly allowance for the purchase of health insurance.
ยท Savings plan: โโโโโโโThe IDB Group cares about your future, depending on the length of the contract, you will receive a monthly savings plan allowance.
ยท We offer assistance with relocation and visa applications for you and your family when it applies.
ยท Hybrid and flexible work schedules.
ยท Development support: We offer learning opportunities to boost your professional profile such as seminars, 1:1 professional counseling, and much more.
ยท Health and wellbeing: Access to our Health Services Center which provides preventive care and health education for all employees.
ยท Other perks: Lactation Room, Daycare Center, Gym, Bike Racks, Parking, and others.