National Economist

Background

This position is National Personnel Service Agreement NPSA10 (NB5)

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – the global development network of the United Nations, works in around 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion, while protecting the planet. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results.

UNDP, through its China country office, has been working in China over the past 40 years, partnering to advance various phases of China’s development. We provide development advisory services and implement projects through innovation and applying our international experience and network in three pillars: supporting China’s transformation to a low-carbon economy for a cleaner, healthier environment for all; facilitating China’s shift to using the SDGs as a standard for its inclusive development, economic decisions and investments; and supporting China’s international cooperation and south south engagement for SDG attainment.

As the world’s second largest economy, China is increasingly recognized as a provider and financier for innovative solutions for global development challenges, which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) attempt to address in the coming decade. While China aims to promote common prosperity globally, it strives to achieve sustainable development domestically in the ever-inter-connected world. Building on China’s achievements since the reform and opening up period, UNDP stands to continue supporting China in realizing inclusive, innovative and green growth, as well as deliver development dividends at the global level.

UNDP China is recruiting a National Economist to lead the economic and analytical policy work of the country office. In contribution to UNDP's support to China in addressing its development challenges and global cooperation, and under the overall guidance of the Deputy Resident Representative and the International Development Economist, the National Economist will formulate and manage policy studies, produce independent policy research including conducting national level analytics, and organize high-level events on key social-economic and environmental issues.
Duties and Responsibilities

The National Economist will be a key member of the Economic and Policy team and work closely with colleagues across the office on a diverse set of areas, such as poverty reduction, inequality, low carbon and just transition, sustainable development financing and development effectiveness. She/he will also support, where relevant, colleagues from programme teams to help them understand the policy context in which their programmes are operating and extracting policy insights when possible.

The National Economist will advocate for and represent UNDP in his/her area of expertise as requested. He/she will provide substantive support to senior management and will be expected to contribute to office-wide and regional activities.

Summary of Key Functions:

Research:

Lead and manage policy research projects on key socioeconomic and environmental issues, in particular poverty reduction and inclusive growth, development finance (including green finance), development effectiveness, low-carbon transition, among others.
Initiate and support the preparation and dissemination of briefs, talking points, and other documents as required by senior management, UNDP Headquarters, UN agencies and other stakeholders on key development issues.
As a key member of the research team, provide relevant assistance to other teams within the office to generate high-quality products and help project team to transfer relevant experiences into policy research.
Provide quality control on knowledge products of the office as assigned by the Research Committee.
Contribute to the gender-mainstreaming in research and analysis, as well as the formulation of policies, programme interventions, procedures, guidelines and tools of the Research and Policy team.

Advisory role:

Provide timely, substantive and strategic advisory support to senior management and other team leaders through monitoring, collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, policy trends and other research findings in China, as well as global socioeconomic and environmental issues as relevant.
Based on development context and policy priorities in China, assist the strategic positioning of the office with the support of the Research and Policy team and support the creation of large-scale development solutions to help address complex development challenges.
Assit the International Economist in the Research Committee work; coordinate and support the Policy Solution Network to strengthen the office-wide research capacity.

Partnership and people management:

Supervise and guide the work of policy consultants and researcher officers.
Maintain and extend UNDP’s network of key stakeholders and experts, among which influential economic and development policy-makers and thinkers in China and abroad, within the field of economics and sustainable development.
Facilitate the expansion of UNDP’s portfolio on international development cooperation, development effectiveness, SDG financing, and low carbon transition.
In close consultation with relevant stakeholders, and in alignment with the office’s strategy and priorities, identify opportunities for collaborative work and help initiate new projects, actively contributing to the overall office efforts in resource mobilization.
Advocate for and represent UNDP at external meetings and through external communications, where requested.
Contribute to regional analytical work and other activities; participate in the regional network of economists.
Contribute to the organization of high-level international conferences and workshops and other relevant office-wide activities.

Competencies

Required skills and competencies

Leadership (Ability to persuade others to follow)

Plans and acts transparently, actively works to removes barriers
· Creates awareness of substantive opportunities and risks among others
· Navigates complex circumstances thoughtfully and is solution-minded

Communication and Relationship Management (Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform)

Gains trust of peers, partners, clients by presenting complex concepts in practical terms to others
· Persuades others to embrace new ideas, even when controversial
· Empathizes with client perspectives and needs and communicates messages with the clients’ experiences in mind
· Creates opportunities for developing new client relationships

Innovation (Ability to make new and useful ideas work)

Creates new and relevant ideas and leads others to implement them
· Integrates diverse contributions to formulate coherent approaches
· Aligns innovation to service delivery components
· Manages prototype / pilot efforts and seeks feedback

People Management (Ability to improve performance and satisfaction)

Models high professional standards and motivates excellence in others
· Coaches team members to appropriately share knowledge across teams
· Addresses conflicts in a timely, sensitive manner; escalates to leadership when appropriate
· Recognizes members of the team for their efforts and successes
· Optimizes individual and team abilities

Delivery (Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement)

Critically assesses value and relevance of existing policy / practice and contributes to enhanced delivery of products, services, and innovative solutions
· Anticipates constraints and identifies solutions
· Expands capacity of team to deliver on time, on target, and within organizational standards
· Ensures high quality of work in terms of both substantive depth and adaptive relevance
to client needs
· Accepts responsibility for implementation / team deliverables / client satisfaction
consistent with organizational standards
· Exhibits thorough organizational awareness of UNDP’s approach to client service delivery and integrity and accountability
· Exhibits sound judgment and the ability to make reasonable decisions in complex situations

and continuous improvement in professional area of expertise

Desired additional skills and competencies

Relevant working experience at UN or other international organization will be an asset

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Economics, Political Sciences, or related disciplines. Ph.D. is an advantage

Min. years of relevant Work experience

5 years of progressively responsible policy research and analysis experience is required at the national or international level.

Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Publisher, Excel, STATA, etc) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Fluency in English and Mandarin Chinese in both writing and speaking.