Economist, NOC

The Economist supports the Resident Coordinator and UN Country Team in advancing implementation of the Cooperation Framework, aligned with the country’s national reform agenda, the 2030 Agenda and EU accession priorities. The role involves economic and policy analysis to support SDG acceleration, economic transformation, investment and financing, and partnership development with national and international stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provides substantive support for evidence-based analysis of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including through economic and policy analysis to support the Resident Coordinator (RC) and United Nations Country Team (UNCT), particularly on SDG acceleration, EU accession reforms, economic transformation (including green and just transition, digital transformation and the future of work) and on investment and SDG financing.
• Supports the RC and UNCT in developing and strengthening partnerships with the UN system, national counterparts, including government, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), development partners, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders to advance SDG acceleration, sustainable economic transformation and SDG financing.
• Provides substantive economic analysis and support to integrated UN country-level analysis, planning and programming processes, including the Common Country Analysis (CA), United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), roadmaps, UN joint programmes, annual reports and other relevant processes, to promote SDG acceleration, advance sustainable economic transformation and strengthen approaches to investment and SDG financing.
• Contributes to knowledge generation, management and learning on SDG acceleration, economic transformation and SDG financing, supporting a shared understanding within the UNCT of sustainable development trends, challenges, opportunities and emerging policy issues in the country.
• Conducts economic, fiscal, financial, social and sustainable development analysis, including emerging trends and good practices related to economic transformation, green and just transition, digital transformation, the future of work, investment and SDG financing in support of SDGs and national priorities, i.e the National Reform Agenda and European integration agenda with due consideration to gender equality and leave no one behind and leads integrated, cross-pillar policy engagement on behalf of the Resident Coordinator Office.
• Supports implementation and localization of global/corporate guidelines, tools and other materials related to economic transformation and SDG financing, including methodologies and tools related to integrated SDG analysis, strategic foresight, data-driven decision-making, digital transformation and innovation in close collaboration with the Regional Office and the SDG Coordination, Policy and Programme Division.
• Provides substantive inputs to analysis and briefing materials on economic transformation and SDG financing, including integrated SDG analysis, strategic foresight, data-driven decision-making, digital transformation and innovation.
• Supports the identification and analysis of entry points for integrated UN policy support related to socio and economic transformation, EU accession-related economic reforms, focusing on opportunities to promote more inclusive and sustainable economic development.
• Collects, analyzes and interprets economic and development data relevant to UN country-level operations, identifies trends and gaps and proposes follow-up actions to strengthen evidence-based programming and decision-making.
• Prepares substantive inputs to policy papers, analytical notes, briefing materials, reports and other knowledge products on economic transformation, macroeconomic trends, investment, SDG financing, providing evidence-based recommendations relevant to implementation of the UNSDCF, Montenegro’s Reform Agenda and EU integration reforms.
• Monitors national, regional and global economic developments and analyzes their potential implications for sustainable development and achievement of the SDGs at the country level.
• Conducts analysis on the role of the private sector in sustainable economic transformation and SDG financing and identifies potential opportunities for partnerships, innovation and blended financing approaches.
• Research and analyze emerging and innovative approaches to SDG financing, including initiatives developed by the United Nations, International Financial Institutions and other development partners.
• Prepares inputs for briefing notes, talking points and background materials for the RC and UNCT on economic transformation, macroeconomic developments and SDG financing.
• Supports UNCT initiatives related to investments, SDG financing, including Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) and follow-up to Sevilla Commitments, public finance and financing strategies, opportunities to leverage blended finance, private sector financing, impact investment, guarantees and other innovative financing instruments to accelerate implementation of the SDGs and national priorities, EU and Reforms as applicable.
• Provides economic analysis and substantive inputs to humanitarian-development-peace nexus approaches, as relevant to the country context.
• Supports the RC and UNCT's engagement with government counterparts, United Nations entities, International Financial Institutions (IFIs), development partners, the private sector, academia, think tanks and civil society on issues related to economic transformation, investment and SDG financing.
• Support the Resident Coordinator Office's technical engagement with the Ministries of Finance, Economy, National Central Bank, International Financial Institutions and other multilateral development banks and the private sector on macroeconomic reforms, EU accession-related economic reforms, investment, innovative financing and financing for development to support implementation of the Cooperation Framework and achievement of the Agenda 2030.Leads working-level collaboration and exchanges with economists across the UN system and other relevant institutions to facilitate information-sharing, policy coherence and joint analytical work.
• In close collaboration with relevant RCO colleagues, supports engagement with national planning, economic and finance institutions, IFIs, private sector actors and other partners to identify areas for collaboration on sustainable economic transformation, EU accession related reforms, and SDG financing.
• Monitors analytical work, policy developments, financing initiatives and capacity-development support provided by development partners and identifies opportunities for collaboration with the UNCT.
• Supports engagement with private sector and civil society stakeholders to identify potential contributions to sustainable economic transformation and catalytic financing opportunities for achievement of the SDGs.
• Facilitates engagement, as appropriate, with data communities, innovation ecosystems, academic institutions, digital actors and foresight networks to strengthen analytical capacity and support the application of UN 2.0 capabilities in the country context.
• Contributes economic and financing analysis to the development and implementation of the Common Country Analysis (CCA), United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), joint programmes, annual reports and other elements of the UN sustainable development programming cycle.
• Supports the preparation of macroeconomic, fiscal, socioeconomic and SDG financing analysis including financing gap assessments, investment diagnostics and debt sustainability analysis, for the CA and other analytical exercises, applying an integrated approach and drawing, where relevant, on data, digitalization, innovation and strategic foresight.
• Identifies economic trends, policy issues and emerging development challenges and provides substantive inputs and recommendations to support UNCT programming and integrated policy responses.
• Contributes to the development, implementation, monitoring and review of the UNCF, with particular attention to economic transformation, macroeconomic trends and SDG financing.
• Provides substantive support to the development of UN joint programmes related to economic transformation and SDG financing, including programmes supported by the Joint SDG Fund, as applicable.
• Supports UNCT Results Groups and other coordination mechanisms by providing economic analysis and substantive inputs relevant to the implementation of joint workplans and sustainable development priorities.
• Researches and proposes options to strengthen UN support to national and multi-stakeholder processes related to economic policy, financing and capacity development, including the use of data, digital technologies, innovation and foresight for sustainable development and prepares analytical inputs for high-level engagement with institutions, including government and others.
• Contributes to knowledge management on economic transformation, macroeconomic trends and SDG financing to strengthen the UNCT's shared understanding of sustainable development challenges and opportunities.
• Participates in local, regional and global communities of practice and knowledge networks, including the UN Economist Network, and facilitates the exchange of relevant research, good practices and lessons learned.
• Researches and analyzes good practices and lessons learned from UN policy initiatives and programmes related to economic transformation and identifies their relevance to the country context.
• Monitors macroeconomic and fiscal trends, public expenditure patterns, debt sustainability and fiscal space, and assesses their implications for Cooperation Framework implementation and SDG acceleration.
• Keeps abreast of emerging economic research, policy developments, analytical methodologies and innovative approaches relevant to sustainable development and proposes their application, as appropriate, to the work of the RCO and UNCT.
• Documents lessons learned and knowledge generated through analytical and programme-support activities and contributes to their dissemination within the Resident Coordinator system and UN Country Team.
• Supports knowledge-sharing and learning activities that promote the use of data, digitalization, innovation and foresight to strengthen sustainable development analysis and programming.
• Promotes innovative analytical methods, digital tools and data-driven approaches to strengthen policy coherence and decision-making.
• Collects, documents and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through reports and data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.
• Ensures that requirements, background information used for data analysis are documented.
• Perform other related tasks as assigned.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent degree) in Economics is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is an advantage.
• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in economic research and analysis, macroeconomic or socioeconomic policy, applied economics, development economics, or a related area in the context of development cooperation is required.
• Experience in conducting economic and/or policy analysis and translating development trends and data into policy options, recommendations or other analytical products is required.
• Experience in SDG financing, development finance, public finance and/or innovative financing approaches is desirable.
• Experience in supporting strategic planning, policy development or financing solutions with government institutions and/or other development partners is desirable.
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders, including government, the private sector, civil society, academia and/or development partners, in support of sustainable development priorities is desirable.
• Experience in applying inclusive approaches that take into consideration gender equality, youth, persons with disabilities and/or leave no one behind principles in economic analysis, policy or development programming is desirable.
• Experience in supporting partnerships and/or resource mobilization initiatives is desirable.

Skills

• Economic Research
• Macroeconomic Analysis
• Socio-Economic Policy Analysis
• Applied Economics
• Development Economics
• Economic Data Analysis
• Policy Analysis
• SDG Financing
• Development Finance
• Public Finance
• Innovative Financing
• Strategic Planning Support
• Policy Development
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Inclusive Economic Analysis
• Resource Mobilization
• Partnership Development
• Data Analytics
• Business Analytics
• Data Science

Languages

English