Job duties and responsibilities:

The primary responsibility of the Senior Agriculture Economist will be to provide technical and strategic leadership in the development and implementation of the AGF GP’s work program in the Ghana CMU (primarily Liberia). The selected candidate will lead and contribute to the delivery of the agriculture and food program in Liberia, quality assurance and interaction with internal and external clients, as well as other development partners, while working closely with the AGF team, the AFW SD Program Leaders, and Country Management Unit in the Ghana CMU. 

The Senior Agriculture Economist will: 

Lead the preparation and supervision of operations as Task Team Leader of projects led by SAWA4 in Liberia and those projects supporting agriculture and food system related activities led by other GPs in the country. Assure timely delivery of these operations with high levels of quality.Lead or contribute to analytical products and initiate and maintain a high-level engagement and dialogue with key government counterparts on the strategic program and policy issues in areas including sustainable and climate resilient agriculture, linking smallholders to markets and agriculture value chain development to accelerate competitive agriculture development.Lead or contribute to policy dialogue on agricultural and rural development issues and interactions with the client, development and other partners, and alert management (both country and sector) to issues requiring attention.Work with the relevant Program Leaders and staff of the Agriculture GP and other GPs to find opportunities for addressing agricultural and rural development issues as part of the Systematic Country Diagnostics, Country Partnership Frameworks, country policy dialogue, sector investment operations, development policy operations, and other multi-sectoral projects.Identify innovative opportunities or ways to address existing needs in the agricultural sector, including bringing in experience from other parts of the world, and to better align the GP’s portfolio with the AFW region and CMU’s core priorities.Represent the World Bank in fora involving the community of development partners and private sector. Provide support, either explicit or implicit, to the work of the development partners in the sector. As necessary, represent the World Bank and the Agriculture GP’s management at events with sectoral focus.Mentor and coach other Agriculture GP staff in the country office.

Selection Criteria

A minimum of a Masters in Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness, Agriculture or related fields. A minimum of 8 years of relevant working experience in areas related to agriculture, agriculture economics, agribusiness, and other fields related to food systems.At least eight years of experience on agricultural development issues;Solid experience in leading complex operations, with demonstrated high quality results;Demonstrated experience in leading ASAs and dialogue with clients; Excellent interpersonal, problem-solving and team skills with ability to find balanced, pragmatic and implementable solution; Ability to work across various subject areas and multi-disciplinary teams; while being diplomatic and sensitive to cultural, political and gender issues; Proven written and oral communication skills in English, including the ability to present complex issues to specialists as well as to non-specialist audiences. French communication skills are a plus.

World Bank Group Core Competencies