The UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia (RBEC) works in 18 countries and a territory across the Western Balkans, Caucasus, Western CIS, Central Asia, and Türkiye. RBEC consists of 17 Country Offices; there is also an Office in Kosovo (UN Security Council 1244/1999), and one Project Management Offices (PMO) located in Cyprus. RBEC HQ is in New York, USA, while RBEC’s Regional Hub for Europe and Central Asia – Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH) – is in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Under the direct supervision of the RBEC Regional Hub Manager in Istanbul and with a secondary line to the Director of the Inclusive Growth Team in BPPS in New York, the Chief Economist will lead the Istanbul-based Inclusive Growth (IG) Team and work closely with the SDG Finance Team to lead the implementation of RBEC substantive engagements on economic policy and inclusive growth to build partnerships and unlock technical and financial resources to deliver on UNDP’s strategic offer in Europe and Central Asia.

The incumbent will also work closely with the other IRH-based teams and the wider Global Policy Network, focusing on integrated solutions that tackle inequality of opportunities and advance sustainable human development to achieve prosperity for all.  Such solutions relating to this function include: (i) Developing new poverty and inequality metrics and tools; (ii) Expanding and improving social protection, including promoting the care economy, focusing on the most vulnerable first; (iii) Protecting and enhancing the productivity and resilience of informal workers and informal enterprises; (iv) Supporting national counterparts to harness and shape the future of work opportunities.

The Chief Economist will lead the production of flagship knowledge products (e.g. Regional Human Development Reports), steer high-level policy dialogues, advise the senior management on the implications of significant policy developments in the region, provide high-level technical advice to country offices, and nurture relationships with prominent thinkers, think tanks, international financial institutions (IFIs), and other key partners.

In doing so, the incumbent provides intellectual leadership and expertise to support UNDP’s positioning, in particular on Signature Solution 1 of the UNDP Strategic Plan (Poverty and Inequality), and in communicating UNDP’s value proposition to countries and other stakeholders in the region. S/he will lead the substantive engagements with traditional and emerging partners, with a special focus on frontier issues, as well as leverage external relations and lead advocacy efforts for programs led by RBEC and BPPS. This will in turn be supported by the partnerships team, in collaboration with the broader Istanbul Regional Hub.  The incumbent will engage regularly with the UN and with other multilateral and bilateral partners, including the International Financial Institutions, to develop strategic alliances.

As a member of the RBEC Senior Management Team, provide updates and information related to economic trends in the region, thereby elevating priority issues for attention, problem solving, risk management; and contributing to Bureau strategic planning and prioritization, including as related to new opportunities and contributions to regional priorities and the UNDP Strategic Plan.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

• Undertake a continuous review of the economic, political, and social environment in the region, identifying and analyzing economic trends and emerging issues that may impact the region’s development, the Bureau’s programming portfolio and the strategic planning process.
• Analyze and aggregate development trends at regional level to inform the formulation UNDP’s policy advice, knowledge products and diagnostic tools.
• Analyze and advise on key areas for action on sustainable development and sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the RBEC region.

• Ensure the representation of UNDP on regional economic policy and inclusive growth issues in different fora for policy dialogue, partnership negotiations, and advocacy to position the UNDP Strategic Plan in the region.
• Create and steer high-level policy dialogue series catering to diverse constituencies with policymakers, academics, think tanks, journalists) and strengthen UNDP’s research networks.
• Develop synergies between strategic policy/positioning in inter-governmental and inter-agency fora, partnership development, and knowledge generation.
• Identify business development opportunities to enhance partnership with International Financial Institutions, Development Finance Institutions, and other financial actors, identifying potential areas of joint analysis, technical cooperation, and financing.
• Collaborate closely with the partnerships team in the IRH to ensure that engagement with partners is coordinated and effective.

• Prepare and launch flagship reports on key issues facing the region, and lead and/or provide substantive direction and guidance on major publications, including the regional Human Development Report, and guidance to Country Offices, the Regional Bureau Director and BPS including national Human Development Reports and other strategic country-level knowledge products.
• Lead the production and quality assurance process of knowledge products (regional reports, joint analyses, policy papers) on aspects of economic policy reflecting the heterogenous development stages of countries in the region.
• Contribute actively to strategic documents, concept papers, and messages on development solutions and the SDGs in the region, in consultation with UNDP leadership across the region.
• Maintain an active roster of world-class academics, researchers, and policymakers for periodic engagement and consultations.
• Foster a culture of evidence-based policymaking on inter-disciplinary topics, including through online and in-person capacity building orientations.

Knowledge management and community of practice networking

• Represent RBEC on the Editorial Board and support the elevation of key regional and CO policy papers for UNDP.
• Oversee, influence, and promote policy dialogue in the thematic areas through cross-regional exchange of knowledge and collaboration, and synthesis of knowledge emerging from the development and implementation of programs across thematic areas.
• Provide substantive expert advice in the Community of Practice for Poverty and inequality.
• Guide and coordinates the cross-regional exchange of knowledge by collaborating with policy teams in Regional Hubs and Global Policy Centers to research, develop and share knowledge-based tools and guidance to help influence/advance policy dialogue on priorities for inclusive growth, including the reduction of inequalities, poverty eradication, and sustainable human development.
• Oversee the knowledge generation, analysis, documentation, and codification of results/lessons learned on inclusive growth, ensuring that knowledge sharing, and content management is in line with the knowledge management strategy.

Leadership and Management of the IRH Inclusive Growth Teams

• Lead the Inclusive Growth Team by establishing the business process design and its implementation for effective workflows, teamwork, and equitable distribution of workload.
• Oversee and direct the planning, resource provision, management, operations, activities, and priorities of the Team for consistently high levels of performance, efficiency, and engagement.
• With the guidance of the IRH Director, approve the annual work plan of the teams. Collaboratively set objectives, performance measurements, standards and expected results, and delivers within agreed budgets and timeframes.
• Ensure close collaboration between and within the teams and with the other RBEC teams in the IRH and New York to provide high quality, timely, and effective support to Country Offices across the region through information sharing, collaboration on initiatives, problem solving and solution-finding.
• Promote a knowledge sharing and learning culture within the Team, including through timely performance management and feedback, identification of learning and career development opportunities for team members, in line with the People 2030 Strategy.
• Ensure close coordination of policy engagements and resource mobilization/external relations activities between RBEC HQ, the Istanbul Regional Hub, and Country Offices.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Supervises IRH Inclusive Growth Team Leader.

Achieve Results:
LEVEL 4: Prioritize team workflow, mobilize resources, drive scalable results/strategic impact.

Think Innovatively:
LEVEL 4: Easily navigate complexity, encourage/enable radical innovation, have the foresight.

Learn Continuously
LEVEL 4: Create systems and processes that enable learning and development for all.

Adapt with Agility
LEVEL 4: Proactively initiate/lead organizational change, champion new systems/processes.

Act with Determination
LEVEL 4: Able to make difficult decisions in challenging situations, inspire confidence.

Engage and Partner
LEVEL 4: Construct strategic multi-partner alliances in high stake situations, foster co-creation

Enable Diversity and Inclusion
LEVEL 4: Create an ethical culture, identify/address barriers to inclusion.
UNDP People Management Competencies can be found on the dedicated site.

Business Direction & Strategy

• System Thinking

1. Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

Business Management

• Portfolio Management

1. Ability to select, prioritize and control the organization’s programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimizing return on investment.

Digital & Innovation

• Systems thinking & transformation.

1. Understand that complex problems need a non-reductionistic, holistic approach.
2. Ability to explore challenges from multiple perspectives by zooming in and out, with a focus on relationships and flows rather than individual elements; understand how certain dynamics and conditions are driving and influencing an issue.
3. Ability to develop a collective understanding of a mapping system and its dynamics (e.g. flows or resources, information; power relations); can handle ambiguity and can help others navigate it.
4. Being able to identify intervention points to leverage change and system transformation by setting out a coherent collection of multiple interventions to probe the system for desirable effects.
5. Understand that change is non-linear and unpredictable; be comfortable and able to work with emergence.

Business Management

• Communication

1. Ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and unambiguously, both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
2. Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media, and other appropriate channels.

Business Management

• Partnerships Management

1. Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts, and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.

Business Development

• Collective Intelligence Design

1. Ability to bring together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, and technology to design services or solutions.

2030 Agenda: Prosperity

• Inclusive Growth

1. Multidimensional Poverty and Human Development