Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org

The Junior Professionals Associate Program (JPA) offers an exceptional opportunity for recent graduates to embark on a professional journey, providing a three-year contract with valuable work experience within a diverse and dynamic environment and the potential of field work experience. The program is an excellent platform to sharpen your existing skills and to develop new ones, all while gaining a profound understanding of the challenges associated with reducing poverty and fostering shared prosperity on a livable planet.

We will provide you with the opportunity to gain entry-level professional experience in a premier development institution, on an Extended Term Consultant (ETC) contract with benefits. For more information, please visit www.worldbank.org/careers/jpa

The following are minimum requirements to be eligible for the JPA program:

• Be 32 years of age or younger

• Hold a bachelor’s degree

• Be fluent in English

The JPA program at the World Bank is a highly competitive initiative. Candidates who are being actively considered for positions may be required to present academic transcripts and professional references. The World Bank’s Human Resources team and hiring team will reach out exclusively to individuals selected for assessment and interviews.

Positions may be in any of the World Bank’s offices worldwide.

The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region of the World Bank is highly diverse, with countries of all income levels and wide differences in resource endowments, human capital, and institutional capacity. ECA has a strong lending pipeline as well as a large and growing portfolio of Reimbursable Advisory Services. Knowledge is critical to the World Bank’s value proposition to client countries in the ECA region in both lending and advisory services.

The Social Protection and Jobs (SPJ) Global Practice is one of 16 Global Practices (GPs) in the World Bank. The World Bank is the largest provider of development finance and solutions for social protection and jobs, working with high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries to develop country-tailored solutions for specific social protection and jobs challenges. These range from increasing the efficiency and effectiveness with which public resources toward social programs are spent (via sound policy reforms and programs in relation to social assistance, social insurance, social services, and integrated social protection systems), to improving employment outcomes through labor market policy reforms and programs, often targeted at the poor and vulnerable, youth, or women.

In 2018 the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policies (MoLSP) requested the World Bank’s assistance through a programmatic Partnership Agreement for Advisory Services (PAAS) activity to support the homogenous implementation of a poverty reduction program across the country. In particular, the PAAS has the objective of contributing to the Government of Italy’s capacity to implement the program according to minimum common service standards. This will be achieved by providing technical assistance to the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MoLSP), Italian regions and municipalities. Activities at the national level include support to training, communities of practices, the development of a case management system (Gestionale Patto per l’Inclusione Sociale or GePI) and monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation activities include an impact evaluation (randomized controlled trial, RCT), which started in April 2024. The objective of the RCT is to evaluate the value added of process of social inclusion measures over and above the income transfer. The social inclusion program is a multi-step personalized program whereby a case manager is matched to the RDC beneficiary households, activates a personalized plan to match the household and its participants to tailored social services available in the cluster.

The World Bank is the partner of choice for countries across the region on topics of social assistance given our institutional knowledge, reputation for sound unbiased technical assistance, and lending instruments to assist with implementation of reforms and administrative changes. The ECA SPJ team is looking for a JPA to assist teams with analytical and operational tasks on the Italian RAS program.

The ECA Social Protection and Jobs unit is seeking a Junior Professional Associate (JPA) capable of supporting a high-quality engagement on monitoring and evaluation of the national measure to fight poverty and its integration with social services. This expected engagement comprises research, analytical activities, policy writing and support to knowledge generation and sharing, primarily related to monitoring and evaluation design, data administration and analysis. Additionally, the selected candidate should be capable of using World Bank’s tools for monitoring and evaluation of public policies. The assignment will entail direct engagement with the Italy’s Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, working within World Bank task or project teams, at times in close cooperation with other international development partners and external stakeholders, as well as with other global practices and other parts of the World Bank.

Key responsibilities in this position would include:

• Support the implementation of the Monitoring and Evaluation components, with a focus on monitoring and knowledge generation on the effectiveness of the Italy GMI implementation.

• Lead research on social services and poverty reduction program in Italy, including definition of indicators, methodologies for data analysis and writing of technical reports.

• Clean administrative datasets and prepare well-documented and reproductible Stata do files, providing daily coordination between the WB team and the MoLPS team to standardize procedures and datasets.

• Create indicators for analysis.

• Create tables, graphs, and maps to visualize the indicators and the analysis results.

• Manage databases, integrating various data sources. This may require programming matching algorithms and performing manual matching.

• Transform Stata outputs in user-friendly documents and presentations for different audiences.

• Support the process evaluations of the program and delivery of recommendations to the Ministry.

• Carry out presentations to counterparts and contribute to training on case management as needed and other activities in support to the implementation of the poverty reduction program.

The selected candidate will report to the project’s Task Team Leader, working in close coordination with the whole Italy GMI project team.

• Academic Qualification and Experience: A minimum of a master’s degree in economics or a related discipline with at least five years of relevant professional experience, with at least four years of professional experience in social protection and jobs. Previous experience and knowledge of the Italian poverty reduction program.

• Conceptual and Analytical Skills: Experience and expertise in (i) managing large administrative databases including knowledge of the Italian Minimum Income program beneficiary database, (ii) perform solid econometric analysis and (iii) monitoring and evaluation of public policies.

• Software expertise: advanced use of Stata is a requirement. Familiarity with other statistical software is an asset.

• Communication Skills and Teamwork: (a) Excellent verbal and writing skills in English and Italian; (b) ability to deal sensitively in multicultural environments and work in a team environment; (c) ability to operate independently with minimal direct supervision and support; (d) ability to work effectively and independently as a team member and as a leader, including in multi-sectoral teams; (e) ability to share and disseminate relevant information with colleagues, clients, and managers; and (f) ability to interact effectively with a range of stakeholders within and outside the World Bank, with a strong client orientation.

• Knowledge and Experience in Development: Ability to understand the Italian policymaking process and distill operationally relevant recommendations and lessons for global clients.

• Policy Dialogue Skills: Ability to identify and assess policy issues and play an active role in the dialogue with the government and/or other stakeholders.

• Other Skills: (a) Ability to develop and maintain productive, professional relationships with government counterparts, donors, civil society, and other stakeholders; (b) ability in time management, with the ability to prioritize and manage time efficiently; (c) ability to handle multiple tasks effectively, meet deadlines, manage uncertainty; (d) ability to work on flexible working hours and handle an intensive workload; and (e) ability to develop and maintain productive, professional relationships with government counterparts, donors, civil society, and other stakeholders.

• Travel: Ability to travel without restriction.

• Location: availability to work in Rome.

The World Bank continually searches for qualified individuals with a diverse set of backgrounds from around the globe. We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability. Individuals with different abilities may be provided reasonable accommodations to perform essential functions and support in receiving other workplace accommodations.