Junior Professional Officer (JPO) (gn) in Economic Affairs

SupervisionTitle of Supervisor:Economic Affairs OfficerContent and methodology of supervision:Establishment of a Work Plan: During the first month of the assignment, the Junior Professional Officer (JPO) will work jointly with his/her direct supervisor to finalize an agreed upon work plan. The final work plan will be discussed and mutually agreed to by the JPO and his/her Website supervisor. Evaluation: The United Nations Performance Evaluation System (e-performance) will serve as a primary platform to evaluate the JPO’s performance.Weekly meetings with the supervisor will ensure smooth and predictable two-way feedback. In addition, the JPO will be integrated to the team and through participation in weekly section meetings. Cooperation with Trade and Environment Branch and other units working on social aspects through joint projects and regular meetings.Duties, Responsibilities and Output ExpectationsUnder the supervision of an Economic Affairs Officer and the overall guidance of the Head of the Trade Analysis Branch, the JPO will perform the following duties:Economic and/or sector analysisContributes to analysis in the areas of economic, social and environmental development. The Trade Analysis Branch is working on all sustainable development areas and their links to trade.Assesses the impact of trade and trade policy on climate change and environmental sustainability. Reviews approaches of “greening” global and regional value chains.Investigates the benefits and costs of Voluntary Sustainability Standards, particularly with regard to their impact on small and medium-sized companies and less developed countries.Maintains databases and programmes for database management and organizes trade policy information, particularly the Trade Analysis and Information System (TRAINS) Database, Global Trade Helpdesk and the World Integrated Trade Solution.Drafts studies, presentations, and policy briefs based on statistics and qualitative socio-economic information obtained from a variety of sources and pertaining to particular gender, sectors, countries/regions or development topics.Assists in the design, testing, operation and modification of econometric models, in particular on the analysis of trade regulations.Prepares briefing notes, inputs to speeches and similar material on economic or sector issues in a form that is meaningful to non-specialists.Assists in the organization and servicing of expert group meetings, seminars, etc on development issues, incorporating also a gender perspective to support achieving equality.Intergovernmental support:Prepares communication materials including social media content for research conducted in the branch. Assists in developing a communication strategy.Prepares inputs for reports to intergovernmental bodies.Follows intergovernmental meetings and prepares summary reports and similar material.Assists in the organization of panels, round tables etc on development issues for inter-governmental processes.Technical cooperation:Develops and implements projects to promote climate-smart trade-related regulations and development strategies to benefit from de-carbonization.Supports technical cooperation with the African Continental Free Trade Area, particularly in the area of non-tariff barriers identification, monitoring and elimination.Supports capacity building in developing countries to develop cost-effective trade related regulations.Monitors, backstops and assesses the implementation of technical cooperation programmes and projects.Work implies frequent interaction with the following:Staff within Section and Division; Staff throughout UNCTAD and the United Nations; Senior officials in member State missions, delegations, governments, universities, research institutions, non-governmental organizations and private sector entities. The incumbent will work in close cooperation with the UNCTAD partner organizations in the Transparency in Trade Initiative and UN Forum on Sustainability Standards (UNCTAD Trade Analysis Branch is the secretariat for UNFSS): World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank, International Trade Centre (ITC), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UN Environment Programme, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The branch works closely with OECD and European Commission on non-tariff measures data collection.