E T Consultant

The World Bank Group (WBG) is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It is 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 for the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org . VPU Context: The Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) is the World Bank’s central reservoir of fresh insights into the most pressing challenges of development. It is led by the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group, who advises the President and senior managers, serves as the community leader for the WBG’s economists, and helps to keep the institution in the forefront of thinking about development policy. DEC constitutes one of the world’s largest teams of economists focused on policy solutions for developing economies. Unit Context: The Office of the World Bank Group Chief Statistician and Development Data Group (DECDG) spearheads the World Bank Group's development data agenda. It provides strategic guidance and oversight on data standards, data governance, data quality, and ways to leverage data innovations both for our institution and for our operational work and clients. Through state-of-the-art data public goods, cutting-edge innovations and research, pioneering partnerships, and globally trusted technical expertise, DECDG leads efforts to ensure development data is of high quality, accessible, and widely used across the world. The Development Data Group’s Survey Unit (DECSU) is one of the four units in the department. DECSU advances the World Bank Group's leadership in global development data through the development and deployment of next-generation survey systems that enable countries, the World Bank Group, and development partners to produce trusted and representative data on living standards and purchasing power worldwide. The unit harnesses rigorous research, “AI-enabled and AI-enabling” digital innovation, and global partnerships to drive evidence-based policymaking for resilient and sustainable development. The unit is home to three major programs, namely International Comparison Program, Living Standards Measurement Study, and Survey Solutions. The Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) is the World Bank’s flagship program on household surveys, which remain integral to the objectives of governments, international organizations, and donors to (a) track poverty, food security, job creation, human capital development, and resilience in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and (b) target resources, measure results and protect the most vulnerable. LSMS works to strengthen the availability, quality, relevance, and timeliness of household surveys implemented in these contexts, through open-access survey data production and technical assistance; development and scale-up of enhanced, open-access survey methods and standards; and specialized trainings on survey design, implementation, integration and analysis. The main beneficiaries of the global public goods produced by the LSMS – in the form data, methods, and standards – are national statistical offices; the World Bank task teams and their country clients that rely on household surveys for the design, targeting, and evaluation of operational projects; and survey practitioners worldwide. The LSMS is organized into two major programs, namely: (1) Survey Data Production and Advisory Services and (2) Innovations in Survey Methods and Measurement. Under its Data Production and Advisory Services program, in a typical year, LSMS provides technical support to the design and implementation large-scale survey data production approximately 40 to 60 LMICs, which are disproportionately concentrated in geographies that are highly vulnerable to climate hazards and/or are classified as fragile and conflict-affected (FCV) situations. Under its Survey Methods program, LSMS works to address gaps in the quality, timeliness and policy-relevance of data collected in large-scale survey operations, through the development and rigorous validation of innovative survey methods that directly speak to the needs and opportunities of large-scale surveys and that also inform practical guidelines and standards for household surveys supported by the World Bank and more broadly across the international development community. For details on the LSMS, please visit www.worldbank.org/lsms . Strengthening Health Measurement Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa Across LMICs, a persistent data gap undermines health systems and the policies designed to strengthen them. The indicators most critical to tracking the health of mothers and children, including antenatal care coverage, child nutrition status, vaccination, and newborn survival, are primarily collected through large-scale, in-person population surveys. These surveys are expensive and logistically intensive, and most governments can conduct them only once every four to six years. As a result, health policy and program decisions are often made with data that is years out of date. The reduction in available financing for traditional DHS-type surveys makes it timely to assess lower-cost alternatives. In response, the LSMS is implementing a multi-country program of randomized survey experiments to test whether mixed-mode survey methods can deliver data of acceptable quality at meaningfully lower cost than traditional in-person surveys. Mixed-mode methods combine phone-based data collection with strategically selected household interviews. The focus is on the measurement of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCH-N) indicators in Sub-Saharan Africa. The experiments use a cross-country comparable, three-arm design: an in-person benchmark, a recontact phone arm, and a random digit dialing (RDD) arm. They are implemented with NSOs and other country partners in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and a Francophone West African country, and are advised by a Technical Advisory Group of World Bank, UN, academic, and Foundation experts. The program will produce open-access datasets, peer-reviewed research, country evidence briefs, and a Global Guidance Note to help NSOs adopt lower-cost, higher-frequency health measurement approaches within their existing statistical systems. DECSU is seeking to recruit a Data Scientist with a background in public health and data science to support the LSMS Innovations in Survey Methods and Measurement Program, with a primary focus on the mixed-mode health measurement experiments. This is an early-career position based in Washington, DC. The Data Scientist will take responsibility for defined analytical and operational work streams of the experiments, working under the general guidance of LSMS senior staff, and will help guide a more junior analyst (EC1) supporting the same program. The role offers hands-on exposure to survey methodology, health indicator measurement, and applied data analysis, and direct interaction with leading experts in global health measurement and with country partners.

Duties and Accountabilities

• Lead the analysis of the experiments. Take responsibility for the analysis of the three-arm experiments (in-person benchmark, recontact phone, and RDD). This includes preparing and maintaining the analysis plan, estimating mode, coverage, and non-response effects, constructing survey weights and calibration to the in-person benchmark, and keeping methods consistent across countries.
• Inform the adaptive in-person sample. Analyze the data from the first country and the first phase of the RDD arm and contribute to the design of the adaptive in-person sample and the weighting protocols for the second and third countries, working with LSMS senior staff and the sampling experts.
• Compare costs and data quality. Build and maintain the comparison of costs and data quality across survey modes, to support the cost-quality-feasibility findings of the project.
• Contribute to experiment design and questionnaires. Contribute inputs to the experimental protocol, sampling and weighting approaches, RMNCH-N indicator definitions, and quality assurance procedures. Review and test RMNCH-N questionnaire modules for phone-based (CATI) and in-person (CAPI) modes, drawing on the health measurement literature and pilot results.
• Oversee data management and quality. Oversee the data pipeline and the real-time fieldwork and data quality monitoring across baseline and follow-up rounds. Clean, process, and document survey datasets, and write reproducible code (Stata, R, and/or Python). Work directly with NSOs and survey firms to resolve data issues and brief the supervisor on them.
• Develop and test data quality tools. Support the development, documentation, and testing of automated and AI-assisted tools (for example Python-based scripts and pipelines) for fieldwork monitoring and data quality assurance across phone-based and in-person survey modes, working with the survey team and following DECSU and WBG data governance standards.
• Support country engagement. Provide technical and operational support to country teams and NSOs in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and the Francophone West African country, including preparing and presenting technical material, participating in training and piloting, and supporting capacity building. Travel to project countries is expected.
• Take the lead in drafting research outputs. Take the lead on sections of technical reports, country evidence briefs, policy briefs, and peer-reviewed papers, and on sections of the Global Guidance Note and related operational materials for NSOs. Present results to partners, the Technical Advisory Group, and other audiences.
• Guide to junior analysts. Review the code and outputs of the EC1 analyst, help plan their tasks, and share good practice on reproducible workflows.
• Support project coordination and dissemination. Assist with the coordination of the Technical Advisory Group (meeting preparation, materials, and minutes), tracking of deliverables and timelines, and preparation of open-access data and documentation for release.
• Contribute to the broader LSMS Survey Methods Program. Support other survey experiments, data production activities, and capacity-building efforts as needed.
• Perform any other related assignment as requested by the supervisor.