The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB/the Bank) is seeking to recruit an Intern, Economics. The successful candidate will be based at CDB’s headquarters in St. Michael, Barbados.

THE DEPARTMENT

The Economics Department (ED) of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) comprises the Country Policy and Programming Division (CPPD) and the Research and Statistics Division (RSD).

CPPD is accountable for the formulation of country strategies to guide the Bank’s financial and Technical Assistance (TA) operations in Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs). It is also responsible for monitoring and analysing economic, social, and political developments in BMCs and relevant international sectors; conducting and producing macroeconomic and financial analyses; and training in economic management.

RSD is tasked with leading the Bank’s research agenda by driving thought leadership through commissioned and in-house research projects. Research coming out of the Department is meant to complement the activities of the Bank and to investigate development challenges/opportunities present in the Region and to present recommendations and potential solutions. RSD also supports the collection, compilation, and analysis of data and statistics produced by National Statistics Offices (NSOs) of the Region. Through the centralization of such data and statistics, the RSD helps support the Bank’s results-management systems, and routine appraisal and supervision missions. Furthermore, the RSD collaborates and coordinates activities between and among Departments of CDB and external partners.  Through its statistician, the RSD collaborates with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Statistics Departments and provides analytical support and technical expertise in regional strategies and policies.

As part of the 2025 research agenda, the RSD intends to conduct research on the productivity and life years lost due to gun-violence in CDB’s BMCs. This research will focus largely on the negative consequences of growing gang-related gun violence throughout the Region and will measure the potential loss of economic activity resulting from this. Caribbean countries have been witnessing increased rates of aggravated assault, robberies (with guns), and murders; notably, the Region experiences homicide rates that exceeds much of Southern Latin America. Worryingly, the demographic profile of both victims and perpetrators of violent crime is increasingly noticeable in the youth population.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The objective of this internship is to support the compilation of key data and statistics to be used in the aforementioned research project.  The compilation of statistics includes obtaining data from the websites of public and regional/international agencies, from administrative data sources, and through building relationships with key partners. This support will be defined by the work plan of the Economics Department and immediate needs as it relates to projects ongoing in the period of the internship.

Reporting directly to the Statistician, the Intern is accountable for assisting in the compilation of data and statistics as outlined in the research plan/proposal; this includes, but is not limited to, data on gun-related robberies, assaults, homicides, and any statistics from citizen-security and crime and violence surveys conducted in the Region.  Additionally, the intern will be required to compile data on mortality, economic growth, and labour markets to supplement the analytical work on the impact of gun-related violence on these variables. The SI will also be required to support any analytical work related to the use of these statistics in completing the research paper.

The tasks will include, but not be limited to: 

• collecting, storing, and analysing data, as identified by authors, for the research project; 

• liaising with CDB staff, particularly ED and Projects Department, to supplement information and obtain explanations as required; 

• preparing timely tabulations, statistical analyses and graphical presentations for CDB’s publications produced by ED and as requested from other Departments;

• preparing and visualising the related statistics using modern statistical packages;

• documenting the data collection and dissemination procedures;

• updating existing country data sheets with the statistics related to this research project;

• providing metadata and taxonomy for the data and statistics collected; and

• performing selected econometric analyses such as forecasting and regression analysis under the close supervision of the Statistician or Economist, if so assigned.

During the internship, the Intern will be required to provide to the Statistician, RSD, and other members of the research team, including:

• monthly updates to country data tables with any relevant data collected under the project;

• data tables and statistical outputs relevant to the research publication;

• metadata and procedural documents related to all data collected during the internship; and

• economic analysis, including syntax, for use within the research paper.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Intern, Economics will report directly to the Statistician.

EDUCATION AND COMPETENCIES

• Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, Statistics or a related field, or graduated in the last 12 months. 

• Experience working with economic and/or social data;

• The ability to transform raw data into usable statistics to inform presentations, concept notes, and research outputs;

• The ability to identify and utilise effectively all major sources of data on each BMC,     including statistical publications;

• The ability to effectively prepare and present clear and concise findings from both quantitative and qualitative statistical analysis; and

• The ability to work independently on sourcing, collating, and tabulating routine economic and social statistics.

• Skill in the use of statistical software packages, such as R or Python, would be an asset.

LOCATION, DURATION AND TIMING

This assignment will be carried out at CDB’s Headquarters in Barbados over a 3-month period, commencing in July 2025 and ending in September 2025.

You must be a national of one of CDB's member countries. 

The deadline for submission of applications is April 22, 2025 at 11:59 pm AST.