About Development Alternatives (DA)
Development Alternatives (DA), the world’s first social enterprise dedicated to sustainable development, has worked for over 40 years to create green, inclusive livelihoods at scale. Our mission is to enable 1 million sustainable livelihoods by 2030, focusing on entrepreneurship-led job creation, women’s economic empowerment, and community-driven social innovation.
Role Purpose
The Economist will strengthen the data, evidence, and insights function within DA’s inclusive entrepreneurship portfolio. This role involves designing analytical frameworks, dashboards, and evaluations to measure enterprise and ecosystem outcomes, generating insights for adaptive program management, donor reporting, and policy advocacy. The Economist will bridge rigorous research with on-ground practice, ensuring DA’s work is both evidence-based and scalable.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Analytical Frameworks & Research
• Develop and maintain quantitative and qualitative analytical frameworks to track enterprise and ecosystem outcomes.
• Benchmark DA’s models against comparable entrepreneurship programs nationally and globally.
• Design survey instruments, sampling frameworks, and data collection protocols.
2. MEL Systems & Dashboards
• Work with the data team to manage interactive dashboards for program monitoring, including enterprise formation, survival, income, job creation, and gender/social group disaggregation.
• Maintain an internal evaluation documentation and quantitative dashboards, assessing gaps and challenges regularly to inform practice and knowledge transference.
3. Data Analysis & Synthesis
• Lead analysis of program data (R, Stata, or Python) and prepare periodic insight briefs and technical reports.
• Translate data into actionable recommendations for program managers and partners.
• Produce policy-ready knowledge products (briefs, presentations, blogs, and conference papers).
4. Field Research & Engagement
• Support surveys and evaluations.
• Engage directly with entrepreneurs and local stakeholders.
• Ensure data quality and contextual accuracy during fieldwork.
5. Enterprise Support & Knowledge Transfer
• Provide data-driven inputs for enterprise support services (e.g., pricing, viability analysis, financial planning).
• Build capacity of field teams on data collection, dashboard usage, and interpretation.
• Contribute to DA’s broader knowledge platforms.
Qualifications & Experience
• Postgraduate degree in Economics, Development Economics related field.
• 5–8 years of experience in applied economic analysis, livelihoods/entrepreneurship programs, or MEL.
• Strong skills in quantitative analysis and data visualization
• Experience in survey design, econometric methods, and mixed-methods research.
• Demonstrated ability to produce knowledge products for funders, policymakers, and practitioners.
• Fieldwork experience in rural/low-income contexts; willingness to travel extensively.
• Sensitivity to gender, caste, and social equity issues; ability to engage respectfully with communities.
Core Competencies
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to balance rigor with program relevance.
• Excellent communication and writing skills (technical + non-technical).
• Team player with capacity to train and mentor colleagues.
• Commitment to DA’s mission of green and inclusive development.
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