Economist data analyst
Development Alternatives (DA), the world's first social enterprise for sustainable development, seeks an Economist data analyst to strengthen data and evidence in its inclusive entrepreneurship programs. The role involves designing analytical frameworks, MEL dashboards, and policy insights to scale green, equitable livelihoods and help DA achieve its goal of creating one million sustainable livelihoods by 2030.
10/9/20252 min read
Driving Green Livelihoods: Development Alternatives Seeks Economist to Scale Sustainable Impact
Development Alternatives (DA), the world’s first social enterprise dedicated to sustainable development, is looking for a skilled Economist to join their mission of creating green, inclusive livelihoods at scale. For over 40 years, DA has been a pioneer in research and action, delivering socially equitable, environmentally sound, and economically scalable development outcomes across India's most underserved regions.
A Legacy of Sustainable Innovation
DA’s core strength lies in its green technology innovations for habitat, water, energy, and waste management. These solutions not only meet basic needs but also generate sustainable livelihoods, actively reducing poverty and rejuvenating natural ecosystems. The organization is now striving for an ambitious goal: to enable 1 million sustainable livelihoods by 2030 through a dedicated focus on entrepreneurship-led job creation, women's economic empowerment, and community-driven social innovation.
The Role: Bridging Data, Evidence, and Action
The new Economist role is central to strengthening the data, evidence, and insights within DA’s inclusive entrepreneurship portfolio. This position is the critical link that translates rigorous research into scalable, on-the-ground practice.
The primary purpose of the role is to design robust analytical frameworks, monitoring and evaluation (MEL) systems, and insightful evaluations to accurately measure the outcomes of enterprises and the surrounding ecosystem. This evidence will be vital for:
Adaptive Program Management: Generating real-time insights to refine program strategy.
Donor Reporting & Accountability: Providing clear, data-driven results to partners.
Policy Advocacy: Producing knowledge products that inform and influence national policy.
Key Responsibilities: An Economist's Impact
The responsibilities are comprehensive, positioning the Economist as a thought leader within the organization:
Analytical Frameworks & Research: Developing quantitative and qualitative systems to track key enterprise and ecosystem outcomes, and benchmarking DA’s models against global best practices. This includes designing sound survey instruments and sampling frameworks.
MEL Systems & Dashboards: Working with the data team to manage interactive dashboards that monitor key metrics like enterprise formation, job creation, income, and critical social disaggregation (gender, caste).
Data Analysis & Synthesis: Leading deep analysis of program data using tools like R, Stata, or Python. The ultimate goal is to translate complex data into actionable recommendations for program managers and producing policy-ready knowledge products (briefs, conference papers) for a broader audience.
Enterprise Support & Knowledge Transfer: Providing crucial data-driven inputs for enterprise support services, such as viability analysis and financial planning. A core function is building the capacity of field teams in data collection and dashboard interpretation, ensuring data literacy is widespread.
The Ideal Candidate
DA is seeking a candidate with a Postgraduate degree in Economics or Development Economics and 5–8 years of experience in applied economic analysis, livelihoods programs, or MEL.
The successful candidate will demonstrate strong expertise in quantitative analysis, data visualization, survey design, and econometric methods. Crucially, they must possess fieldwork experience in rural/low-income contexts and a profound sensitivity to gender, caste, and social equity issues, reflecting DA's commitment to inclusive development.
This is an opportunity for a skilled economist to move beyond theory and directly contribute to creating a scalable, sustainable, and equitable future for millions.
DA is committed to its mission of green and inclusive development, leveraging economic rigor to ensure that its social enterprise models achieve maximum impact.
Explore more jobs