Vacancies at World University Service of Canada

The Senior Livelihoods and Economic Inclusion Officer is responsible for leading the design and implementation of market-oriented livelihoods and economic inclusion strategies that strengthen pathways to technical, vocational, and digital employment in the Kakuma, Kalobeyei, and Dadaab regions. This includes providing strategic oversight to the project’s dual-pathway approach: driving the growth of youth-led entrepreneurship ventures, specifically through supporting Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) and digital outsourcing agencies, while simultaneously enhancing access to fair, safe, and formal wage employment. The Senior Livelihoods and Economic Inclusion Officer ensures that all livelihood interventions are gender-responsive, inclusive of marginalized groups, and aligned with both the Kenyan policy framework and Canadian market linkages to create sustainable and dignified work opportunities.

Key Areas of Responsibility

Technical Leadership & Strategy Implementation

• Design and execute market-oriented strategies that strengthen pathways to technical, vocational, and digital employment for displaced and host-community youth in Kakuma, Kalobeyei, and Dadaab.
• Oversee the project’s dual-pathway strategy by accelerating youth-led entrepreneurship while expanding access to secure, equitable, and formal wage-earning opportunities.
• Lead labor and market analyses to identify high-potential sectors in Kenyan, Canadian, and global markets, ensuring training programs remain relevant to modern labor demands (including green and digital skills).

Entrepreneurship & Digital Ecosystem Development

• Strengthen local RLOs and Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) to provide high-quality business incubation, acceleration, and financial linkage services.
• Support the establishment of self-sustaining digital outsourcing agencies to connect youth to global remote work, bypassing local administrative barriers to formal employment.
• Collaborate with international partners to test inclusive business models and link youth-led ventures to Canadian market needs.

Policy Advocacy & Administrative Unblocking

• Provide technical assistance to duty-bearers, specifically the Department of Refugee Services (DRS), to streamline the issuance of IDs, KRA PINs, and Class M work permits for refugees.
• Operationalize national inclusion frameworks, such as the Shirika Plan and the Refugees Act (2021), to transition youth from informal incentive work to formal, protected labor.
• Facilitate dialogue sessions with government and private sector actors to promote fair hiring practices and regulate inclusive apprenticeships.

Gender Responsiveness & Social Inclusion (GESI)

• Ensure all interventions address time poverty and mobility restrictions for young women by integrating practical enablers like childcare support and safe transport.
• Mainstream disability and LGBTQ+ inclusion into all livelihoods programming, ensuring facilities are accessible and outreach is rights-based and confidential.
• Partner with Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs) to challenge harmful social norms and gendered occupational segregation that limit women’s access to high-yield technical roles.

Coordination, Reporting & Quality Assurance

• Monitor the quality and impact of livelihood interventions, ensuring data is disaggregated by sex, age, and disability to allow for adaptive management.
• Represent the project in livelihoods-related working groups and maintain strong relationships with UNHCR, county governments, and private sector employers.
• Document and disseminate success stories and lessons learned related to refugee economic inclusion to inform broader policy and practice.

Qualifications

• A Master’s degree in International Development, Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences, or a related field (or an equivalent mix of education and professional experience);
• At least 5–7 years of progressive experience in designing and managing livelihoods, economic inclusion, or market-based development programs, preferably within an international NGO or development agency;
• Demonstrated experience working in refugee, displacement-affected, or fragile contexts (specifically the Kakuma/Kalobeyei or Dadaab regions) and applying conflict-sensitive and context-responsive approaches;
• Proven experience in Results-Based Management (RBM), including the ability to design and monitor complex livelihoods interventions and conduct robust labor market analyses; 
• In-depth knowledge of both entrepreneurship support (incubation, acceleration, and financial linkages) and wage employment pathways (TVET alignment, apprenticeships, and private sector engagement);
• Familiarity with the digital livelihoods landscape, including digital outsourcing agencies, remote work platforms, and the integration of digital/AI skills into training programs;
• Strong understanding of the Kenyan legal framework for refugees, including the Refugees Act (2021), the Shirika Plan, and the administrative processes for obtaining IDs, KRA PINs, and Class M work permits; 
• Demonstrated experience in mainstreaming GESI, and the inclusion of persons with disabilities and LGBTQ+ youth; 

go to method of application »

The RDP Technical Specialists will be part of the Technical Assistance Mechanism (TAM) established under the project, which aims to strengthen the inclusion of refugee and displaced youth in education and employment across the initiative’s donor and its partners. The overall goal is to indirectly enable one million RDP youth to secure dignified and fulfilling work and 35,000 to access education through technical assistance. The RDP Technical Specialist is responsible for providing demand-driven and standardized technical assistance (TA) and expert guidance on Refugee and Displaced Persons (RDP) inclusion to donor staff and their implementing partners.

The RDP Technical Specialists will work under the direction of the Head of the Technical Assistance Mechanism to support the following objectives:

Technical Assistance Delivery

• Provide expert technical assistance and guidance to donor staff and partners to co-develop strategies and action plans that mainstream RDP inclusion across their programs in a variety of thematic areas and geographies:
• Support in the co-creation of concept notes, review of EOIs, and the co-creation of proposals to provide a Refugee and Displaced Persons lens to the staff and partners of the donor in the development of new programming.
• Conduct Partner RDP inclusion assessments with donor partners, and develop and implement capacity-strengthening plans with assessed partners to promote RDP youth inclusion in the partners’ work.
• Support the donor’s country offices in the development of RDP-specific partnerships, engage relevant stakeholders for the implementation of the RDP strategy in Nigeria, WAEMU region, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, and maintain relationships with donor staff and partners.
• Support donor team members and partners to feature RDP at events, including World Refugee Day, learning workshops, stakeholder convenings, and RDP youth meetings to share learnings on various RDP contexts.
• Enhance the capacity of the donor’s staff and partners to develop, test, and scale innovative programming that improves education and economic opportunities for RDP youth.
• Support a training-of-trainers (ToT) approach with donor RDP focal points, the Youth Technical Advisory Committee, and refugee led organizations (RLOs) to embed technical knowledge internally for long-term sustainability.

Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) Support

• Deliver demand-driven TA and institutional strengthening to RLOs to enhance their ability to design, implement, and sustain solutions for RDP access to education and dignified work.
• Strengthen RLOs' organizational and technical capacity so they can eventually provide RDP inclusion TA to donors and partner organizations.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Contribute to building knowledge of RDP contexts and barriers among Mastercard Foundation staff and partners through research, mapping, and analysis to inform more inclusive programming.
• Liaise with the project’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) team to comprehensively track the quality and effectiveness of technical assistance delivery on partners and organizations.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

The ideal applicant will combine technical expertise in economic inclusion, strong familiarity with the displacement context in multiple geographies of focus, exceptional partnership management skills and relationships, an ability to get things done, and strong organization, coordination, and communication skills.

• At a minimum, a Bachelor’s degree in a related field (International Development, Project Planning and Management, Development Studies, Social Work, Public Policy, International Relations, Refugee Studies)
• A minimum of 7+ years of experience in development cooperation, technical assistance projects, education, and/or  youth employment in Nigeria, WAEMU region, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda or Uganda
• Relevant experience on projects that promote livelihoods and economic inclusion for displaced/ refugee youth; entrepreneur support within a refugee setting, tertiary or technical education for displaced/ refugee youth and young people with disabilities
• Understanding of market-based approaches to youth employment and livelihoods particularly in the context of refugees and displaced women and young people
• Experience providing technical support to development organizations and supporting multiple partners, particularly in program development and a commitment to a participatory partnership approach to capacity development;
• Deep knowledge of key issues and emerging trends and barriers in education and youth employment in Africa particularly in the context of refugee and displaced women and young people;
• Demonstrated commitment to social inclusion and knowledge of the specific constraints and realities of challenges faced by refugee and displaced groups;
• Adherence to gender equality and social inclusion principles; proven knowledge of and commitment to the concept of gender equality and intersectionality within programming;
• Complete fluency in English is essential, ability to write articulately and cogently, and to edit at a similarly high level;