Vacant Positions at World University Service of Canada

RESPONSIBILITIES

• The Senior Manager, Higher Education Inclusion will play a critical role in advancing the missions of WUSC and its partners in enhancing access to educational and economic opportunities for RDP youth, namely by providing strategic oversight on the provision of technical assistance for higher education inclusion across the world. The role will embed a gender lens throughout the portfolio, champion young women-centred design, and strengthen access to secondary education and pipelines into higher education, with a focus on advancing the initiative’s 70% young women target. Strong people management is central to this role, including coaching and mentoring a young, technically experienced team to deliver high-quality work and develop their leadership. This position requires a dedicated, innovative and experienced individual who can provide technical guidance on issues of forced displacement within the context of higher education, and has demonstrated capacity in forging and cultivating relationships with a diversity of stakeholders. Please note that this is not an academic position and WUSC is not a university.
• The Senior Manager, Higher Education Inclusion will work closely and in collaboration with WUSC teams in Kenya and globally, the donor’s regional and country teams, and the donor’s partners.

Reporting to the Deputy Project Director, the Senior Manager, HEI, will:

• Provide strategic and technical oversight for WUSC’s 40+ higher education inclusion partners and the project’s higher education inclusion team;
• Gender & Young Women-Centred Design: Embed a gender and intersectional inclusion lens across all technical assistance, partner engagement, education pathways, retention supports, and education-to-work transitions. Ensure young women meaningfully inform program design and delivery, and support partners to identify and address barriers to their participation and success in line with the initiative’s 70% young women target;
• Work collaboratively with project team members to provide technical, programmatic, and facilitative leadership to ensure the higher education inclusion goals of the initiative are reached. This includes oversight of various technical components, which may include:

Secondary-to-Tertiary Education Transition Management

• Secondary Education Access & Academic Pipelines: Support partners to expand access to, retention in, and completion of secondary education for marginalized and displaced youth, particularly young women. Design, pilot, and scale academic preparation, bridging programs, and referral pathways that strengthen transitions from secondary to tertiary education, addressing gender-specific barriers at each stage.
• Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Collaborate with national qualification authorities, TVET institutions, and accreditation bodies to implement RPL frameworks and accredit non-formal learning or undocumented skills.
• Inclusive Admissions Policy Adaptation: Guide postsecondary institutions in adapting admissions criteria and processes, including flexible deadlines, age limit adjustments, deferred document verification, and accessible application formats.
• Cross-Referral Systems: manage institutional cross-referral mechanisms among higher education partners to streamline application pipelines, minimize duplication, and maximize enrollment opportunities.

Higher Education-to-Work & Career Livelihood Transitions

• Education-to-Employment Pathways: Develop work-readiness programs, career guidance, and transition strategies that enable higher education graduates to secure dignified and fulfilling employment or transition to advanced studies.
• Employer Linkages & Market Integration: Build direct linkages with employers, job platforms, and private sector networks to expand internship, apprenticeship, and job placement opportunities tailored to legal and regulatory employment contexts.

Peer-Led & Localized Transition Models

• Peer-to-Peer Advisory Networks: Operationalize and scale peer advisory outreach models (such as the University Now initiative), training peer advisors from displaced backgrounds to guide applicants through scholarship and admissions navigation.
• Refugee-Led Organization (RLO) Accompaniment: Strengthen the capacity of local actors and RLOs to design, manage, and sustain locally led higher education outreach, recruitment, and transition support services.

Student Retention & Wrap-Around Transition Supports

• Holistic Support Systems: Advise postsecondary partners on establishing comprehensive retention and wrap-around supports during critical transitional phases, including language bridge support, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) referrals, and legal documentation guidance.
• Develop strong working relationships with critical stakeholders such as UNHCR, the Tertiary Refugee Student Network, government ministries and others;
• Maintain up to date knowledge on emerging trends and issues in forced displacement, complementary pathways, and durable solutions;

Financial Management & Resource Allocation

• Budget Oversight: Manage and monitor the higher education inclusion component budget, ensuring optimal resource allocation, accurate forecasting, and cost-effective delivery of technical assistance across regional partners.
• Grant & Sub-grant Alignment: Collaborate with the grants management team to align technical assistance efforts with the RLO Opportunity Fund and partner grant allocations, ensuring investments directly support institutional transition and capacity goals.

Safeguarding, Protection & Risk Management

• Safeguarding & Data Protection: Ensure all higher education inclusion models, peer-led networks, and data collection activities strictly adhere to WUSC’s safeguarding policies, protection standards, and ethical protocols regarding displaced youth and vulnerable populations.
• Risk Mitigation: Identify, assess, and manage program, operational, and contextual risks related to partner compliance, legal frameworks for displaced youth, and regional operational dynamics.
• Lead the project’s engagement within higher education communities of practice and working groups across the sector;
• Build networks with RDP youth and refugee-led organizations (RLOs) to advance the mission of the initiative;
• Provide strong, supportive line management to a young, technically experienced higher education inclusion team (Partnerships Manager, Project Manager, and Project Assistants and Officers). Set clear priorities and expectations, delegate effectively, and oversee performance and workload allocation. Provide regular coaching, constructive feedback, mentorship, and tailored professional development to build staff confidence, technical judgment, leadership, and accountability;
• Work closely with the project’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) team to effectively measure impact and comprehensively track the quality and performance of technical assistance delivery across initiative partners (universities, RLOs, Foundation staff, etc.), using sex-disaggregated data and gender-responsive learning to assess progress towards the 70% young women target and identify barriers to access, retention, completion, and transition
• Work closely with the project and the Mastercard Foundation’s Communications teams to highlight learnings, success stories and impact to a variety of audiences;
• Host and participate in country or regional level convenings focused on inclusive higher education;
• Identify promising practices and ways to share learnings across the network; and
• Work closely with the WUSC global Durable Solutions team to identify synergies and opportunities across WUSC’s portfolio of programming;
• Work closely with the Deputy Director, Director, and peer technical Senior Managers (RLO Engagement, Technical Assistance Mechanism) to identify broader policy, research and strategic network opportunities within higher education.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

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

Education

• At minimum, a Bachelor’s degree in a related field (International Development, Education, Public Policy, International Relations);

Leadership & Portfolio Management

• Strategic & Team Leadership: 7 to 10 years of experience in higher education or technical assistance projects, including at least 5 years managing, coaching, and motivating matrixed, multi-country teams across different time zones in Africa.
• People Management, Coaching & Mentorship: Demonstrated experience directly managing and developing teams, including young professionals and technically experienced staff. Proven ability to coach and mentor colleagues, set clear objectives, delegate responsibilities, provide constructive feedback, manage performance, and support professional growth while building an inclusive, collaborative, and accountable team culture.
• Budget & Financial Oversight: Proven experience managing program budgets (minimum $1M+ USD portfolio scope) and overseeing financial reporting for complex, donor-funded multi-country initiatives.

Technical & Sector Expertise

• Higher Education Inclusion & Capacity Building: Demonstrated track record of promoting higher education access for populations of concern, providing participatory technical assistance to partners, and designing practical toolkits and training materials for mid-to-senior level institutional stakeholders.
• Secondary Education Access & Transition Pathways: Experience supporting secondary education access, retention, and completion, and strengthening pathways into higher education for marginalized or displaced youth, particularly young women.
• Regional Systems & Context Knowledge: Deep understanding of Anglophone and Francophone higher education, TVET, qualification accreditation systems, and youth employment trends across Sub-Saharan Africa (East, West, and Horn of Africa).

Inclusion & Strategic Alignment

• Gender Equality & Social Inclusion (GESI): Demonstrated experience embedding a gender lens and intersectional inclusion principles throughout program design, implementation, technical assistance, partnerships, and monitoring and learning. Ability to translate young women-centred approaches into practical strategies that address the specific barriers facing refugee and displaced young women and support their meaningful participation, retention, and success.
• Mission & Target Commitment: Strong alignment with WUSC’s mission and a commitment to driving Phase II targets to enable 35,000 refugee, displaced, and host community youth to access secondary and higher education opportunities, with a target of 70% young women.

Policy Influencing

• Strong understanding of career planning tools and resources, education systems, policy landscapes, and reform priorities.
• Experience in engaging with Employer Federations, Private Sector, Government Ministries and agencies, development partners and other ecosystem stakeholders

Languages & Operational Requirements

• Language Proficiency: Complete fluency in English with exceptional writing, editing, and communication skills; professional competency in French is a significant asset.
• Operational Adaptability: Strong organizational, planning, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work hands-on and independently within a fast-paced environment.
• Mobility: Ability and willingness to undertake frequent regional travel across Africa (estimated at 25% of working time).

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Project Description 

• The Strengthen Skills Training Ecosystems & Pathways (STEP) project in Kenya is a seven-year initiative led by World University Service of Canada (WUSC), which supports economic development and youth employment initiatives globally.
• The ultimate outcome is improved economic well-being for displaced and host-community youth in Kenya. STEP will leverage Canadian expertise and market linkages to strengthen pathways to technical, vocational, and digital employment for refugees and host community youth in the Kakuma, Kalobeyei, and Dadaab displacement settings in Turkana and Garissa counties.
• The project design provides a uniquely Canadian approach to economic inclusion, connecting displacement-affected youth to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in Kenyan, Canadian, and global markets. It will support over 10,000 young refugees and host community members to access quality market-oriented technical and vocational education and training (TVET), acquire in-demand technical, vocational, and digital skills, and access contextually relevant business incubation services and support. It places a critical focus on creating sustainable conditions for and delivering programs that link young people to meaningful work.

Role Purpose

• The STEP Project Manager serves as the Field Implementation Lead, providing operational, technical, and managerial oversight across all field-based economic pathways and project outputs. Based in Nairobi and reporting directly to the STEP Project Director, the Project Manager bridges high-level strategic directives with camp-level transaction realities.
• The incumbent brings deep expertise in private sector management and Market Systems Development (MSD) within refugee-hosting and thin-market settings. They are directly responsible for supervising field-based Economic Inclusion and Livelihood Officers in Kakuma and Dadaab and Operation Officers based in Nairobi. Through these teams, the Project Manager guides core local deliverers, including Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs), Women’s Rights Organizations (WROs), Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), and Host Community Organizations (HCOs/CBOs/NGOs), in executing all project activities, ensuring compliance with GAC Results-Based Management (RBM) standards, fiduciary rules, and GESI-ECC safeguarding frameworks.

Key Areas of Responsibility

Field Implementation Leadership & MSD Facilitation (35%)

• Act as the operational engine for field implementation, translating the approved Annual Work Plan (AWP) into synchronized, quarterly execution plans across Kakuma, Kalobeyei, and Dadaab
• Leverage private sector management experience to build commercial relationships with lead private firms, aggregators, off-takers, BPO agencies, and financial service to expand market opportunities into refugee-hosting areas.
• Enforce the core MSD rule that market demand must precede skills training, cohort sizing, or capital disbursements. Validate employer vacancies, client task pipelines, and buyer contracts before approving intervention rounds.
• Oversee the execution of STEP’s Traction-Based Capital Sequencing Model. Ensure capital is deployed only after business diagnostics, customer testing, and 30 days of active record-keeping are verified.

Staff Supervision & Technical Capacity Building (20%)

• Supervise, mentor, and evaluate performance for the Economic Inclusion and Livelihood Officers stationed in Kakuma and Dadaab, and Operations Officer based in Nairobi.
• Support Project Director in chairing the monthly field-level Project Coordination Committee (PCC) meetings, harmonizing work plans, troubleshooting local logistical/infrastructure bottlenecks, and managing joint partner timesheets.
• Deliver continuous on-the-job coaching to field officers and local partners in systems thinking, transitioning staff mindsets from "direct service delivery" to "systemic market facilitation" using the Adopt-Adapt-Expand-Respond (AAER) framework.

Partner Management & Local Empowerment (20%)

• Provide direct technical guidance and oversight to core local implementing partners—specifically Solidarity Initiative for Refugees (SIR) and Turkana Pastoral Development Organization (TUPADO) in Kakuma/Kalobeyei and the Dadaab Collective (DC) and Rights Organization for Advocacy and Development (ROAD) in Dadaab—and affiliated CBOs, WROs, and OPDs.
• Operationalize WUSC’s localization strategy by strengthening the organizational, administrative, and technical capacities of RLOs, HCOs and private sector actors, ensuring they are equipped to sustain market-support functions after project facilitation concludes..
• Coordinate field operations with global implementing project partners, as well as institutional TVET institutions.

GESI, ECC & Safeguarding Integration (5%)

• Working closely with GESI, Safeguarding and ECC advisors (focals);
• Ensure all field activities strictly adhere to Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) and WUSC’s GESI framework, achieving a minimum target of 60% young women participants and meaningfully integrating youth with disabilities and SOGIEC.
• Oversee the integration of non-negotiable inclusion enablers into pathway budgets, including mobile childcare units near workspaces, safe commute options, and Universal Design accessibility tools.
• Enforce environmental screening (NEMA guidelines) and Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) audits across all vocational workshops, digital hubs, and apprentice-hosting businesses.
• Maintain confidential, accessible grievance redress mechanisms and survivor-centered referral channels for GBV, PSEA, and workplace harassment.

Governance, Financial Compliance & MERL (10%)

• Support the Project Director in organizing and preparing agenda packages for the annual Project Steering Committee (PSC) in Nairobi and the bi-annual field Project Advisory Committees (PACs) in Kakuma and Dadaab.
• Oversee field compliance with GAC eligible cost guidelines, enforcing dual-signature authorization paths for expenditures exceeding KES 100,000 (~$1,000 CAD), managing central asset tag registries, and verifying partner declarations.
• Collaborate with the MERL Officer to track Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) indicators disaggregated by sex, age, disability, and displacement status (SADD+) [Passages 3, 51, 544]. Measure success by transition-to-income, net monthly earnings (> $90 USD), and 12-month business survival rates, rather than simple training completion numbers.

Policy Advocacy & Administrative Unblocking (10%)

• 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.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

Education

• Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Economics, International Development, Commerce, Agribusiness, or a closely related field. (A Bachelor’s degree with 12+ years of relevant extraordinary experience will also be considered).

Professional Experience

• Minimum of 7 to 10 years of professional experience in corporate management, private enterprise development, supply-chain logistics, business incubation, or commercial financial services.
• Minimum of 5 years of hands-on experience designing and executing Market Systems Development (MSD) or Approach to Inclusive Market Systems (AIMS) programs, specifically focusing on market facilitation, crowd-in strategies, and actor ownership.
• Demonstrated track record of managing economic inclusion, TVET, or enterprise projects within refugee camps, ASAL regions, or thin-market settings in Kenya (specifically Turkana West / Kakuma / Kalobeyei or Garissa / Dadaab).
• Proven experience supervising multi-disciplinary technical teams and managing subcontracts with grassroots entities (RLOs, WROs, CBOs, NGOs).

Technical Knowledge & Skills

• Deep understanding of Kenya's Refugee Policy. Thorough working knowledge of the Refugees Act (2021), the Shirika Plan (2023–2027), KRA PIN/tax frameworks, Class M work permits, movement passes, and county integration plans (KISEDP & GISEDP).
• Strong commercial negotiation skills with the ability to articulate "the business case for refugee inclusion" to commercial CEOs, aggregators, and digital BPO platforms.
• Strong familiarity with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) policies, Results-Based Management (RBM), eligible cost guidelines, and Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) priorities.
• Proficiency in encrypted data management platforms (KoboToolbox), visual mapping tools (Mural), and financial tracking software.

Languages & Personal Attributes

• Full professional fluency in English and Kiswahili (written and spoken) is required. Knowledge of Somali or Turkana is a distinct operational advantage.
• Strategic leadership, humble collaboration, cultural agility, high emotional intelligence, diplomatic negotiation skills, and uncompromised personal integrity.