Summary
Date Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
POSITION TITLE: Senior Program Coordinator – Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Refugees (SEOR)
PROJECT TITLE: Displaced and Refugee youth Enabling Environment Mechanism (DREEM)
POSITION LOCATION: Nairobi, Kenya with occasional in country and global travel
REPORTS TO: Director
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 4 October, 2020
EXPECTED START DATE: 15 November, 2020
In the context of the ‘Displaced and Refugee youth Enabling Environment Mechanism (DREEM)’ initiative, funded by the MasterCard Foundation, WUSC is seeking to hire a Senior Program Coordinator – to provide project management, strategic guidance, technical advice, effective coordination and capacity building for components of the ‘Displaced and Refugee youth Enabling Environment Mechanism (DREEM)’, a five year project based in northern Kenya and funded by the MasterCard Foundation. Specifically, the Senior Program Coordinator would be supporting the Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Refugees (SEOR) pillar for the DREEM Program, which will provide refugee entrepreneurs, especially young women (who will comprise 70% of beneficiaries), with improved access to market-oriented business support services that improve business and employment outcomes in refugee contexts in northern Kenya.
Background:
World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian international development organization that works with and through its southern partners to promote sustainable development. Founded in 1957 and currently working in more than 20 countries worldwide with an annual budget of approximately $45 million dollars, WUSC fosters youth-centered solutions for improved education, economic, and empowerment opportunities to overcome inequality and exclusion. We believe youth have the potential to provide for their families, build strong communities, and create positive social change for future generations. Globally, WUSC has a network of higher education institutions, civil society organizations, private sector partners, professionals, students, volunteers, faculty, and community leaders that can be leveraged to support our work.
WUSC’s members are Canada’s most globally engaged post-secondary institutions. WUSC offers a dynamic international work environment with a diverse intercultural workforce. We offer employees exciting opportunities to apply their skills and gain experience all while making a difference for youth around the world. Employees at WUSC work hard to create lasting change in education, employment and empowerment.
Displaced and Refugee youth Enabling Environment Mechanism (DREEM) project
Through the DREEM project, WUSC will play a unique role as a technical assistance and strategic learning partner to the Mastercard Foundation and Mastercard Foundation partners. The DREEM project will contribute to the Mastercard Foundation’s commitment to meaningfully include refugee and displaced youth in their Scholars Program and Young Africa Works project. As the Mastercard Foundation also works to develop a new refugee and displaced youth strategy, the DREEM project will engage with the Foundation to ensure that the project continues to support the overall goals of the Foundation.
The DREEM project will focus on three key pillars:
1. Support Scholars project (SP) partners and staff with the knowledge, capacity and networks to meaningfully recruit and serve refugees and displaced youth in higher education and transition to work and to work towards more inclusive societies;
2. Support Young Africa Works (YAW) country partners and staff in Kenya to gain the knowledge, capacity and networks to meaningfully include and develop programming that meets the unique training and employment needs, opportunities and aspirations of refugee and displaced youth, especially young women;
3. Strengthening Economic Opportunities for Refugees (SEOR) to complement WUSC’s existing Learning through Education and Access to Employment Pathways (LEAP) project and provide refugee entrepreneurs, especially young women with improved access to market-oriented business support services that improve business and employment outcomes in Kenya.
Job Role
Under the supervision of the Nairobi-based DREEM Director, the Senior Program Coordinator (SEOR) will work closely and in collaboration with the WUSC team in Kenya, the WUSC Advisory Team based in Canada and the Mastercard Foundation team. .

Responsibilities:
● Provide leadership and technical advice in implementing all components of the DREEM Program that relate to the SEOR Pillar. Work closely in collaboration with the “Learning through Education and Access to Skills for Employment” Project (the LEAP Project) staff, and the DREEM program staff working on Pillars A and B;
● Contribute to the design and implementation of the SEOR program in a manner that is complementary with the LEAP Project and that advances the objective of creating employment opportunities for refugees and displaced youth;
● Identify, recruit, and collaborate with experienced market systems consultants to carry out an entrepreneurship scoping study and also conduct a digital economy feasibility study with a focus on refugees and displaced youth in Kakuma and Kalobeyei;
● Identify and build relationships with potential local job creators in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, including refugee entrepreneurs, refugees led organizations and business development service providers;
● Identify and engage with a local digital skills partner and build their capacity to develop a network of 5-7 small refugee-owned ICT businesses and/or community-based initiatives to facilitate training for online freelance job opportunities and work from to earn income from gig economy;
● Collaborate with the DREEM team and with an identified local business development service provider to design and deliver an innovation competition for refugee-led businesses and local job creators, and to design a business incubation model that is scalable and sustainable to support the innovation competition winners;
● Build the capacity of a local business development service provider to foster business incubation hubs where selected refugee-led business will access business development support services including entrepreneurship training, mentorship, coaching and access to finance;
● Use the market systems approach to build strong strategic networks with ecosystem actors including the county government, investors, private sectors, TVET institutions, local community, UNHCR, business community and financial service providers;
● Adopt a gender-responsive approach throughout the project to address gendered barriers, enhance women’s participation, and improve women’s employment outcomes;
● Responsible for managing the SEOR component to budget and work plan;
● Supervises the SEOR Grants Officer;
● Responsible for working with local partners to ensure integration of intersectional and gender analysis across the program;
● Identifies promising practices and ways to share learning across the network;
● Manages external consultants.

Specific competencies:
● Experience in the management of business competitions;
● Experience in collaboration with refugee-owned businesses to enhance the ecosystem of refugee-led businesses;
● Employment linkages especially on the gig economy for refugees and displaced youth will be an added advantage;
● Experience in implementing and managing grants/loans to small businesses will be an added advantage;
● Demonstrated experience in and commitment to working in teams across lines of business;
● Experience working on projects focused on young refugee women will be an added advantage;
● Demonstrated experience in working with vulnerable youth, particularly women and youth with disabilities.

Qualifications:
• Msc Local Economic Development, Development Economics, Entrepreneurship, MBA or a related field
Experience & Competencies
• The ideal applicant will combine technical expertise in one or more of DREEM’s sectors (durable solutions for refugees, vocational and technical training, support to entrepreneurs and businesses, market systems), a familiarity with the East African refugee context, a strategic and analytical mindset, excellent listening and interpersonal skills, and an ability to get things done.

Other requirements
● The role will require regular travel (up to 20%) to field sites in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kalobeyei Settlement, and nearby communities in northern Turkana, as well as occasional international travel for conferences, workshops and meetings;
● Ability to work a flexible schedule.

Job Education Experience: Not Specified

Work Hours: 8

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