Senior Program Officer- Higher Education Inclusion

Role Overview

This position supports the day-to-day execution of the Higher Education Inclusion portfolio under the DREEM project, working closely with the Partnerships Manager, WUSC teams, the Mastercard Foundation, and Scholars Program partners. The role focuses on coordinating outreach to refugee and displaced communities, strengthening partner capacity, and advancing inclusive access to higher education for young people across Africa. By tying together programmatic support, partner engagement, and learning activities, this role helps ensure that education inclusion efforts are practical, well-coordinated, and responsive to the realities of displacement.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate and lead both in-person and virtual outreach activities aimed at refugee and displaced communities, working with the Senior Events Officer on logistics, communications, and administrative follow-up.
• Build and sustain relationships with universities, partner institutions, refugee-led organizations, and internal teams to support the University Now outreach model and localized approaches to higher education access.
• Support the Partnerships Manager in developing, adapting, and disseminating tools, guidance materials, and learning resources for Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partners.
• Contribute to capacity strengthening by helping design and deliver training sessions, webinars, workshops, and peer-learning opportunities focused on refugee and displaced youth inclusion.
• Identify and document promising practices, case studies, success stories, and lessons learned from the Higher Education Inclusion portfolio for knowledge sharing.
• Track partner participation and engagement across portfolio activities, and assist in maintaining strong communication and collaboration across the Scholars Program partner network.
• Work with the monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning team to support data collection, reporting, impact tracking, and evidence generation for the portfolio.
• Prepare reports, presentations, partner updates, and visibility products in coordination with the communications team, and take on additional tasks as needed to support project delivery.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, public policy, international relations, refugee studies, education, social sciences, or a related field.
• Three to five years of relevant professional experience in displacement, refugee affairs, youth development, education, or social inclusion in an African context.
• Lived experience of displacement, forced migration, or refugeehood is considered an asset.
• Familiarity with programs supporting higher education, technical and vocational education, youth empowerment, or community development.
• Understanding of the higher education landscape in Sub-Saharan and North Africa, including barriers faced by refugee and displaced populations, especially young women.
• Experience in partnership coordination, stakeholder engagement, or capacity-strengthening initiatives is an asset.
• Demonstrated commitment to gender equality, diversity, equity, and social inclusion in professional practice.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in both English and French, with the ability to produce clear reports, learning materials, and correspondence.
• Excellent planning, organizational, coordination, and problem-solving abilities, including the capacity to manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving, multicultural environment.
• Strong interpersonal skills and a collaborative mindset, with the ability to work independently while contributing effectively to team goals.

What We Offer / Why Join

This is an opportunity to play a meaningful role in a continental effort to expand higher education access for refugee and displaced youth. You will work alongside a diverse network of partners, contribute to real change in education inclusion, and be part of a team committed to equity, learning, and the empowerment of young people across Africa.