Team Leader - NYOTA Refugee Business Development Services

Role Overview

This position carries end-to-end responsibility for a business development services (BDS) package built to widen earning opportunities for vulnerable young people living in Kenya's refugee-hosting areas. Day to day, the Team Leader moves between curriculum work, field supervision and stakeholder reporting — shaping what gets taught, making sure it is delivered well in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kalobeyei Settlement and the Dadaab Refugee Complex, and evidencing the results to the commissioning authority. The post exists because DRC has submitted an Expression of Interest for the World Bank-supported National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Project, implemented through Kenya's Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA); engagement is therefore conditional on DRC being shortlisted, invited to submit a full proposal and ultimately awarded the assignment.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical, operational and quality leadership across the full assignment, from planning and mobilisation through sequencing, delivery and close-out, while remaining available for the entire duration of the engagement.
• Direct and supervise BDS Delivery Specialists, trainers, mentors and other implementation personnel working across the participating counties, keeping teams aligned on scope, timelines and delivery standards.
• Lead the contextual assessment and then review, select, adapt and finalise the BDS, socio-emotional skills and mentorship curricula so they speak directly to the realities of refugee youth.
• Oversee piloting and iterative refinement of trainer manuals, participant materials and mentorship guidance, embedding gender-responsive and disability-inclusive adaptations at every stage.
• Ensure training is practical and experiential, trauma-informed, usable by participants with differing literacy levels and abilities, and grounded in how micro and small enterprises actually operate in displacement settings.
• Oversee Training of Trainers, mentor training, classroom delivery, structured mentorship, business networking and market-linkage activities, and promote connections to local value chains, business associations, financial services, digital marketplaces and complementary providers.
• Safeguard safe, meaningful participation for women, girls and persons with disabilities through appropriate accessibility, facilitation and referral arrangements.
• Maintain accurate, verifiable and auditable records of training and mentorship delivery — attendance, completion, session content, progress and outcomes — and lead quality assurance along with inception, progress and final reporting, in close coordination with DRC management, MSEA and other government, humanitarian, UN and private-sector stakeholders.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Entrepreneurship experience: at least eight (8) years working in entrepreneurship programmes.
• Refugee-focused livelihoods experience: at least five (5) years in business or entrepreneurship training and/or livelihoods programmes involving refugee communities.
• Contextual knowledge: demonstrable grasp of the Kenyan micro and small enterprise landscape, particularly within refugee settings.
• Inclusion expertise: proven understanding of gender-responsive and disability-inclusive programme design in humanitarian or displacement-affected contexts.
• Team leadership: demonstrated ability to coordinate and supervise multi-disciplinary teams spread across participating counties.
• Education: Master's degree in a relevant discipline.
• Languages: proficiency in written and spoken English and Kiswahili.
• Availability: able to commit for the full duration of the assignment and to travel across Turkana and Garissa counties as delivery requires.