DREEM Deputy Project Director

Start date: ASAP
Supervisor: DREEM Project Director

Location: Flexible; preference for Nairobi, Kenya, the project headquarters, with Abidjan, Accra, Kigali, Addis Ababa, or Lagos as options.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and we encourage interested candidates to apply early, as the vacancy may close once the right candidate has been identified.

Note to applicants: This position is being re-advertised with updated qualifications. Candidates who previously applied do not need to reapply, as their applications remain on file and may be considered. French proficiency, which was previously listed as a requirement, is now preferred but not required.

Background:

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian international development organization driving positive education and economic change for young people around the world. Our vision is a world where every young person thrives and belongs. We believe all young people should have the opportunity to fulfill their aspirations and create their own futures. To help achieve this goal, we develop initiatives that: deliver lasting, measurable impact; are powered by partnerships across the globe; stay true to our core programming principles; and respond to the priorities and aspirations of the people with whom we work.

WUSC is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, and has offices across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East. Our global team of development professionals bring deep expertise and open minds to identify new solutions to old problems and create a better world together. 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 the communities they serve.

Project Description

In January 2026, WUSC launched the second phase of DREEM, a five-year initiative running from 2026 to 2031 that aims to significantly expand education and employment pathways for refugee, displaced, and host community youth, particularly young women, across Africa.

DREEM Phase II builds on prior successes while deepening its focus on locally led, technically grounded approaches to refugee inclusion. The initiative will support a broad ecosystem of actors to better design, adapt, and scale programs that respond to the realities of refugee and displaced populations, including barriers related to legal status, documentation, mobility, protection risks, gender, access to education, access to work, social inclusion, and systemic exclusion.

A core strategy of Phase II is the meaningful engagement and strengthening of Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) as critical technical actors within displacement-affected systems. Through an RLO Opportunity Fund, tailored technical assistance, and the integration of RLOs across DREEM’s functional areas, the project will support more sustainable, locally led, and refugee-informed solutions.

Over the next five years, DREEM Phase II aims to indirectly enable one million RDP youth to secure dignified and fulfilling work and 35,000 RDP youth to access education opportunities. This will be achieved through high-quality technical assistance, strengthened local ecosystems, improved partner capacity, increased collaboration, inclusive policy engagement, and stronger institutional capacity among RLOs and other local actors.

Role Description:

The Deputy Project Director is a senior leadership role responsible for supporting the Project Director in ensuring that DREEM achieves its results, strategic objectives, and technical ambitions. This role is intended for a leader with
demonstrated technical expertise working with refugee and displaced populations, including practical experience designing, implementing, advising on, or strengthening programs that advance inclusion, education, employment, entrepreneurship, or systems change for RDPs and host communities.

The Deputy Project Director will help ensure that DREEM’s strategy, partnerships, technical assistance, and implementation approaches are grounded in the lived realities of RDP youth, particularly young women, and are responsive to the diverse displacement contexts across Africa, including urban refugee settings, camps, settlements, and host communities.

The DPD will have responsibility for managing the three technical pillars of the program: RLO Engagement, Technical Assistance Mechanism, and Higher Education Inclusion. They will supervise each pillar’s Senior Technical Manager, as well as the cross-cutting Training and Curriculum Development Specialist. The DPD will be expected to bring strong technical judgment on refugee inclusion and displacement-responsive programming, ensuring coherence across these pillars and supporting staff and partners to apply inclusive, gender-responsive, youth-centered, and protection-sensitive approaches.

Under the supervision of the Project Director, the Deputy Project Director will work closely with the project leadership team, including the Heads of Operations, Finance, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL), Communications, and GESI, to ensure that project activities are effectively planned, implemented, monitored, and adapted. The DPD will support project staff and partner organizations to design and deliver capacity-building, training, mentoring, coaching, and follow-up support that enables refugee and displaced youth to be meaningfully included in higher education, employment, and entrepreneurship pathways.

The DPD will also work closely with WUSC teams in Canada and across Africa, the DREEM Youth Advisory Board, the Youth Technical Committee, and the Mastercard Foundation. When necessary, the DPD will deputize for the Project Director and represent the program externally.

Responsibilities:

The Deputy Project Director will:

• Provide strategic and technical leadership across DREEM’s three technical pillars, ensuring that all activities are grounded in strong technical understanding of refugee and displaced populations, host communities, and displacement-affected systems.
• Lead oversight of project activities, ensuring that commitments made under annual workplans are achieved and that adaptations are evidence-informed, technically sound, and responsive to the needs of RDP youth and partners.
• Support the Project Director in mentoring and coaching project staff to strengthen competencies in partnership management, project management, technical assistance delivery, and the meaningful inclusion of refugee and displaced youth.
• Ensure that DREEM’s technical assistance approaches are tailored to the needs of diverse partners, including RLOs, higher education institutions, private sector actors, civil society organizations, and ecosystem actors working with RDPs.
• Oversee the development of capacity-building tools, training materials, technical resources, and learning products that reflect strong understanding of the constraints and opportunities facing RDP youth, particularly young women.
• Provide technical guidance to staff and partners on refugee inclusion, RLO engagement, higher education access, employment and entrepreneurship pathways, gender equality and social inclusion, youth participation, and locally led development.
• Support and supervise the recruitment and selection of program staff and external technical assistance providers, ensuring that selected personnel and consultants bring relevant experience in refugee inclusion, forced displacement, RLO strengthening, or related technical areas.
• Work with project and donor staff to identify and assess partners, prioritize capacity needs, identify areas of intervention, develop action plans, and support implementation through gender- and youth-sensitive training, coaching, mentoring, and technical assistance.
• Ensure that the voices, leadership, and technical contributions of refugee and displaced youth, RLOs, and host community actors are meaningfully integrated into program design, implementation, learning, and adaptation.
• Foster relationships with subcontractors, consultants, RLOs, institutional partners, and ecosystem actors, ensuring strategic alignment, strong communication, and compliance with donor regulations and WUSC policies.
• Participate in and lead regular meetings and events with Mastercard Foundation staff, partners, RLOs, youth advisors, and other stakeholders.
• Contribute to project reporting, budgeting, work planning, and adaptive management processes in conjunction with the Project Director and other unit heads.
• Consult regularly with the Youth Advisory Board and Youth Technical Committee to ensure meaningful youth input, accountability, and governance of the project.
• Ensure quality, consistency, and timeliness of project communication with the donor, government counterparts, partner organizations, RLOs, youth representatives, and WUSC headquarters.
• Represent DREEM externally, when requested, with credibility on issues related to refugee inclusion, forced displacement, RLO engagement, higher education inclusion, and economic opportunities for RDP youth.
• Provide any other managerial, administrative, technical, or advisory support as requested by the DREEM Project Director.
• Serve as the Project Director’s delegate when required, representing and managing the program on her behalf in her absence, including potentially for extended periods. This includes ensuring continuity of strategic leadership, donor and partner engagement, staff supervision, decision-making, risk management, and overall program delivery.
  

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate is a strategic leader with deep technical expertise in refugee inclusion and forced displacement programming in Africa. They will bring a proven track record of working directly with refugee and displaced populations, strengthening local ecosystems, engaging Refugee-Led Organizations, and supporting partners to design and implement inclusive, high-quality programs.

• Master’s Degree in International Development, Education, Public Policy, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• Project management certification (e.g., PMP, Prince2) is considered an asset.
• Professional fluency in English is required. French language proficiency is strongly preferred (but not required), particularly given the pan-African scope of the role and the need to engage across East, West, and Central Africa, including Francophone contexts.

• Sectoral Knowledge: Significant experience in international development, specifically within inclusive market systems, higher education, or forced migration sectors on the African continent.
• Specialized Experience: Proven technical expertise in at least one of the following areas:
  • Localization and strengthening the capacity of local organizations and/or Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs).
  • Social and academic inclusion of Refugee and Displaced Persons (RDPs) in higher or technical education.
  • The design and provision of high-level technical assistance to institutional partners.
• Social Inclusion: A deep understanding of the specific constraints and systemic challenges faced by refugee and displaced youth, particularly young women.

• Project Leadership: Extensive experience in project management within development cooperation or technical assistance frameworks, including budgeting and work planning.
• People Management: Proven track record of mentoring and coaching diverse, cross-cultural teams (including remote management) to build technical and professional competencies.
• Partnership Diplomacy: Exemplary ability to manage complex partnerships and sub-contractors with diplomacy, utilizing a participatory approach to capacity development.

• Strategic Mindset: Highly analytical with a proactive, learning-oriented approach and a high attention to detail.
• Adaptability: Curious, enthusiastic, and willing to innovate within a dynamic, pan-African work environment.
• Mission Alignment: A demonstrable commitment to WUSC’s mission of building a better world for all young people, specifically displaced and refugee youth.

Other considerations:

• While the initiative is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, Nairobi is the preferred base location for this role. However, WUSC may consider candidates based in Abidjan, Accra, Kigali, Addis Ababa, or Lagos.

Please note that this is not an expatriate assignment. For candidates based in Kenya or who wish to be based in Kenya, work visa support may be considered; however, compensation will be paid in Kenyan shillings and aligned with the Kenyan local market. For candidates based in all other approved locations, the Deputy Project Director must already have the legal right to work in their country of residence. Relocation allowances will not be provided.

• The role will require significant travel across the African continent, including potentially to fragile contexts.
• The DPD must have the ability/willingness to work a flexible schedule.

WUSC’s activities seek to balance inequities and create sustainable development around the globe; the work ethic of our staff, volunteers, representatives and partners shall correspond to the values and mission of the organization. WUSC promotes responsibility, respect, honesty, and professional excellence, and we will not tolerate harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation or abuse of any form. Successful applicants will be required to undertake an enhanced criminal record check where appropriate.