Call for Applications: Refugee-Led Organizations: Increasing Access to Higher Education for Refugee and Displaced young people in Nairobi and other urban centres in Kenya

Terms of Reference

Position Location : Nairobi, Kenya

Duration of Contract : 2 years

Reports To : DREEM Higher Education Inclusion Manager, Pan- Africa

Expected Start Date : September 2026

Overview of WUSC

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a leading Canadian international development organisation, 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 fulfil 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.

Background

The DREEM project serves to provide technical assistance to the Mastercard Foundation and its partners on the inclusion of refugee and displaced (RDP) young people. As part of the Mastercard Foundation's commitment to expanding educational opportunities for RDP youth and as part of the Foundation’s efforts to work with refugee-led organisations (RLOs), WUSC is scaling its partnerships with RLOs under DREEM to support outreach efforts for higher education.

The term RLO as defined by Mastercard Foundation refers to an organisation led by people with lived experience of displacement, including refugees, IDPs, returnees, asylum seekers, and host communities. To qualify as an RLO, the organisation must have: at least two RDP in senior management (e.g., CEO, CFO, COO) or alternatively, a Board with at least 50% RDP representation.

The "University Now" Initiative

This initiative was piloted successfully in Kenya under the first phase of the DREEM project. Building on this success, the initiative is now being launched as a multi-country model to bridge the gap between talented RDP youth and higher education institutions. Over the next five years, “University Now” will continue scaling its impact within Kenya and expanding to other countries to create a sustainable, RLO-led recruitment pathway.

Under the DREEM 2030 project, WUSC is inviting urban-based RLOs only in Kenya to submit proposals and join an existing cohort of Kakuma and Dadaab-based RLOs. These RLOs will drive the development and lead key project activities to create a sustainable and scalable outreach model. The initiative aims to support RLOs to lead and implement outreach activities that connect young RDPs to higher education opportunities offered through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and beyond. At the end of the funding cycle, University Now will have an RLO-determined and market-stable approach to funding the mechanism.

Objectives of the Partnership

• Enhance their organisational capacity: through capacity strengthening sessions, guided peer-to-peer learning and support, RLOs will strengthen their organisational capacity and leadership skills to serve their communities, access funding, and become more sustainable.
• Build Networks and Collaborate: Establish and strengthen relationships with other RLOs, universities, schools, and stakeholders within the country and across the ecosystem to reach more RDPs. By growing these networks, RLOs will expand their capacity to connect students to education opportunities.
• Share Information and Resources: Foster mutual growth by sharing ideas, resources, and funding opportunities with peers, beneficiaries, and stakeholders. RLOs will build on existing efforts and avoid duplication, ensuring more efficient and impactful collaboration.
• Promote higher education opportunities among refugee and displaced youth in Kenya: Develop and execute a plan to disseminate information to peers, beneficiaries, and stakeholders across urban areas and information settlements within Kenya, including but not limited to Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret, and Mombasa. This will enhance the visibility of educational opportunities and the role of RLOs in creating lasting change.
• Increase access to higher education opportunities for RDPs by offering application support services, including but not limited to: access to the internet, application guidance, and pre-departure support.
• Create a sustainable RLO-led outreach model: Co-create and implement a scalable, sustainable outreach model for connecting refugee youth to higher education, in partnership with WUSC and other key actors. The model will combine specialised knowledge of RDP displacement and higher education access processes with a unified governance framework for the RLO consortium and a viable Go-to-Market strategy.

Scope of Work

1. Outreach & Information Sharing
   1. Design and execute outreach campaigns using contextually relevant methods (eg. mix of digital and physical as needed)
   2. Analyse the barriers to access for marginalised groups such as young women and persons with disabilities, and create targeted strategies to reach them.
   3. Translate and adapt scholarship information into locally accessible formats.
2. Application Support & Peer Mentorship
   1. Establish and manage application hubs where students will receive hands-on help with their university applications.
   2. Recruit, train, and supervise at least 5 peer-to-peer advisors, manage their workflows, and monitor their quality of advice.
3. Consortium Building & Sustainability
   1. Actively co-design with other RLOs, the University Now consortium charter and governance framework
   2. Actively co-design with other RLOs, a market-stable approach to funding the consortium
   3. Contribute to a shared central resource “library” that will archive all training materials, partnership management trackers, and lessons learned documents to preserve institutional knowledge.
4. Organisational Strengthening & Technical Assistance
   1. Establish a direct communication channel with the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program Partners and their recruitment teams to ensure real-time updates on admissions processes.
   2. Participate in technical assistance support sessions provided by WUSC
   3. Maintain dedicated financial reports and share them monthly with WUSC to ensure 100% compliance.
   4. Share evidence-based monthly activity reports with WUSC, highlighting impact and lessons learned, including what worked and what didn’t.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Recruit, train, and supervise at least 5 RDP peer-to-peer advisors, manage their workflows, and monitor their quality of advice and accuracy of reports.
• Serve as the contact between the community and Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program university partners. RLOs will attend university-specific briefings and then translate the information and convey it to the community in an accessible language and format.
• Provide a physical space that is accessible and safe for young people to access laptops and the internet for applications.
• Design and implement targeted outreach strategies for marginalised groups such as young women, single mothers, and persons with disabilities, ensuring their inclusion in education opportunities by meeting the overall targets of 70% women reach and at least 10% for persons with disabilities.
• Contribute to the development of promotional materials (e.g., posters, flyers) and launch information campaigns through announcements and digital platforms (e.g., WhatsApp) to promote events and opportunities and ensure widespread dissemination of information to target communities.
• Collect, consolidate, and share the experiences, gaps and barriers to accessing higher education for refugees and displaced people in different settlements or geographic areas.
• Assign a senior lead to regularly attend and actively participate in the consortium steering committee meetings, providing input, feedback, and guidance to ensure effective project implementation and decision-making.
• Coordinate, organise, and lead settlement/thematic working group meetings to collect input from representatives and stakeholders from their respective geographic area (i.e. Kakuma/Kalobeyei, Dadaab, or Nairobi)
• Appoint a senior lead to co-draft the consortium governance framework and leadership succession plan.
• Actively contribute to the development of a market-stable financial strategy
• Organise and/or participate in workshops and training sessions, including capacity-building on topics like digital skills, financial management and accounting, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), program and fund development, and other NGO management skills.
• Expand and maintain a network of RLOs across Kenya, fostering collaboration between settlements and enabling knowledge sharing and resource exchange on key topics such as higher education opportunities.
• Contribute to reviewing the monitoring and evaluation plan and help refine project activities based on feedback and progress reports.
• Maintain clear trackers and records of activities and costs in line with project requirements to ensure timely financial and monitoring reports.