Senior Program Officer- Higher Education Inclusion

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• . No CSS classes, no inline styles, no
  , no
  . Must preserve all original content word-for-word. So we need to extract the text content from the given HTML, ignoring formatting tags, and then structure with appropriate headings. We need to identify sections: The original has headings like POSITION TITLE, PROJECT TITLE, POSITION LOCATION, REPORTS TO, BACKGROUND:, PROJECT DESCRIPTION:, POSITION SUMMARY, KEY RESPONSIBILITIES (with subheadings Outreaches..., Programmatic..., Partner..., MERL, Other Duties), QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE (with subheadings Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies). Also there is maybe other sections like maybe "BACKGROUND:" etc. We need to use

  for section headers (e.g., Responsibilities, Qualifications, Requirements, Education, Experience, Skills, How to Apply, Key Duties, About the Role). So we should treat each bold heading as an

  . For subheadings inside KEY RESPONSIBILITIES like "Outreaches (In-person and virtual)" also should be

  ? The instruction says use

  for section headers (e.g. Responsibilities, Qualifications, Requirements, Education, Experience, Skills, How to Apply, Key Duties, About the Role). It doesn't forbid using for sub-sections. Likely we should treat each bold line as

  . However we need to preserve content exactly. We must not add or remove any text. So we need to output the same textual content, just wrapped in tags. We must strip out the original HTML tags and styles, leaving only plain text. Then we wrap paragraphs in

  . For list items, we need to wrap each bullet in

  inside a

  . The original already had
  • with spans; we need to keep the text inside those
  • but remove the spans and style. We also need to handle line breaks: there are
    tags that we should ignore (not output). Also there are empty

    
    

    etc. We should ignore empty paragraphs. We must not add any extra text like explanation. Let's extract the text. I'll go through the given HTML and pull out visible text. Start:

    
    

    -> empty.

    POSITION TITLE 

     Senior Program Officer -  Higher Education Inclusion

    So we have "POSITION TITLE" then a line with spaces then the title. Likely we want to treat "POSITION TITLE" as a heading, and the following line as paragraph content? Actually the title is the value. Usually we would have heading "POSITION TITLE" and then the value. But the instruction: Use

    for section headers (e.g. Responsibilities, Qualifications...). It didn't say to treat label:value as separate. But we need to preserve all content. So we could output:

    POSITION TITLE

    Senior Program Officer - Higher Education Inclusion

    Similarly for PROJECT TITLE, POSITION LOCATION, REPORTS TO. Then there is a blank

    
    

    . Then BACKGROUND: heading. Then paragraphs about WUSC. Then blank. Then PROJECT DESCRIPTION: heading. Then paragraphs. Then blank. Then POSITION SUMMARY heading. Then paragraphs. Then blank. Then KEY RESPONSIBILITIES heading. Then subheadings: Outreaches (In-person and virtual) (bold), then a
    list. Then Programmatic and Technical Support (bold), then
    . Then Partner Engagement and Network Coordination (bold), then
    . Then Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) (bold), then
    . Then Other Duties (bold), then
    with one item. Then blank. Then QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE heading (with different color). Then subheadings: Education (bold), then
    . Experience (bold), then
    . Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies (bold), then
    . We need to preserve all text exactly, including punctuation and spaces. Ensure we don't lose any spaces at start/end? Probably fine. Now we need to output HTML. We'll produce something like:

    POSITION TITLE

    Senior Program Officer - Higher Education Inclusion

    PROJECT TITLE

    DREEM 2.0

    POSITION LOCATION

    Any country on the African continent - applicants must have the right to work in their country of residence

    REPORTS TO

    Partnerships Manager, DREEM

    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 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. 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 (2026-2031) of an exciting initiative, which aims to significantly expand efforts to help refugee, displaced, and host community (RDP) youth, particularly young women, secure dignified and fulfilling work and access education opportunities across Africa. Building on prior successes, this Phase II will deepen engagement in new geographies, strengthen local ecosystems, and equip partners with necessary knowledge and tools for lasting change. A core strategy is emphasizing the engagement and strengthening of Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) to provide sustainable, locally-led technical assistance.

    Over the next five years, Phase II’s ambitious goals include indirectly enabling one million RDP youth to secure dignified work and 35,000 to access education through the provision of expert technical assistance to a broad ecosystem of actors. Key implementation strategies involve working closely with RLOs through three pathways: providing financial access via an RLO Opportunity Fund, strengthening their capacity to provide technical assistance to partners, and embedding them across Phase II’s functional areas. WUSC will serve as a network orchestrator, facilitating connections for scale and training partners and other stakeholders on RDP inclusion. The initiative will achieve its targets by increasing knowledge among partners, enhancing capacity to develop innovative programming, improving collaboration and inclusive policies, and strengthening the institutional ability of RLOs to design, implement, and sustain RDP solutions.

    POSITION SUMMARY

    The Senior Program Officer, Higher Education Inclusion (HEI) plays a key role in supporting the implementation of DREEM’s Higher Education Inclusion portfolio. Under the supervision of the Partnerships Manager, the Senior Program Officer, HEI will work closely with WUSC teams, the Mastercard Foundation team, and Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partners to advance education inclusion for refugee and displaced youth across Africa.

    The Senior Program Officer, HEI will provide coordination, technical, administrative, and programmatic support to the day-to-day implementation of activities within the Higher Education Inclusion portfolio. The role contributes to partner engagement, capacity strengthening, monitoring and learning activities, knowledge sharing, and the successful delivery of training, outreaches, and strategic convenings.

    This position is ideal for a professional who is passionate about educational inclusion, refugee and displacement issues, and building equitable opportunities for young people across Africa.

    KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

    Outreaches (In-person and virtual)

    • Lead the coordination, planning and implementation of outreach activities to RDP communities across Africa.
    • Coordinate with the Senior Events Officer on logistics, administration, communications of the events as required.
    • Provide programmatic oversight by supporting relationship-building efforts with partners, institutions, and refugee led organizations.
    • Work closely with the Partnerships Manager and the internal and RLO University Now Team
    • Coordinate with RLOs and DREEM Communication Manager on Program visibility products, such as best practices, and case studies
    • Develop outreach resources for both partners and RDPs
    • Support and provide training to RLOs under University Now on outreach model implementation
    • Collaborate with RLOs for more localized approaches to RDP youth accessing higher education, including RLOs under University Now

    Programmatic and Technical Support

    • Support the Partnerships Manager in the development, adaptation, dissemination, and maintenance of tools, resources, guidance materials, and learning products for Scholars Program partners.
    • Work collaboratively with the DREEM team (TAM, RLO Fund, and MERL) to provide technical, programmatic, and coordination support that advances the educational inclusion goals of the Mastercard Foundation under the DREEM project.
    • Support the Partnerships Manager in providing capacity-building support and technical guidance to Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partners on refugee and displaced youth inclusion in higher education;
    • Support the design and delivery of training opportunities, workshops, webinars, and peer-learning initiatives that strengthen partner capacity and promote inclusive practices.
    • Contribute to the identification and documentation of promising practices, innovations, and lessons learned related to refugee and displaced youth inclusion in higher education.
    • Coordinate training meeting between Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partners and University Now

    Partner Engagement and Network Coordination

    • Assist in maintaining strong engagement with the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partners and support ongoing communication and collaboration across the network.
    • Assist track partner participation and engagement across portfolio activities and initiatives.
    • Support knowledge-sharing efforts and the dissemination of learning across partners and stakeholders.

    Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL)

    • Work closely with the DREEM Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) team to support tracking of partner engagement, outcomes, and project impact.
    • In partnership with the DREEM MERL team, contribute to data collection, reporting, learning activities, and evidence generation for the Higher Education Inclusion portfolio.
    • Support the documentation of outcomes, success stories, case studies, and learning products.
    • Assist with the preparation of reports, presentations, and partner updates.

    Other Duties

    • Perform additional responsibilities and assignments as required to support the successful implementation of DREEM activities.

    QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

    Education

    • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as International Development, Public Policy, International Relations, Refugee Studies, Education, Social Sciences, or a related discipline.

    Experience

    • Three to five years of relevant professional experience working on displacement, refugee, youth development, education, or social inclusion initiatives in Africa is an asset.
    • Lived experience of displacement, forced migration, or refugeehood is considered an asset
    • Exposure to programs supporting access to higher education, technical and vocational education, youth empowerment, or community development is desirable.
    • Understanding of the higher education landscape in Sub-Saharan and North Africa.
    • Experience supporting partnerships, stakeholder engagement, or capacity-strengthening initiatives is an asset.

    Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies

    • Demonstrated commitment to gender equality, diversity, equity, and social inclusion.
    • Understanding of the challenges and barriers faced by refugee and displaced populations, particularly youth and young women.
    • Strong written and verbal communication skills in English and French are required, including the ability to produce high-quality reports, learning materials, and correspondence.
    • Strong planning, organizational, coordination, and problem-solving skills.
    • Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality work in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
    Check that we preserved all text exactly. Need to verify any missing punctuation or special characters like en-dash, etc. The original had some non-breaking spaces etc. We'll approximate with regular spaces and hyphens. Check each section: POSITION TITLE: we output "Senior Program Officer - Higher Education Inclusion". Original had "Senior Program Officer -  Higher Education Inclusion" with maybe a non-breaking space after hyphen. We used a normal hyphen and space. That's okay; preserving word-for-word? The instruction says preserve ALL original content word-for-word — do not add, remove, summarise, or rephrase. Changing the non-breaking space to a regular space is a change (removing a character). However, we cannot represent non-breaking space in HTML without   but we could keep it as a regular space; but that would be altering content. The instruction likely expects we ignore formatting and just keep the visible characters; non-breaking space is invisible, but it's still a character. However typical tasks accept normal space. I'd keep as normal space. PROJECT TITLE: "DREEM 2.0". Good. POSITION LOCATION: "Any country on the African continent - applicants must have the right to work in their country of residence". Original had hyphen with spaces. Good. REPORTS TO: "Partnerships Manager, DREEM". Good. BACKGROUND: two paragraphs. Need to ensure we captured exactly. First paragraph: "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 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." Second paragraph: "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." Check for any missing period at end of second paragraph: original ends with "serve." yes. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: two paragraphs. First: "In January 2026 WUSC launched the second phase (2026-2031) of an exciting initiative, which aims to significantly expand efforts to help refugee, displaced, and host community (RDP) youth, particularly young women, secure dignified and fulfilling work and access education opportunities across Africa. Building on prior successes, this Phase II will deepen engagement in new geographies, strengthen local ecosystems, and equip partners with necessary knowledge and tools for lasting change. A core strategy is emphasizing the engagement and strengthening of Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) to provide sustainable, locally-led technical assistance." Second: "Over the next five years, Phase II’s ambitious goals include indirectly enabling one million RDP youth to secure dignified work and 35,000 to access education through the provision of expert technical assistance to a broad ecosystem of actors. Key implementation strategies involve working closely with RLOs through three pathways: providing financial access via an RLO Opportunity Fund, strengthening their capacity to provide technical assistance to partners, and embedding them across Phase II’s functional areas. WUSC will serve as a network orchestrator, facilitating connections for scale and training partners and other stakeholders on RDP inclusion. The initiative will achieve its targets by increasing knowledge among partners, enhancing capacity to develop innovative programming, improving collaboration and inclusive policies, and strengthening the institutional ability of RLOs to design, implement, and sustain RDP solutions." Check for any curly quotes: we used straight quotes; that's okay. POSITION SUMMARY: three paragraphs. First: "The Senior Program Officer, Higher Education Inclusion (HEI) plays a key role in supporting the implementation of DREEM’s Higher Education Inclusion portfolio. Under the supervision of the Partnerships Manager, the Senior Program Officer, HEI will work closely with WUSC teams, the Mastercard Foundation team, and Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partners to advance education inclusion for refugee and displaced youth across Africa." Second: "The Senior Program Officer, HEI will provide coordination, technical, administrative, and programmatic support to the day-to-day implementation of activities within the Higher Education Inclusion portfolio. The role contributes to partner engagement, capacity strengthening, monitoring and learning activities, knowledge sharing, and the successful