Partner, Country Program Operations at Mastercard Foundation

Mastercard Foundation is a global foundation based across four hubs in Kigali, Rwanda, Nairobi, Kenya, Accra, Ghana and Toronto, Canada. Our programs promote financial inclusion and advance education and learning in Africa, primarily for young people, and in Canada for Indigenous youth. The Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. From inception, the Foundation was designed to be a separate entity and independent from Mastercard. Our policies, operations, and funding decisions are made by our President and Board of Directors.

The Foundation believes that youth employment is key to unlocking prosperity, both for youth and their societies. Enabling young women and men from disadvantaged communities to secure dignified and fulfilling work will ensure inclusive development and economic growth in Africa.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Partner, Country Program Operations

Location: Lagos, Nigeria

The Work at the Foundation

• We are currently in an exciting period at the Mastercard Foundation as we intensify the implementation of the Young Africa Works strategy, aiming to empower 30 million young people throughout Africa to access dignified and fulfilling employment.
• To ensure the Foundation's accessibility to our partners and program participants, we have established offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda. These offices provide strong in-country support for the implementation of Young Africa Works.
• We collaborate with governments, the private sector, educators, and other funders to enhance the quality of education and vocational training, equip young individuals with the necessary skills for the workforce, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and facilitate connections between job seekers and meaningful employment opportunities.
• Our values serve as our guiding principles, transcending and surpassing all other considerations. We wholeheartedly encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work.
• If you are an experienced Program Operations Partner professional looking to increase your impact, read on!

The Opportunity

• Reporting to the Country Director, the Program Operations Partner will be responsible for harmonizing the complete spectrum of tasks within the office of the Country Director.
• This encompassing role involves coordinating areas such as education, performance assessment, reporting, and the entirety of operational functions spanning the array of programs across the country.
• The primary objective is to bolster the execution of programming efforts through seamless coordination and management.

Ways You Can Contribute

• Engage with Country Directors and Programs team members to ensure alignment between country plans, program priorities, and operational capabilities.
• Collaborate closely with other program operations teams like Program Monitoring and Planning to ensure coordination and cooperation.
• Contribute to developing country plans by providing timely operational data and insights.
• Assist Country Leadership and Business Partners in identifying resource needs for programs and support creating plans to address those needs.
• Serve as a key point of contact for the country's performance data, dashboards, forecasts, and impact metrics, working with Impact, Finance, and Business Intelligence teams.
• Support program leadership in creating management performance reports, analyzing key trends, and generating reports.
• Lead the execution of operational efforts and special projects across programs by managing priorities and activities monthly and contributing to the annual planning process.
• Coordinate and plan program forecasts and budgets in collaboration with the Country Director and other teams.
• Provide updates and research findings on relevant industry trends and country data.
• Drive consideration of cross-cutting priorities such as gender, safeguarding, disability and inclusion in regional program implementation.  
• Manage specific implementation processes, policies, and standards for the program to ensure quality and alignment.
• Collaborate with programming and business partners to standardize processes, identify necessary updates, plan for changes, and manage revisions centrally.
• Analyze program documentation and reports and deliver internal progress briefs and reporting, as required. 
• Provide best practices to ensure assigned projects run consistently and that risks are communicated. 
• Provide perspective and expertise on emerging issues and trends in relevant thematic and sector areas (with particular attention to entrepreneurship, education, agriculture, and digital economy.
• Contribute insights to the Foundation’s thought leadership on youth and work in Africa.
• Facilitate the documentation of learning processes and procedures, working with Country Teams and Theme Teams to collect and share lessons.

Who You Are

• Bachelor's Degree in Operations or related field.
• Relevant professional qualification: Project Management and Change Management certification, amongst others.
• Minimum of six (6) years overall experience, out of which at least two (2) years should be at the management level.
• Experience working in Africa is required.
• Experience in public and private sector contexts in roles that provide strong operational and strategy exposure.
• Experience managing significant budgets or expenditures.
• Consulting experience is an added advantage.
• Proven experience engaging and collaborating with stakeholders in non-governmental and multilateral organizations, education institutions, government, MSMEs, private sector, as well as young people.
• Proven experience designing programs and building partnerships.
• Proven experience in integrating gender equality and inclusion outcomes in programs and operations.
• Strategy development and work plan translation as well as analytic and quantitative capabilities.
• Ability to lead, facilitate, formulate, organize, and clearly express program roadmaps and translation to executable work plans.
• Exposure to systems thinking with an ability to understand and engage with stakeholders in different ecosystems and design programming that addresses root causes and critical needs.
• Substantive knowledge of key issues, emerging trends, and barriers in youth and work across Africa.
• Flexible, adaptable, agile, and able to execute a range of job duties with multiple deadlines and changing priorities.
• Proven excellence in verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures and to distill complex information and data into accessible conversation and written pieces.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
• You have a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.

Applicaion Closing Date
13th November, 2023.