Head, Program Planning & Performance 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: Head, Program Planning & Performance

Job Requisition ID: JR-0000000689
Location: Nigeria
Employment type: Full-time

The Oppotunity

• This role provides leadership, guidance, and technical support to all program delivery platforms (Country Programs, Pan African, Education & Transitions, Strategic Partnerships & Innovation, Special Programs & Health etc.) on program planning.
• S/He will be primarily responsible for leading program and portfolio planning that translates strategic agenda into annual/thematic plans and operational delivery; building and ensuring the implementation of the Foundation’s investment tracking systems and monitoring framework and coordinating tasks and processes for monitoring progress on key agreed indicators.

Way You Can Contribute

• Design planning framework for programs, including forecasts, budget planning, and program-wide annual calendar of priorities and activities. 
• Monitor timelines for the annual program planning cycle. 
• Track and collate program-wide portfolio implementation plans, progress, and status at all levels in close consultation with Country, Pan African, and HCD program operations heads. 
• Facilitate planning and coordination sessions within Programs.
• Lead the review and revision as necessary of the program planning framework.
• Embed a common planning framework across programs through training and other cross-program team engagement initiatives.
• Adapt planning and budgeting framework to program evolution.
• Coordinates the processes of determining the best strategic approach in a country based on the Foundation’s mission, niche and comparative advantage, and alignment to the country’s national priorities and aspirations of young women and men. Specifically, to develop strategic plans.
• Codify lessons learned from diagnostics, ecosystem mappings, foresight studies, and macro analysis to inform strategic plans.
• Lead and manage the program strategy development processes, including root cause analyses, target setting, and illustrating the development hypotheses.
• Coordinates the program and portfolio planning that incorporates an integrated end-to-end programming process, including approaches/ mechanisms for partnering.
• Contributes to project design processes such as developing/evolving project boundaries, theories of change, and adaptable plan(s) for implementation.
• Design and execute an integrated annual operational planning calendar and activities for Programs, including PST reviews, ExCo reviews, Proposal Approvals etc.
• Come up with planning tools, resources and drive planning capability building across the Programs’ teams.
• Develops effective learning and capacity-building mechanisms on monitoring and partner insights, continuously identifying good practices inside and outside the Foundation to inform learning and provide oversight of peer support to the Foundation’s Partners in the Country.
• In collaboration with Impact Capability Development and other relevant Functions, carries out capacity assessments based on country needs, including supporting the Program team to build MEL capabilities, multiply the learning, and provide peer-to-peer support.

Who You Are

• Master’s Degree in Development Studies / Social Sciences/ Economics / Statistics or its equivalent.
• Post-graduate degree and/or equivalent experience and training. A knowledge of research methods, and in particular, research approaches and skills related to gathering data and insights among Indigenous communities, youth, and other vulnerable groups, using appropriate cultural lenses and perspectives.
• Ten (10) plus years of experience working with the private and non-profit sectors, particularly in a role relating to leading/coordinating planning, strategy, M&E, and reporting systems.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage strategic and operational plans to manage and track the implementation of Roadmaps and partnerships – delivery of outcomes and deliverables, timelines, and responsibilities.
• Experience in working closely with stakeholders in developing countries (such as government ministries and NGOs) to design and implement results-based management systems; this should be done in such a way that the M&E systems become useful for local stakeholders and get used by them.
• Experience in working with international stakeholders (e.g., donors) to design/implement results-based management systems for complex programs, including programs that have a wide scope of emergent interventions and a focus on adaptation and learning.
• Quality assessments of administrative, qualitative, and quantitative data mixed methods.
• Experience with beneficiary feedback loops and participatory methods.
• Experience at senior leadership and management, preferably leading a country.
• Experience living and/or working in a local country/community.
• Experience navigating research protocols, review processes and management of big data with government and academic institutions.
• Solid experience in strategic, portfolio, and implementation work planning.
• Deep familiarity with strategies for collecting, collating, and analyzing data for the purpose of measuring and reporting on outcomes and impacts. Deep knowledge of monitoring systems, local research, and evaluation methods.
• Strong language, culture, and identity/affiliation with national people.
• Membership in national networks and authorities as applicable.
• Skills and competency to develop Measurable Outcomes and Impacts, as well as methods and tools for measuring the same within government and non-governmental institutions.
• Understanding of systems thinking and strong ability to develop and test theories of change and associated practice tools as they may be relevant and appropriate for Indigenous communities.
• A dynamic thinker, you bring effective experience in stakeholder engagement and policy influencing. This can include experience working in community-based organizations, governance and related councils/commissions, regional and national government, and the private sector.
• Records and filing skills for maintaining information resources and publications.

Application Closing Date
22nd July, 2026.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online