RLO Fund Officer, 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 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.

**DREEM 2. 0**

WUSC has 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 the 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.

**Refugee Led Organization Opportunity Fund Brief**

The DREEM project provides technical assistance to Mastercard Foundation and its partners on the inclusion of refugees and displaced young people (RDP1). As part of WUSC’s established approach and the wider localization agenda, the DREEM project is set to partner with Refugee-led Organizations (RLOs) in several African countries to strengthen their capacity to operate sustainably and efficiently. Strengthening refugee-led initiatives and RLOs is an important part of fostering RDP-led solutions and ensuring sustainability. The initiative will directly enable over 5,000 RDP and host community youth across Africa, 70% of whom will be women and 10% youth with disabilities, to access dignified and fulfilling work.

In order to improve the provision of quality gender-responsive services that can attract and

improve access to future revenue streams, WUSC believes that RLOs need capacity

strengthening support and direct funding for their work to lead to positive structural changes in the supporting environment for RDP youth. By facilitating RLO sustained, long-term funding and capacity, WUSC hopes to ultimately increase their participation, influence and decision-making power.

**Key Responsibilities**

*1. Grant Cycle Administration Support*

- Assist in the dissemination of open and transparent calls for proposals to RLOs in both English and French.
- Organize and maintain a database of applicant RLOs and support the coordination of selection panels.
- Support the RLO Opportunity Fund Manager in the day-to-day operations of the project in Malawi and any other geographies assigned;
- Help process and track documentation for the rigorous due diligence of RLO partners, including screening and reviewing organizational policies.
- Coordinate the scheduling of regular monitoring visits and reflection meetings between the Fund team and RLO partners.
- Provide general administrative support, including handling communication, scheduling meetings, preparing reports, and maintaining project documentation.

*2. Capacity Building and Logistical Coordination*

- Provide log