Job Title: Higher Education Specialist

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Regular: Full time Position

1. About the University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota (www.umn.edu, UMN) is a large, comprehensive R1 research university in the United States. Our commitment to collaborative equity permeates every global initiative and partnership, yielding meaningful sustainable relationships, processes, and results. University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans are strongly encouraged to apply.  UMN is leading the Key Kenya proposal as prime.

2. About the USAID Key Kenya Project. 

USAID has issued a RFA for the Kenya Empowered Youth (KEY) project ($15M Ceiling).  KEY’s overall objective is to empower youth as partners in development and help them to connect with social and economic opportunities. This activity will be delivered predominantly through partnerships with Kenyan HEIs, public and private sector employers (formal or informal), county and national government, and youth organizations. This will be achieved through three areas of focus: 1. Increase economic prospects for youth, 2. Through a partnership between U.S. and Kenyan HEIs, build the capacity of technical training institutions along high growth value chains to increase workforce competitiveness, conduct research, and increase the use of reliable data to inform youth development training, policy, and investments. 3. Develop and/or strengthen local, holistic and sustainable youth-serving systems in select counties to measurably and sustainably impact the lives of those youth who are most vulnerable.

3. Position Description

Position Overview: The Higher Education Specialist will cultivate and manage relationships with universities, as well as other higher education institutions (including polytechnics, technical training institutes, colleagues, and vocational training centers), senior Government of Kenya officials, and development partners. S/he will oversee curriculum revision and development and capacity development of higher education institutions.  Employment for this position will be contingent upon University of Minnesota receiving the Key Kenya award.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Foster, strengthen and implement youth-centric training programs that meet country workforce needs in Kenyan HEIs

• Manage technical experts to review and strengthen existing curricula to meet workforce needs in Kenyan HEIs

• Implement and strengthen faculty training programs to improve teaching in the classroom, online and in the field.

• Work with university partners to develop (individually or cooperatively) new training programs targeted to known workforce needs.

• Work with university partners to establish or strengthen competency-based training programs including skill-based teaching and training.

• Support the development and implementation of remote-learning programs and strategies where appropriate.

• Strengthen HEI institutional capacity to meet youth and workforce needs in Kenya through quality assurance, organizational development and evidence-based and adaptive learning strategies.

Identifying and managing academic partnerships with public and private entities to advance project goals and program sustainability

• Work with university partners to cultivate public and private partnerships to maximize opportunities for youth skill-building, align university programs to meet country needs and assure long-term programmatic sustainability.

• Work closely with partner universities,  public and private partners and the Partnership Specialist to build HEI capacity to identify, initiate and sustain productive public-private-academic partnerships.

• Support the university partners to liaise with public and private partners to foster innovative new strategies for sustainable support of youth-led initiatives in Kenyan HEIs.

Supporting the establishment and strengthening of a university-housed center of excellence for youth advancement

• Work with Kenyan HEI partners and public/private stakeholders to establish a center of excellence in an academic institution that will foster partnerships among HEI institutions, public agencies, private sector partners, youth-led organizations and networks in order to foster new, innovative strategies, share training materials and programs, and support a robust evidence-based approach to advancing youth employment and fostering youth-led development in Kenya.

Build HEI capacity to better meet youth needs

• Strengthen HEI institutional capacity to meet youth and workforce needs in Kenya through quality assurance, organizational development and evidence-based and adaptive learning strategies.

• Foster institutional capacity building and change through HEI engagement with the center of excellence.

• Where appropriate work with and provide training to project recipients, sub awardees and stakeholders to support robust MEL across all project activities and outcomes.

• Where appropriate, work with and provide training to project recipients, sub awardees and stakeholders to support robust adaptive management strategies across all project activities and outcomes.

Required and Preferred Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• A graduate degree in a relevant field such as higher education/TVET, distance learning, youth/adult learning, curriculum development, ICT and education, international development, or other related social/behavioral sciences;

•  Strong understanding of higher education institutions, both in Kenya and the United States;

•  Eight years of relevant and progressively increasing responsibility leading programs focused on research, technical training, youth development, workforce development, higher education, livelihoods, private sector engagement, or other fields related to the program with at least four of those years in Kenya or countries similar to Kenya;

• Demonstrated success working with senior higher education officials, university leadership, national ministry, development partners, and international organization partners;

• Demonstrated track record of working in teams and fostering partnerships;

• Leadership in capacity development of host county higher education institutions (TVETs, colleges, polytechnics and universities); and

• Demonstrated commitment to leadership and career results for women and girls.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience managing staff to assure timely, accurate and impactful reporting and communications.

• Experience working with a US prime, particularly a US academic institution.

• Experience working on large-scale federally funded projects (e.g. USAID, CDC) (over $10 million).

• Experience collaborating with diverse stakeholders with varying capacity in HEI engagement strategies.

• Experience building public-private partnerships with HEIs

• Experience with organizational development, quality assurance, curriculum mapping/strengthening or other HEI strengthening strategies.

• Experience implementing innovative approaches to online and remote education programs.

• Experience with competency-based educational program development

How To Apply

Interested applicants should send a copy of their CV and a cover letter to tstarnes@umn.edu. For more information on this opportunity, please contact Katey Pelican, DVM, PhD at pelicank@umn.edu; cc tstarnes@umn.edu.  Employment for this position will be contingent upon the University of Minnesota receiving the award and approval of the donor.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, University of Nairobi and Windle International Kenya on Wednesday November 18, 2020 signed a Collaborative Agreement between the three parties aimed at investing in Refugee Students’ Education at UoN.

Present at the meeting were the Executive Director, Windle International Kenya (WIK), Ms. Phyllis Mureu, UNHCR Kenya Rep, Ms. Fathiaa Abdalla, UoN Vice Chancellor, Prof. Stephen Kiama, UoN Dean of Students, Mr. Johnson Kinyua, Margaret Njayakio, Education Office, UNHCR, Snr. Education Counselor, WIK, Kasaya Bramwel, UoN Director Advancement Office, Brian Ouma, Chief Legal Officer, UoN Chief Legal Officer, Collins Omondi, Chief Information Officer, Office of Career Offices, Naomi Nyaboga and Peter Barach, DAFI UoN Student Leader among other guest from the three parties.

The University of Nairobi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Windle International Kenya have been long-term partners, albeit informally. WIK proposed to UoN to consider a formal agreement between the three parties. In discussions that followed, UoN, UNHCR and WIK realized that they could harness their diverse corporate experiences and vast operations to enhance support for the students.

Windle International Kenya (WIK) is a non-governmental organization in Kenya headquartered in Nairobi city with sister offices in other countries. With a mission to transform society through education, WIK works with the Government of Kenya, the UNHCR, Organizational and Institutional partners and marginalized communities in Kenya to provide education to all at pre and post-secondary levels.

From history, WIK’s founder Dr. Hugh Austin Windle Pilkington, taught at the University of Nairobi between 1972 and 1980 from where his humanitarian activities among refugees began.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has the mandate to provide international protection and assistance to hundreds of thousands of refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, internally displaced persons and returnees world over. In Kenya, UNHCR collaborates with the Government of Kenya operating on the framework of the Refugees Act.

DAFI is a German acronym for the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative. The DAFI scholarship program was initiated and has been funded by the Government of Germany since 1992.

During the most recent selection process undertaken from September 2019, 87 out of 245 new scholars were placed at the University of Nairobi. This represents an equivalent of 35% of the total population of new scholars. In 2020, the Kenya program targets to support 554 scholars undertaking academic programs in various institutions of higher learning in Kenya.

Currently, UNHCR, WIK, together with other partners, are supporting 158 (41F, 117M) students to pursue studies at UoN.

Some of the alumni of the University of Nairobi that Windle International Kenya, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and partners have supported are:

1. Ms. Irene Ndalo, from Uganda. She studied Computer Science at the University of Nairobi in the mid-90s and transitioned to become a senior connect engineering officer at Safaricom PLC.
2. Mr. David Bulambo Bitingingwa, from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He undertook a Master of Arts course in Communication Studies and graduated in 2011. Upon completion of his studies, he took up an international assignment with UNHCR Chad office. He relocated recently to Canada, where he works as a communications consultant among other engagements.
3. Mr. Awil Osman, from Somalia. He completed his Computer Science degree in 2014 followed by a stint of jobs in Nairobi and Garissa in Kenya and later repatriated to Somalia to serve his community as an innovator and entrepreneur in the ICT sector. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Irisehub, an ICT start-up in Mogadishu that has the experience of implementing an array of projects with partners that include UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in liaison with the Federal Government of Somalia.
4. Mr. Mohamed Hassan Dakane, from Somalia. He undertook a diploma course in Education and graduated in September 2011. Later, he pursued a degree course in Political Science between 2014 and 2017 with outstanding academic achievement and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in December 2017. He worked as a programs officer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country office in Mogadishu. He proceeded for his Masters degree at University of Sussex in the UK.
5. Mr. Adil Anur Abdalla, from the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan. He studied a Bachelor of Science course in Geology at the University of Nairobi and graduated in December 2018. Until recently, he was working with a mining firm in Juba, South Sudan.
6. Ms. Hibo Ali Hashi, from Somalia. She undertook a Bachelor of Commerce course in Finance at the University of Nairobi. She graduated in December 2018. Upon completion of her studies, she worked as the Finance and Administrative Officer with the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology in Jubbaland State of Somalia. She is currently working as the Finance Officer of a local organization in Somalia, implementing projects in partnership with USAID and others.

These six selected alumni demonstrate the enormous contribution that UoN has made in changing the narrative of youth who have been adversely affected by forced migration.

With the signing of this Collaborative Agreement, the three parties aim to invest in the education and training of refugee students at UoN through scholarships and achieving the SDG 4 focusing on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The University of Nairobi celebrates the Founder of Windle Trust now Windle International Kenya Dr. Hugh Austin Windle Pilkington who taught at the University’s Department of Religious Studies between 1972 and 1980.