Program Officer

Position Title: Program Officer
Position Location: Amman, WUSC Jordan office
Time Allocation: Full time equivalent
Reports to: Senior Program Officer
Contract End Term: 30/04/2025, renewable upon funding availability
Deadline to apply: 10 March 2024
Start date: 01 May 2024

Introduction

WUSC (World University Service of Canada) is a Canadian international development and refugee sponsoring non-profit organization. Present in over 25 countries, we improve education, employment, and empowerment opportunities for young people around the world. We work with a unique and powerful network of post-secondary institutions, private sectors partners, and volunteers to fulfill our mission and vision of creating a world where all young people can grow up in safe, secure, and supportive environments; where they can learn, work, and play a vital role in their country’s development.

WUSC Jordan is implementing several projects that support refugee youth to access education and employment, including several ‘complementary pathways’ programs. This includes the Student Refugee Program (SRP) which offers refugee students access to higher education and sponsorship to Canada and the Welcome Corps on Campus (WCC), which offers refugee students a life-changing opportunity to continue their education and build their futures in the United States. In addition, the UNHCR-funded “Refugee-led Counselling for Complementary Pathways” project offers training and leadership opportunities to refugees in Jordan to provide peer support to refugees seeking education and employment opportunities linked with resettlement.

Key Areas of Responsibility

The Program Officer position is a new position that will primarily focus on the Student Refugee Program (SRP) and the Welcome Corps on Campus (WCC). There will be close collaboration with the team responsible for the UNHCR Complementary Pathways project.

Project implementation

• Support the Senior Program Officer with the outreach and student identification process, including launching the call for applications, conducting the shortlisting process and liaising with UNHCR and local authorities for verifications of refugee applicants;
• Support selected students with the completion of immigration forms and preparation for the academic placement process;
• Assist in developing relevant pre-arrival training supports for refugee students, including academic bridging, English language and/or digital skills;
• Assist in communicating with selected students during the pre-arrival period;
• Support communications with local officials regarding immigration approval and travel arrangements; other related tasks, as required.

External representation:

• Support the WUSC Jordan team with external representation by attending relevant forums related to complementary pathways programs, and providing information and updates on the WUSC’s complementary pathways programs to other stakeholders.
• Communicate with organizations to coordinate English language upgrading courses for selected students.

Qualifications:

Education

• Degree completion in the field of humanities, law, political science or any other related field

Experience

• Knowledge of the refugee context in Jordan, including familiarity with resettlement and complementary pathways, higher education scholarships for refugees, etc.

• 2-4 years of professional experience ideally in the NGO sector, humanitarian sector, refugee sector, including resettlement and complementary pathways.

• Willingness to travel within Jordan to various locations as needed.

  Competencies

• Strong communication, administrative, time management and organizational skills

• Excellent skills in information technology, spreadsheets and PDF programs in particular

• Complete fluency, oral, and written in English and Arabic is essential

• Flexibility in working hours

• Demonstrated commitment to gender equality and inclusion

Languages

Fluency in Arabic and English