Head Impact, West Africa (Francophone) at Mastercard Foundation, Dakar, Senegal.
About Mastercard Foundation
Mastercard Foundation seeks a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. Through its Young Africa Works strategy and Canadian EleV program, the Foundation works with partners to ensure that millions of young people, especially young women, access quality education, financial services, and dignified work. Mastercard Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. The Foundation is independent with its own Board of Directors and CEO.

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 Social Impact professional looking to increase your impact, read on!


The opportunity
Reporting to the Director, Country Programs & Impact Management, the Head of Impact will be responsible for developing and managing the Impact Workstream for Country Programs in Francophone West Africa in a manner that aligns with the Impact Strategy and fosters optimum pathways to Impact. This includes Impact Strategy & Roadmap Development and Implementation, Impact Thought Leadership, Impact Leadership & Coordination, and Team Leadership and Management. S/he will provide essential technical leadership and management expertise across countries, with potential accountability for people leadership, capability development and a high level of performance towards expected Workstream results.

Ways you can contribute
• Lead and coordinate the development and delivery of Regional Impact plans in alignment with the overall Functional plans and Goals, regularly sharing updates on progress, drawing out lessons learned and strategic insights.
• Lead and coordinate the design and/or refinement of Country Program Impact initiatives in accordance with the Impact Strategy, fostering optimum pathways to Impact. This includes overseeing the development and management of the work of the Regional Impact Partner Organization (IPO).
• Lead the collation of all Country Insights to inform the performance of Programs from the perspective of their pathways to impact at both a Country and Regional level, collaborating with Country Impact Leads to ensure a shared understanding of Impact functions and processes.
• Foster a conducive environment for collaboration with the Country Program team to establish evidence-informed design and refinement of country roadmaps, thematic strategies, portfolios, and partner initiatives based on insights from impact work, providing technical impact expertise and advice to relevant Directors and Heads in the impact team.
• Advise the Director of Country Programs and Impact Management on approaches to and progress in country programming and its implications for the work of the Impact team, staying abreast of state-of-the-art advances in fields relevant to the Country Impact Workstreams and priority themes.

• Work closely with the Director of Country Programs, Impact Management, Country Impact Leads, and members of the impact teams as well as IPOs to advance thinking, narrative methods, and dialogues on how to use impact work to understand, promote, and assess systemic and transformative change in the Country Program relevant thematic areas.
• Work closely with relevant Directors and Heads, as well as with IPOs to
• Develop capacities, tools, and approaches consistent with the Foundation’s Impact Strategy while advancing thinking and methods for assessing impact with an African orientation.
• Oversee the implementation of relevant evaluative practices valued by key stakeholders and develop new approaches to elevate the voices and interests of young women, men, and African stakeholders more broadly.
• Integrate insights around decolonization and Africa-rooted evaluation in the work of the Workstream. Develop collaborations and coherence across programming and impact work to ensure a shared understanding of reporting requirements and processes.
• Test, refine, and scale new approaches to impact work aligned with the Foundation’s aspirations and values.
• Develop or connect with consortia or networks of advisors, think tanks, IPOs, and other relevant partners to support Workstream priorities, including in areas such as foresight, horizon scanning, systematic evidence-informed programming, and adaptive management. Ensure the curation and sharing of highly relevant resources to support the Workstream’s objectives.
• Work with Impact team members, advisors, and consultants to ensure Impact capacities for the work of the Workstream. This includes advancing the outcome-based programming and portfolio approach, furthering understanding of and design and delivery towards systemic and transformative change and helping to ensure coherence in planning and impact work within the Impact team and with other programs.
• Provide technical expertise and leadership in the development of impact measurement and narrative frameworks in accordance with the requirements of the Workstream and the aspirations and values of the Foundation and the Impact Strategy. Collaborate with IPOs, Impact Teams, Program, and Operations colleagues to develop a learning approach and processes to ensure that evaluative findings and evidence inform decisions at various levels.
• Support the recruitment and onboarding of IPOs as requested and provide guidance and oversight for implementing the agreed-upon scope of work relevant to Francophone West Africa while attracting and building a talented team of African specialists for a high-performing Workstream.
• Develop a nurturing yet high-performance-oriented Workstream team culture with effective performance management processes to ensure the delivery of goals. Develop processes for and manage the effective implementation of the work plans for the Workstream, continuously evolving the Workstream in line with requirements, assessing existing capacities, and filling gaps that emerge.


Who you are
• A Master’s or PhD degree in International Development, Measurement and Evaluation or any of the Foundation’s thematic or special areas of interest.
• Minimum of 15 years of full-time work experience in systems-informed measurement, evaluation and other impact-related work in complex programming and development contexts, preferably in Africa; in strategy and program planning and management; and/or in systems-informed planning, programming, and investment in areas relevant to the foundation’s thematic areas.
• A minimum of 5 years of senior management experience in the international development, philanthropy, or impact investment sectors, including experience working at the Regional/Multi-Country level and with governments, mandated institutions, and private sector actors.
• An astute people leader with at least 5 years of experience in a senior management role in an African context, with proven experience attracting, onboarding, developing, and engaging diverse teams in multiple locations in different contexts and cultures.
• Ability to work in both French and English and travel across Africa.
• Significant proven technical leadership in areas requiring an understanding of cross-border and cross-regional contexts in Africa, including experience in establishing relevant Regional/Multi-Country programs and/or evaluation strategies.
• Demonstrated commitment to vulnerable and marginalized African populations and youth voice and agency.
• Deep curiosity and clear efforts to stay abreast of state-of-the-art developments in the field.
• Experienced in leading cross-cultural, high-achieving teams who are collaborative, motivated, and focused on achieving impact.
• Social impact measurement background with demonstrated expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research or evaluation methods and tools.
• Understands systems thinking and works toward systemic change, using various practices and insights related to systemic-level change, including foresight and trend scanning.
• Innovative and entrepreneurial mindset. Comfortable and highly effective when faced with ambiguity and/or complexity. Ability to think broadly and formulate and develop new or creative approaches.

• Strong problem-solving skills combined with a track record of pivoting in response to opportunities and challenges.
• Strong commitment to equity and social inclusion in technical and management contexts.
• Creates strong and productive relationships across organizational functions, partners effectively with others, and adeptly addresses conflict
• Unquestionable integrity, discretion, trust, and humility. Deep listening capabilities.
• Inspires meaning and purpose and contributes to other success. Exhibits optimism working with others to create and communicate a compelling vision for evaluation and impact.
• Has leadership presence and communicates with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
• Flexible and learning-oriented, able to turn lessons learned into actionable strategies and to experiment with and prototype effective approaches and solutions to emerging challenges.
• Familiarity with and experience in working across Francophone African countries.
• You have a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.