Thematic Expert - Workforce Development (Kenya)

About Busara

Founded in 2014, Busara is a leading behavioral science and research organization dedicated to improving development outcomes by understanding and influencing human behavior. Busara Uganda partners with governments, development agencies, foundations, research institutions, NGOs, and private sector organizations to design solutions that are evidence-based, contextually grounded, and capable of achieving impact at scale. Over the past decade, Busara has grown into one of the largest behavioral science organizations globally, combining global expertise with deep local knowledge and implementation experience. Busara's mission is to advance and apply behavioral science to help people and organizations make better decisions. The organization's distinctive value lies in its ability to connect rigorous research with practical implementation. Busara combines behavioral science, adult learning principles, human-centered design, systems thinking, and applied research methods to identify the behavioral, social, and institutional factors that influence program outcomes. This enables partners to move beyond understanding what challenges exist to understanding why they exist and how to address them sustainably. Busara supports partners across the full program lifecycle, including assessments, behavioral diagnostics, curriculum development, training and capacity strengthening, program design, monitoring and evaluation, adoption measurement, and knowledge generation.

The Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works Strategy aims to enable 7 million young women and men across Kenya to access dignified and fulfilling work. Through partnerships with financial institutions, training providers, enterprise support organizations, and other ecosystem actors, the initiative supports programs designed to expand employment opportunities and strengthen pathways to sustainable livelihoods for youth. Over its implementation, the scale and diversity of supported programs have grown substantially across sectors and geographies. As the strategy has matured, the Foundation’s learning priorities have shifted to place greater emphasis on understanding the nature and durability of the outcomes these programs generate. The central evidence question has shifted from assessing how many young people are reached to examining whether they can access and sustain dignified and fulfilling work as a result of these interventions. In this context, the Foundation wants to understand several interrelated dimensions of program outcomes. These include the sustainability of employment and livelihood outcomes over time, differences in outcomes across youth segments, and the extent to which interventions contribute to broader institutional and ecosystem changes.

Busara is partnering with Mastercard Foundation as its Impact Partner Organization (IPO) in Kenya to conduct Program Outcomes Assessments (POA) and Strategic Reviews across Foundation-supported programs under the Young Africa Works Strategy. These assessments and reviews combine quantitative and qualitative inquiry structured around four core POA question areas, including Reach and Access, Progression to Dignified and Fulfilling Work, Improvements in Quality of Life, and Systems and Institutional Contribution, alongside program-specific objectives for each Implementing Partner reviewed.

Busara seeks the services of a Workforce Development Thematic Expert, with a focus on the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector on a short-term basis to support work across the TVET sector, including programs that deliver technical, vocational, and market-relevant skills training; vocational institutional strengthening and trade certification; vocational and hybrid upskilling; and Accelerated Education Programming, among others.

Purpose of the Role

The Workforce Development Thematic Expert brings extensive knowledge and expertise in Kenya’s TVET sector, as well as the ability to assess current approaches, outcomes, and gaps, and recommend actionable strategies to strengthen youth employment and enterprise development through TVET skilling and institutional capacity building. The expert will help Busara and Mastercard Foundation Kenya establish:

• How trends in Kenya’s TVET sector are impacting youth employment opportunities where the strategy is active in Kenya.
• The extent to which the strategy, partnerships, and investments are positioned to respond to and capitalize on these trends.
• The barriers, gaps, and opportunities for meaningful participation of young women, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and refugee communities in the digital economy.
• Opportunities, risks, and gaps in the strategy’s TVET positioning, and practical, prioritized recommendations to strengthen it.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct a literature review on the TVET ecosystem and review relevant Young Africa Works Strategy documents, reports, and results data from Kenya’s implementing partners, with attention to labor-market demand, employer linkages, and graduate outcomes.
• Provide technical input to assessments and reviews related to TVET system indicators, including quality, relevance, access, completion, certification, and post-training transitions.
• Map sector actors, policy and financing shifts, and current trends in Kenya’s TVET sector relevant to youth employment and upskilling, and benchmark against relevant associated strategies in East Africa.
• Conduct Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and consultations with relevant stakeholders and ecosystem actors, including employers, training providers, regulators, youth, women, PWDs, and refugee representatives.
• Assess the extent to which current programs address critical TVET sector challenges, including access to TVET institutions, affordability, geographic barriers, inclusion, trainer capacity, curriculum relevance, and the impact of technology on the sector.
• Assess the TVET sector relevance and positioning of Young Africa Works Strategy in Kenya’s current partner portfolio and flagship interventions, including alignment with national TVET policy priorities, accreditation requirements, and competency-based training approaches.
• Identify barriers and opportunities for youth participation in the TVET sub-sectors, disaggregated by young women, PWDs, refugees, and host communities, to strengthen skilling outcomes, including potential new partnerships, delivery models, priority sub-sectors, or areas of focus.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of TVET skilling, mentorship, work-based learning, enterprise support, and linkages to dignified and fulfilling work, including livelihood sustainability and financial outcomes for youth participants.
• Produce a report with findings, learnings, and recommendations, and a prioritization framework for dissemination to Busara and the Young Africa Works stakeholders, highlighting key gaps, risks, and actionable next steps for the TVET strategy.

Indicative Deliverables

• An inception report covering the methodology, work plan, and budget.
• Key Informant Interview (KII) discussion guides tailored to various stakeholders.
• Audio recordings and notes from Key Informant Interview (KII) discussions.
• A draft narrative report including an executive summary, findings, learnings and recommendations, and a prioritized action matrix.
• A PowerPoint slide deck for presentation to the Foundation.
• Hold a validation and dissemination session with the Foundation.
• A final PowerPoint slide deck incorporating input from the validation and dissemination session.
• Participate in sensemaking sessions with the Foundation, Implementing Partners, and other relevant ecosystem actors, as required.
• A final narrative report incorporating input from the validation, dissemination, and sensemaking sessions.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Advanced degree in Education, Vocational Training, or a related field.
• Minimum 8-10 years of experience in TVET program design, delivery, or evaluation in Kenya, ideally within youth employment or skilling programs serving refugee or host community populations.
• Demonstrated experience designing and conducting qualitative fieldwork (IDIs, FGDs, KIIs), including life journey/storytelling techniques, with TVET trainees, instructors, and institutions.
• Proven track record and consulting experience conducting strategic reviews, evaluations, or advisory assignments for donor-funded or foundation-funded workforce development programs.
• Working knowledge of Kenya’s TVET policy framework, competency-based training and assessment, and institutional accreditation processes with the ability to translate policy into system-level strategy, reform options, or implementation trade-offs.
• Familiarity with Kenya’s refugee response context (including major refugee-hosting districts) and labor market systems relevant to TVET graduates is strongly preferred.
• Strong facilitation skills in relevant Kenyan local languages, or demonstrated experience working effectively through local language facilitators and interpreters.
• Prior experience contributing to donor-funded evaluations or strategic reviews, ideally within mixed methods, Made in Africa evaluation-aligned designs, as well as hands-on familiarity with curriculum development, assessment standards, or institutional quality assurances an advantage.

Duration and Level of Effort

Ten(10) working days over a period of three (3) months (starting September 2026).

The timelines above are indicative and will be finalized jointly with the successful consultant during the inception phase, in line with the specific review cycle for which they are engaged.

Interested candidates are encouraged to submit their applications, shortlisted candidates will be notified accordingly.

Data Privacy Statement

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