Location: Toronto
Reports To: Managing Director
Terms: Full-time
About Raising The Village (RTV)
Raising The Village (RTV) is an international development organization dedicated to addressing ultra-poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. By integrating direct program implementation with advanced data analytics, RTV drives sustainable impact in last-mile communities. Our Applied Learning Unit is pivotal to this mission—ensuring that learning, adaptive strategies, and program quality are continuously enhanced at the organizational, team, and community levels.
RTV's Venn department, predominantly based in Uganda, is the data and technology backbone of our organization, connecting advanced analytics, and custom software tools with field implementation to ensure data-informed decision-making at every level. This role will work closely with the Venn team, Implementation team and the Senior Leadership Team to shape the future of the Applied Learning Unit at RTV.
Role Summary
The Director of Applied Learning is a strategic leader responsible for embedding continuous learning and quality improvement across RTV's programs. This role transcends traditional learning and training functions by integrating data analytics, adaptive learning systems, and real-time feedback to elevate program performance at the organizational, team, and community levels. You will drive the design, implementation, and evolution of a dynamic learning ecosystem that transforms complex data into actionable insights, informs evidence-based decision-making, and accelerates our mission to end ultra-poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In this role, you will:

• Craft and execute a long-term vision and roadmap for applied learning that aligns with RTV's strategic priorities.
• Serve as the connective tissue between Venn (data analytics and software development) and Program Implementation to advance our learning and innovation agenda for program methodology in a multi-country set up.
• Build and manage robust knowledge management systems, ensuring that best practices, program methodologies, and field insights are effectively captured and disseminated.
• Lead capacity-building initiatives across multiple levels.
• Represent RTV as a thought leader at industry conferences, donor engagements, and research collaborations, driving sector-wide dialogue on effective, sustainable poverty reduction models.

Key Responsibilities
1. Strategy & Leadership

• Define and execute a 3-5 year roadmap for Applied Learning Unit, ensuring it becomes a core function that catalyzes program effectiveness, and data-informed decision-making, for implementation staff, replication partners, and partner communities.
• Lead the Applied Learning department to function as an interdisciplinary hub, working seamlessly with Implementation, Venn (data insights and software development), Planning, Fundraising, and Communications teams.
• Drive a learning-first culture, ensuring that program evolution is informed by both quantitative impact data and qualitative field insights.
• Develop a strong Applied Learning Team based in Toronto and Uganda.

2. Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management

• Own the organizational programmatic learning agenda, and focus on advancing continuous evidence-based approaches to inform program evolution. This will also include developing clear processes to translate new research, pilot learnings, and field insights for program refinements and scale-up strategies.
• Design and oversee a structured knowledge management system to house RTV's evolving program methodologies, impact drivers, and learning insights in an accessible, scalable format.
• Ensure RTV's learning framework supports rapid replication by documenting clear, adaptable methodologies.

3. Program Quality and Impact

• Work closely with the Venn team to translate complex data analytics into clear, actionable insights for enhancing program quality and impact.
• Implement learning cycles, where qualitative insights from field teams + data analytics from Venn inform program refinements.
• Establish structured feedback loops where program staff, Learning Hubs, and partners contribute real-time field observations, challenges, and innovations.

4. User Learning & Capacity Building

• Design a structured learning system that ensures implementers understand RTV's evolving methodology and data-informed approach.
• Develop scalable training resources tailored for Implementation staff, replication partners, government workers and partner communities.
• Ensure that data-informed coaching prompts and recommendations are integrated into implementation tools and decision-making workflows.

5. Stakeholder Collaboration

• Engage with internal and external stakeholders to drive impactful research initiatives, program design improvements, and methodology evolution.
• Lead cross-departmental project-specific committees focused on program learning and innovation.
• Contribute to proposal development and donor reporting, ensuring evidence summaries are accessible.
• Represent RTV's learning model at sector-wide conferences, donor meetings, and research partnerships.
• Position RTV as an influential knowledge leader in data-informed livelihoods and ultra-poverty graduation models.

Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate will bring:

• Alignment with RTV values of being performance-driven, adaptive, curious, bold and inclusive.
• Key competencies include robust technical and non-technical communication skills, the ability to integrate diverse perspectives into cohesive strategies, effective problem-solving, and advanced project management.
• Proven ability to build a department from the ground up and translate a broad vision into concrete systems, tools, and processes.
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams across training, data insights, and program design.

• Strong ability to translate complex data insights into actionable, field-friendly learning.
• Experience embedding technology and data-informed decision-making into program execution.

• Ability to drive cultural shifts in how staff perceive and use learning & data tools.
• Experience working in high-growth, dynamic organizations with a fast-paced, iterative approach.

• Experience in international development, ultra-poverty reduction, and agricultural livelihoods will be an advantage.

Qualifications

• A Degree in International Development, Program Quality, Learning & Development or a related field is preferred.
• 10+ years experience in research, strategy development, and learning systems in an applied program setting.
• Experience managing cross-functional teams.
• Experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa preferred.

Work Arrangements

• This is a full time role, that may be based out of Toronto
• Hybrid work environment (3 days in office/2 days remote), with our head office based in downtown Toronto, across from Union Station
• Travel Requirement: Up to 20% in a year to countries of operations

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