The Mastercard Foundation celebrates the decennial anniversary of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. Launched in 2012, the Program began as a $500 million initiative to develop the next generation of leaders who would drive social and economic transformation.

The Program identifies talented young people from economically disadvantaged and hard-to-reach communities, primarily in Africa, and supports their secondary and higher education as well as leadership development. Initially, the Program aimed to support 15,000 young people.

Over the last decade, the Mastercard Foundation has deployed $1.7 billion through the initiative to benefit nearly 40,000 young people, over 72 percent of whom are young women. To date, 18,544 young people have graduated from secondary and higher education.

“Through a network of extraordinary partners, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is enabling thousands of bright and deserving young people to access quality education and develop as leaders who give back to their communities and help to improve the lives of others. Mastercard Foundation Scholars and Alumni are leaders and innovators; activists and entrepreneurs; tackling everything from climate change to health inequity. Their collective impact will be felt for generations to come,” says Reeta Roy, President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation. 

According to a 2020/2021 survey of a sample of Alumni from the Program, 87 percent of secondary-school graduates and 71 percent of university graduates are employed. Where Alumni have become entrepreneurs, they have collectively created over 16,000 jobs.

In addition, 40 percent of university graduates say they are now supporting the education of their siblings. Importantly, Mastercard Foundation Scholars unanimously express a strong commitment to giving back to their communities, which is a core principle of the Program.

During their education, each person creates or participates in a project, which address a specific challenge in their communities.

“Throughout my journey as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, it has always been about being a better version of yourself so that you can go back to your community and help others,” says Joanna Gunab who is now a medical doctor practicing in Northern Ghana. Joana, a young woman living with a disability, also runs an initiative to support students with basic school necessities. 

Another Alumni of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, Faith Kipkemboi, is driving transformation in her native Kenya. She founded a community-based organization, Cactus Mama, to deliver evidence-based, high-quality, and affordable mental health services in remote areas, especially for women. “We hope to create a better Kenya; a healthier Kenya,” she says.

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program began with a strong focus on secondary education, working with partners such as CAMFED, BRAC, Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), the African Leadership Academy (ALA), and the Equity Group Foundation (Wings to Fly) to provide young people with access to high school and improve completion rates —particularly for girls. 

As more African countries adopt free secondary education policies, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program has focused its attention on higher education, where tertiary enrollment rates across the continent remain low. At the same time, the Mastercard Foundation is continuing to improve quality, relevance, and inclusion in secondary education to prepare young people for the world of work. 

“Our partnership with the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is exceptional and has enabled us to fulfill our vision for the post-secondary school years,” says Ann Cotton, Founder and Trustee of CAMFED International. “Every child matters and the Foundation looks at justice in the broadest possible sense, from the most impoverished [and] marginalized child to the most powerful institution with whom they work. And there is authenticity at every point on that trajectory.”

The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program has grown into a network of over 40 pan-African and global partners working together to drive inclusion in education. African organizations represent more than 45 percent of this network.

Over the next decade, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program will double its reach to support a total of 100,000 young people, 70 percent of whom will be young women. It will also dedicate more attention to the inclusion of disabled and forcibly displaced young people.  

Moving forward, the Mastercard Foundation will also continue to support the network of higher education partners to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in ways that enable dignified work for young people in Africa. This is in line with the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy, which aims to enable 30 million young people across the continent to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. 

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And as they do so, research confirms, they create opportunities that drive learning and leadership for themselves and their peers.

According to a 2019 report by McKinsey, 60 percent of Africans are engaged in subsistence farming. It makes up 23 percent of the continent’s GDP and is one of the most critical sectors for development. Feed Africa, a report from the African Development Bank Group, states, “Africa has 65 percent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, an abundance of fresh water, and about 300 days of sunshine each year.”

Africa’s potential to meet not only its own food needs but those of the rest of the world is abundantly clear.

Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

Fundamentally, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program fosters the development of Africa’s future leaders in diverse sectors, including agriculture.

Moreover, Scholars are committed to giving back to their communities using their skills, knowledge, and networks to address challenges and drive innovation.

The Scholars Program includes initiatives such as the Scholars Entrepreneurship Fund (SEF), which was launched in 2018, and the Social Venture Challenge (SVC), a partnership with the Resolution Projects entering its seventh year.

Both give Scholars and alumni an opportunity to pitch their ideas and bring them to life. Since 2016, more than 140 Scholars have been awarded Resolution Fellowships and their ventures are spread across 19 countries.

Furthermore, 33 percent of the Scholars surveyed regarding their ventures reported running ag-related businesses.

Mastercard also reveals that in 2016, the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Lucia Lebasha and John Awiel, both Kenyans, created an award-winning social entrepreneurship project called Save the Pastoralist Initiative (STPI), motivated by their childhood experiences of hunger and severe drought in Turkana, Kenya.

This was achieved through their knowledge of sustainable agricultural practices gained through their studies at EARTH University. 

The people of Turkana predominately live a nomadic, pastoral way of life in which their animals are the primary source of food and wealth.

Turkana is also one of the driest districts in the country; rainfall is minimal and unpredictable. The many years of drought have created an ongoing struggle with hunger and malnutrition and a continual threat to their cattle and pastoral land.

STPI began as an educational communications effort, writing and posting agricultural articles online in local newsletters and on their blog and Facebook page.

Taking these efforts one step further, Lucia and John established a demonstration farm in Lodwar, the region’s economic centre, where they educated traditional pastoralists and young people on the benefits of sustainable agricultural practices with a focus on subsistence farming, conservation, technology, and job creation.

And while John recently joined the admissions team at EARTH University, responsible for recruiting Scholars with a passion for agriculture, Lucia continues to run the project working with local communities and organizations in Turkana South Sub-County, Kangirega.

The project currently supports 43 farmers (24 women and 19 men), providing training on agronomic farm inputs and linkages to markets for their products and financial institutions.

Project 7840 was developed by Scholars Ernest Chakwera and Nancy Machera in 2016 to alleviate the effects of droughts on their village of Khwelewere in the Ntchisi district of central Malawi. The project helps Malawians access water for consumption and crops, using local resources and promoting sustainable water use for the benefit of the community. It also provides local farmers with support and education about sustainable farming techniques, local market opportunities, and financing options.

In addition, through Universidad EARTH Graduates Association (UNEGA) Integrated Farm, Scholars Alex Kyeyune, Fatimah Birungi, and Paul Mukuye have created innovative ways to boost farming practices and techniques, which have significantly improved the health and well-being of many rural communities. In Uganda, smallholder farmers face several challenges such as scarcity of land, ashy soil, and drought — all of which affect productivity.

In 2017, the UNEGA team introduced sustainable farming techniques such as micro-gardening, including vertical, pyramid, and bio-intensive farming, through their demonstration farm in Kabubbu Village, Uganda.

These techniques have helped farmers double and triple their yields without increasing the land required for cultivation.

Balancing it with sustainability efforts, the eco-friendly micro-gardens use recyclable materials such as plastics, old tires, and bags, and seventy-five percent of the manure used is organic. In the last three years, the team has trained 54 households, which in turn have shared what they have learned with more than 100 households.

Of the 154 households, 60 have established small gardens at their residences. UNEGA has also worked with ten schools to educate school heads on the value of school gardens, and five have established gardens of their own. Through their efforts, 16 women-led businesses have had access to a continuous supply of vegetables to sell.

In 2020, Esnath Divasoni from East Harare, Zimbabwe, developed innovative and indigenous farming techniques that are eco-friendly and mitigate malnutrition and food insecurity. She ventured into an unfamiliar terrain – cricket farming. Though plucking worms from trees and collecting insects in plastic bags was a common sight for her growing up, she felt it could be more plentiful and regular than just being seasonal.

The group adds, a Mastercard Foundation Scholar alum from CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education), which accorded her secondary education, after which she proceeded to EARTH University, Costa Rica, Esnath is now one of two core trainers in the CAMFED Agriculture Guide program. They have trained 320 Agriculture Guides across several districts who are now cascading their knowledge to other women across the country. Her edible-insect production unit is an eco-friendly five-by-seven-meter room with rows of large blue and greenwashing tubs stacked on two shelves on her parent’s farm in Marondera.

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