Tuesday, March 17, 2015
MasterCard Foundation Initiative to Bring Economic Opportunities to Rural East Africa
The MasterCard Foundation and TechnoServe are announcing today a five-year, $25.9 million partnership to generate increased income and economic opportunities for 48,000 young people in rural East Africa.
Building on the success of their Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE) program, the expanded STRYDE 2.0 initiative will provide young people in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda with the skills to start small businesses, secure formal jobs or explore opportunities in agriculture. The new program is noteworthy not only for its scope, but for its partnerships with local institutions to ensure sustainability. The STRYDE programs address the significant problem of unemployed or unengaged youth in Africa, where more than a quarter of young people ages 15-24 are neither working nor studying. At the same time, since the average age of the African farmer is around 60, there is urgent need to involve young people in agriculture in order to ensure food security....