In 2018, the Mastercard Foundation launched its Young Africa Works strategy to enable 30 million young Africans to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. Young women make up 70 percent of this target. Young Africa Works outlines the Foundation's focus on supporting solutions to the youth employment challenge - harnessing players, often across sectors, to create a supportive environment where vulnerable and marginalized young people can thrive in work and where entrepreneurs and small enterprises can succeed and grow. The Foundation implements Young Africa works through our programming platforms: Country programs, the Pan-African program, Education and Transitions, and Special programs.
The Mastercard Foundation's Approach to Impact
The Foundation's innovative and pioneering Impact Strategy, adopted in 2020, has inspired the Foundation to conceive of monitoring and evaluation differently from conventional funder approaches. It advances a holistic yet practical approach to impact at the mission, strategy, program portfolio and partnership initiative levels. It encourages innovative, systems-informed approaches to understanding and working towards transformative impact, from individual to systems level. It commits the Foundation to go beyond measuring outputs to measuring outcomes, and in doing so, in a manner that elevates the voice of young women and men in determining what sustainable and transformative change means to them, their families, their communities, and societies.
Implementing partners conduct monitoring, measurement and evaluation activities relevant to their program. These activities serve various purposes, including systematic tracking of change and progress towards outcomes and impacts, understanding the potential to scale and fostering lessons learned and generating evidence to guide programming, strategy, and investment decisions. Additionally, the Impact Strategy provides independent evaluations, nuanced data systems for monitoring and impact reporting, evidence synthesis and support for the design and assessment of outcome-focused investments and portfolios.
Impact Partner Organizations (IPOs) support the work of the Impact Team, playing long-term strategic advisory, reviews, assessment, evaluation, and technical roles across the work of the Foundation programming platforms. Each IPO comprises an evaluative research organization/company or consortium of organizations/companies.
The Foundation is seeking Regional IPOs to support Country Program Platforms across East Africa, which includes Country Programs in Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda. Further information on Country Programs is available here: Where We Work in Africa
Upcoming Information Session
We will conduct an information session during the third week of August 2024 to answer questions regarding this REOI and the relevant program platforms. An online invitation link will be sent to all interested organizations. In the meantime, you may send any questions to RegionalImpactPartnerOrganization@MASTERCARDFDN.ORG with the subject line: 'Question on Regional IPO REOI.'
Deadline to Submit Expression of Interest (EOI)
Please send your EOI with the subject line "EOI Regional IPO [Specifying the Region to which you are applying] by September 9th, 2024, COB Eastern Africa Time (EAT) to RegionalImpactPartnerOrganization@MASTERCARDFDN.ORG
We intend to meet and interview qualified consortia in October to select an IPO. The selected IPO will be expected to begin work in January 1st 2025, so please consider this in your responses.
All materials sent to the Foundation will be kept confidential, and we will not use the materials in any way other than to help us understand your expertise and interest.
Read more about the opportunity, submission requirements, and deadlines here
