Mastercard, UNHCR unveils $300m drive for refugee  empowerment in Africa

In a bold push to transform the future of displaced youth, the Mastercard Foundation and the United Nations Refugee Agency have unveiled a $300 million partnership to empower over 500,000 refugees across Africa with education and job opportunities by 2030.

According to a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday, the five-year plan, announced at the 2025 Africa Forum on Displacement in Nairobi recently, will provide secondary education for over half a million displaced youth, including 50 per cent women and five per cent persons with disabilities. It will also support 10,000 in tertiary education, including university and vocational programmes.

The partnership targets the transition of 200,000 young people, 70 per cent of them women, into work through employment and entrepreneurship.

It also aims to strengthen 100 local and refugee-led organisations to implement solutions and support policy engagement.

UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner, Kelly Clements, said the partnership focuses on education for displaced children and youth, and employment support for adults across the continent.

President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mastercard Foundation, Reeta Roy, said the programme aligns with its Young Africa Works strategy, which seeks to enable 30 million young people to access work by 2030.

She said 68,000 youth had already accessed work within six months under earlier collaborations between both organisations.

Africa currently hosts about 45 million displaced persons, with Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo among the countries with the highest displacement figures.

According to the statement, since 2019, the Mastercard Foundation and UNHCR have implemented joint programmes that have supported 30,000 youth to return to school and 68,000 to access employment.

The PUNCH reported that LEAP Africa, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, has facilitated the placement of over 1,200 young Africans across 15 countries in Africa, including South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Kenya under the Mastercard Foundation Programme Associates. Punch.