Mastercard Foundation

I sent people from MasterCard Fund, supported, there's something called TITA.

MasterCard Foundation support them.

They send experts to the schools to get the schools to improve, but they had to sign a performance contract.

Unfortunately, when the new government came through, GA, they say, "Oh, they don't have to sign a performance contract." It was part of the campaign.

They too are constantly learning and growing.

In our book, Rita Roy of MasterCard Foundation shares a difficult moment that transformed the foundation's relationship with a partner organization.

When Rita made the decision to focus the organization's mission solely on sub-Saharan Africa, she spent months talking to community members in four countries to learn about barriers people faced and constraints that were getting in the way of the support organizations hoped to provide.

In a meeting with one partner organization, the organization's leader interrupted the conversation to address a communication issue that was creating a damaging dynamics.

Why?

You see, the, the issue you're going to have is that the soft skills is not integrated into the curriculum the way it should be, right? So the new high school curriculum, which we did with the support of MasterCard Foundation, they provided funds for the development of the curriculum, began to incorporate the soft skills, the communication skills, critical thinking skills, collaboration skills, the four Cs into the curriculum.

W- work placement.

Work placement, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Today, we've seen the MasterCard Foundation doing wonderful things.

I say government has no business, uh, sending money to MassLog, uh, NEIP, and, uh, there's a women's development bank.

All these schemes, give them to the banks.

The company encouraged all agents to operate strictly within approved guidelines and applicable regulatory requirements.

Away from that, Merced Africa, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, has announced the 12th EdTech company selected for the third cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship.

The companies bring the number of Ghanaian-owned solutions accelerated through the fellowship to 36.

There's more in this report.

The 2026 cohort exemplifies the EdTech fellowship commitment to diversity and regional inclusion with solutions spanning innovative learning tools, teacher training, and inclusivity, as well as learning platforms and exam preparation and gamified learning tools across seven regions in Ghana.

Since the program was launched in the country in 2024, the MasterCard Foundation EdTech fellowship implemented by MEST Africa has impacted over 691,000 learners across the country, and the current cohort will be building on this research.

Speaking to Joy Business on the sidelines of the launch of the third cohort, MEST Senior Program Manager, MEST Africa, Angela Duhu, explained that the third cohort will cover a six-month acceleration on capacity building and network expansion to maximize their impact on African education.

Today actually we are launching the third cohort of the Mastercard Foundation and Tech Fellowship with 12 companies supporting teachers and learners.

It's interesting that you zeroed in on the question about dignified and fulfilling work.

Our partnership with MasterCard Foundation is based around understanding that.

And what we did is we started asking the young women back in January how they define that.

And with the launch of our new website, we are dedicated to sharing with the world research you can't typically get in rural areas.

We have to scratch.

But also, it's a co-creation process.

So year one of her lab, we sit down with MasterCard Foundation.

What worked? What didn't? What do we have to change? But what do we have to co-create to make stronger? So, yes, we start with the hypotheses.

Known for building unlikely partnerships across government, philanthropy, media, and the private sector, her work sits at the intersection of systems change, evidence-based strategy, and inclusive leadership.

Her career spans collaborations with organizations such as the MasterCard Foundation, Microsoft, and regional bodies, including ECOWAS.

She currently serves as the associate director of Imperial Global Ghana, where she bridges world-class research and practical market applications by fostering strategic partnerships among researchers, entrepreneurs, policymakers across the public, private, and third sectors.

Rooted in a global perspective on urban policy, education, and development, and with foundational experience teaching middle school mathematics in under-resourced schools in Louisiana through Teach For America.