Impact Beyond the Individual
Celebrating our Partners in Ghana
Over the last 10 years the Foundation has reached 10.6 million people through our programming, more than 2 million of them in Ghana alone. And that reach doesn’t always stop with the individual or the family— it can have a ripple effect, impacting an individual’s family and community.
Research has shown that when individuals receive access to opportunities such as education or skills training, it can have a significant and direct effect on those around them. Access to education for women, for example, means their children are more likely to be educated. And greater access to business opportunities, through skills and entrepreneurship training, increases family income and can mean more jobs and a boost to the local economy.
Many of the Foundation’s partnerships in Ghana demonstrate the ripple effect that access to opportunity can have.
For example, through The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program‘s partnership with Camfed, secondary students like Eudora are able to access quality education, leadership training and support services. Scholars are selected both based on disadvantage and on showing leadership in their community.
Eudora wants to use her education to mobilize people in her community and lead them to change. She wants to increase girls’ self-esteem and confidence in school and, in particular, math.
MasterCard Foundation Scholar through Camfed, Eudora
The Foundation began its work in Ghana in 2010 through our partnership with Camfed to provide financial literacy, business and life-skills training for adolescent girls and young women.
Other Foundation partnerships provide young people with access to sustainable jobs in construction and agriculture.
For example, through our financial inclusion and skills training work with Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), we are also enabling smallholder farmers to connect to new markets and grow their businesses, often resulting in job creation and increased opportunities for their families.
Communities can also benefit from young people who are empowered to create change, and who have access to the tools they need to succeed.
Anna Naami, a MasterCard Foundation Scholar studying at Ashesi University in Ghana, demonstrates just that.
“Leadership is not all about occupying positions,” she says. “It is all about serving the people that you are leading.”
As we celebrate our 10th Anniversary we would like to thank all the organizations that have partnered with us over the last decade.
