COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program – Africa
Questions and Answers
Updated April 9, 2020
What will the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program focus on in Africa?
In Africa, the program will address:
- Immediate needs: Support for health personnel, first responders, and frontline organizations; public health campaigns; emergency funds for Scholars; and tools to track disease.
- Building the capacity of institutions and communities: Access to finance for MSMEs and entrepreneurs; promoting e-learning and training; and supporting digital solutions.
What areas will the program focus on in Africa?
In Africa, the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program will focus on:
- Expanding access to financial services for micro, small, and medium enterprises, which will enable businesses to withstand the economic effects of COVID-19, explore options for digitizing their businesses, and potentially contribute to public health response through the production and distribution of critically-needed health care products and equipment.
- Enable e-learning to assist young people whose education was disrupted by the pandemic. We will work with educational organizations to help them transition to digital delivery of courses, mentoring, and student outreach. This will not only prepare learning institutions for future crises but also for the future of education.
- Support the adoption of digital solutions to address real needs of populations such as financial services; food production and delivery; housing and construction; transportation and logistics; as well as tools for everything from public health to supply chain management. We know that economies with widespread access to digital platforms and marketplaces have fared better than those without this level of connectivity.
