Request For Expression Of Interest: Gender And Inclusion Technical Partner For The Kenya Country Program

The Objective of this Call for Expression of Interest

The Mastercard Foundation is seeking a technical partner (or a consortium of partners) to support country program partners in deepening young women-centric design approach and transformative inclusion (Persons with disability and refugees and displaced populations) programming practices for impact, transformation and scale in 2025 to March 2026 

Submissions are open from February 3rd to February 28th, 2025 

General Description of the Assignment

Focus on Young Women-Centric Design Approach – The Mastercard Foundation in Kenya, through the Young Africa Works strategy, aims to enable 7 million young people (5 million of whom are young women) to secure dignified and fulfilling work by 2030. This bold target for young women, especially those from rural and marginalized areas, underscores a commitment to enhancing their contribution to Kenya’s and Africa’s economies while unlocking their potential. Reaching the most marginalized young women through gender-transformative programming is essential across the country program portfolios, as the desired impact goes beyond individual young women, creating a ripple effect benefiting their families and communities. 

The Foundation is committed to delivering gender-transformative programs through young women-centric approaches that address the root causes of gender-related constraints, such as negative social norms, perceptions, and institutional and systemic barriers preventing girls and young women from reaching their full potential. By focusing on the lived realities of young women, especially those from marginalized rural and informal urban settlements, the Foundation aims to enable them to access dignified and fulfilling work, driving systemic change by 2030 and beyond. 

Our intention is to accelerate reach by expanding both current and pipeline programs, as well as introducing new initiatives, to reach and exceed our 70% target. To further support this goal, we plan to support our partners in refining and reviewing programs with a strong focus on a young women-centric approach. Additionally, we aim to build the capacity of our partners to embrace young women-centric design approaches in their programs, ensuring that they are effectively equipped to create and deliver impactful, gender-transformative programming. 

Focus on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and Refugees 

The Kenya Disability and Inclusion framework, nuanced to young women and men with disabilities, seeks to ensure 5% (350,000) of the country’s 7 million young people in work are those with disability. The strategy also seeks to enable 100,000 refugee young women and men in and out of camps to access dignified and fulfilling work. Our programming takes a dual approach: through mainstreaming Disability and refugee inclusion in our pillar programming and through dedicated programming that will seek to address specific barriers that will not be addressed by mainstream programs.  

Young women and men with disability and refugees constitute a source of talent for employment and entrepreneurship and play an essential role in developing new products, services and innovations. However, the barriers they face hamper their ability to contribute equally to society. They face heightened levels of exclusion, including difficulties in access to assistive devices and technology, education, vocational training & employment opportunities, with unemployment being higher for women with disability.   

Read More: Full Description Of The Expression of Interest