Request For Expression Of Interest: Regional Impact Partner Organization, Western Africa (Anglophone)

THE FOUNDATION’S WORK

Mastercard Foundation envisions a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and thrive, where the contributions and leadership of young people matter, where they achieve their full potential, and help drive transformative change. We work alongside visionary program partners and youth with the aim to enable 30 million young people, especially young women, to secure dignified and fulfilling work aligned with their aspirations.

Our strategy in Africa, Young Africa Works, outlines the Foundation’s focus on supporting solutions to the youth employment challenge – harnessing players, often across sectors, to create a supportive environment where vulnerable and marginalized young people can thrive in work and where entrepreneurs and small enterprises can succeed and grow. The Foundation implements Young Africa works through programming platforms, which include Country programs, Pan-African program platforms, Education and transitions and special programs. Country programs focus on prioritized countries: Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region.

The Foundation was established in 2006 as an independent entity with its own Board of Directors and CEO.

THE FOUNDATION’S APPROACH TO IMPACT

The Foundation’s innovative and pioneering Impact Strategy, adopted in 2020, has inspired the Foundation to conceive of monitoring and evaluation differently from conventional funder approaches. It advances a holistic yet practical approach to impact at the mission, strategy, program portfolio and partnership initiative levels. It encourages innovative, systems-informed approaches to understanding and working towards transformative impact, from individual to systems level. It commits the Foundation to go beyond measuring outputs to measuring outcomes, and in doing so, in a manner that elevates the voice of young women and men in determining what sustainable and transformative change means to them, their families, their communities, and societies.

Implementing partners conduct monitoring, measurement and evaluation activities that are relevant to their program. These activities serve various purposes, including systematic tracking of change and progress towards outcomes and impacts, understanding the potential to scale and fostering learnings and generating evidence to guide programming, strategy, and investment decisions. Additionally, the Impact Strategy provides independent evaluations, nuanced data systems for monitoring and impact reporting, evidence synthesis and support for the design and assessment of outcome-focused investments and portfolios.

Impact Partner Organizations (IPOs) support the work of the Impact Team, playing long-term strategic advisory, reviews, assessment, evaluation, and technical roles across the work of the Foundation programming platforms. Each IPO is comprised of an evaluative research organization/company or consortium of organizations/companies.

The Foundation is seeking Regional IPOs to support Country Program Platforms across West Africa (Anglophone), including Country Programs in Ghana and Nigeria.

*Updated* Upcoming Information Session: We will conduct an information session on June 6, 2024, to answer questions regarding this REOI and the relevant program platforms. An online invitation link will be sent to all interested organizations. In the meantime, you may send any questions RegionalImpactPartnerOrganization@mastercardfdn.org with the subject line: ‘Question on Regional IPO REOI.’

Please send your Expression of Interest (EOI) with the subject line “EOI Regional IPO” by June 10, 2024 COB Eastern Africa Time (EAT) to RegionalImpactPartnerOrganization@mastercardfdn.org

Read More about the Opportunity, including Submission Requirements and Deadlines, Here.