The Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy is working to find solutions for Africa’s youth employment challenge through providing young women and men with equal and fair access to dignified and fulfilling work.
In the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region this strategy focuses on the agriculture and agriculture adjacent sectors – but is also exploring the provision of support in other sectors where there are opportunities to create jobs for young people.
The Mastercard Foundation has engaged us, in consortium with CLEAR FA and CIDS Burkina, as their Impact Partner Organisation (IPO) to support them measure the impact of their work and learn in the WAEMU region.
Our role
As the WEAMU IPO our role has covered three main areas to support the Foundation’s impact journey:
- Baseline surveys with quantitative and qualitative data to tell the evolving story of the Foundation’s progress.
- Partner reviews & evaluations to generate learning, enhance project processes, assess change and provide evidence and insights to inform decision making.
- On-demand services which provide flexible support to Foundation staff and partners, including special studies, learning events, and the creation of learning products and think pieces informed by the knowledge generated through Foundation-funded programmes.
Methods and approaches
We use a diverse range of approaches and methods tailored to the different components of our work, with a strong focus on delivering useful, relevant evidence to the Mastercard Foundation, its partners, and the young women and men they serve. Our approaches prioritise inclusivity, equity, and participation, supporting knowledge and skill development across the WAEMU region.
Outcomes and impact
We conducted five baseline studies across the WAEMU region. Four surveys in Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal examined the situation of refugees and internally displaced people, focusing on their access to training, employment, and livelihood opportunities. In Senegal, a separate baseline study targeted youth supported by the Foundation, enabling a deeper understanding of how effectively young men and women are being reached. The findings offered valuable evidence to inform decision-making, particularly in enhancing outreach to young women. To ensure broad dissemination and reflection on the results, we facilitated a sense-making workshop and a partner meeting with Foundation stakeholders.
We completed nine reviews of Foundation partnerships in Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal working through our broad network of partners in the WAEMU region. These assessments evaluated partner performance against the Foundation’s objectives under the Young Africa Works strategy. Our utilisation-focused approach promoted active partner engagement throughout the process, ensuring the findings are credible, co-owned, and actionable. The reviews played a key role in guiding future strategic decisions regarding the direction of these partnerships.
We are currently synthesising insights from all partner evaluations to generate a consolidated analysis of learning and progress across the Foundation’s portfolio.
Our on-demand services include reviewing and strengthening partners’ MEL systems and plans to ensure they are capable of effectively measuring impact. We have also conducted research and mapping exercises to help the Foundation identify opportunities for scaling successful partnerships into new countries, as well as improve targeting and reach for young women.
