President Kagame meets with Mastercard Foundation delegation
Rwanda is launching a partnership with the Mastercard foundation whereby the latter will be sending its beneficial students to study in Rwanda.
“We have been sending our children to study abroad. We want now to study a framework where the Mastercard foundation can award their beneficiary students with scholarship to study in Rwanda,” has said Albert Nsengiyumva, State Minister for Technical and Vocational Education in Rwanda.
Nsengiyumva said, Rwandan schools have got required quality to host international students.
This partnership was part of the discussion between Reeta Roy, CEO and president of the MasterCard Foundation and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame at village Urugwiro today.
“We have realized that this country has ambitious targets in both education and financial inclusion and we want to bring our contribution in these domains,” has said Roy.
Mastercard Foundation was founded in 2006 in Toronto, Canada to create education opportunities and financial inclusion in developing countries, mostly in South Saharan Africa.
Valued at $ 10 billion worth of assets, the Foundation has committed $ 50 million for Rwanda since 2014, for education, access to finance and entrepreneurship.
Of this sum, $12.3 million will be spent on a-10 year scholarship project, under the Forum for African Women Educationalist- Rwanda (FAWE).
It intends to enable 1,200 girl students from vulnerable families to complete quality secondary and university education.
Over $ 5 million is dedicated to provide secondary school students from poor communities with technical skills for the next 3.5 years. The project will be implemented under Akazi Kanoze, an initiative which supports youth entrepreneurship.
Also, $ 7.5 million intends to equip the youth in rural areas with agricultural skills, while $ 4.3 million will help facilitate access to finance and training of smallholder farmers.
While meeting the president, Roy was accompanied by MasterCard Foundation Board members, including Jendayi Frazer, the former US secretary of State for African Affairs.