The Mastercard Foundation has launched a $300 million partnership with UNHCR to support refugees in Africa.
This five-year initiative will help over 500,000 displaced youth complete their education by 2030. It will also support 200,000 youth to find dignified work.
The program was announced at the 2025 Africa Forum on Displacement in Nairobi. The Forum was co-hosted by UNHCR, Amahoro Coalition, and Inkomoko. It gathered leaders from governments, businesses, and refugee groups under the theme “All-In.”
Kelly T. Clements, UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner, said: “This extraordinary commitment comes at a time of unprecedented displacement across Africa, and globally. Its scale and long-term focus – on education for refugee children and youth, and on livelihoods for adults – lay the foundation for meaningful recovery and lasting contributions to host communities. The stability and opportunities such support provides are exactly what displaced communities need to rebuild their lives and move forward amid all the challenges they face.”
This is one of the largest private donations ever for refugee support. It will focus on heavily affected regions such as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The program also allows UNHCR flexibility to handle displacement across borders.
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Empowering Refugee Youth and Supporting Local Solutions
Reeta Roy, President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation, said: “We’ve seen refugees and displaced young people make immense contributions to their communities when they have the right to support. As part of our Young Africa Works strategy we are scaling high-impact partnerships that enable young people to access the education and skills needed to get a job or build their own businesses. This new commitment to UNHCR is a continuation of that approach and builds upon remarkable results achieved enabling 68,000 youth to access work in just six months.”
The partnership will enable 10,000 youth to access university and TVET education. It will also support 100 local and refugee-led organizations. These groups will help deliver services and shape policies.
Women and persons with disabilities are a key focus. Half of the education beneficiaries will be female. 70% of those placed in work will also be women.
Since 2019, Mastercard Foundation and UNHCR have worked together in refugee support. A recent Sudan program helped 30,000 youth return to school. It also enabled 68,000 youth, 62% of them women, to find work within six months.
One success story is Dr. Fatima, a Sudanese refugee who fled to Chad with her children. She once worked in Darfur and Khartoum. War forced her to leave everything behind. Through the program, she regained her medical license in Chad. She now works with fellow doctors Yacoub and Hassan, also in the accreditation process.
“For Fatima, the ability to work is about more than a paycheck – it’s a return to identity, dignity, and purpose.”
This partnership signals a shift from emergency relief to long-term refugee development. It shows what can happen when refugees are given a chance to rebuild.