The MasterCard Foundation Selects EDC to Boost Youth Employability in Senegal

WALTHAM, MA | EDC has been awarded a $15 million grant by The MasterCard Foundation to help prepare young people in the West African nation of Senegal for employment. As part of the five-year project, EDC will assist youth in lower secondary schools and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) schools to develop the skills needed to secure jobs or start businesses upon graduation. The project will directly reach about 30,000 young people over the life of the grant.

As part of the project, students enrolled in 50 TVET schools and 200 lower secondary schools will receive career counseling and transition-to-work services, including entrepreneurship coaching and mentoring, job shadowing, internships, and job placement. EDC will also work with both TVET and secondary education institutions, both nationally and regionally, to build their capacity to provide a sustainable structure for the continuation of teacher training and to manage a national roll-out of the program.

“We are so pleased to continue our work with The MasterCard Foundation to help institutionalize strategies for youth employability in sub-Saharan Africa,” said EDC’s Melanie Sany. “This new project not only builds on our joint work in Rwanda, it will inform our ongoing research on the impact of work readiness programs in secondary and TVET schools.”

Other partners in this effort include Catholic Relief Services, Akazi Kanoze Access, and a network of Senegalese organizations to be selected in the early phase of the project to help coordinate implementation.

Learn more about EDC’s youth workforce initiatives around the world.

EDC designs, implements, and evaluates programs to improve education, health, and economic opportunity worldwide. Visit www.edc.org.