The Mastercard Foundation strengthens its partnership with CorpsAfrica

As more companies and institutions recognize Africa's gigantic potential , The Mastercard Foundation has expanded its partnership with CorpsAfrica to $59.4 million, more than triple the initial investment.

What started as a three-year $17 million commitment in late 2021 has since been stepped up by a five-year-old. The additional funds will be used in 11 countries, up from four in the original plan. As of now, CorpsAfrica is working with communities in Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Malawi and Rwanda. The goal is to create over 80,000 jobs and impact over 800,000 community members across Africa. Although not exclusively focused on fashion-related work, the organization supports certain communities with ties to textiles. In Senegal, they work with communities that produce cotton for commercial purposes.

Related Galleries

With increased funding, more efforts will be made to improve economic development, health and food security, education, gender issues, digital economy and the environment.

After adding Ghana and Kenya last year, this year CorpsAfrica will expand its reach to volunteers and residents of Nigeria, Uganda and Ethiopia. Five reconnaissance trips are planned to determine which other countries to venture into, with the island nation of Cape Verde being a possibility, as well as Benin, Tanzania, South Africa and a few others.

Although CorpsAfrica is not affiliated with the Peace Corps, founder Liz Fanning was inspired by its service In this one. The organization is a private effort and aims to be "a second peace corps by and for Africans", she explained in an interview on Monday. Providing leadership skills to young Africans, especially women, is a priority, she said. “The way we differ from the Peace Corps is that we don't have sectors. We don't go there with a job. All of our volunteers are trained with human-centered design. They listen to local people, who know their needs best and connect them to resources. They also help identify projects and bring everyone to consensus around a project - help request funds, if needed."

While volunteers help manage the process, there is an emphasis on each community locale owns its respective projects. To that end, each local community must invest 10% of the project cost in order to be "charitable customers and beneficiaries", Fanning said.

Directed to isolated and very poor African villages, the program consists of helping women to create cooperatives to sell the clothes they make and other handmade products and a myriad of other projects that aim to create jobs. In Rwanda, for example, there is a training center for tailoring, tailoring and hairdressing.

"In rural communities, creating jobs can be as simple as supporting their families by building a vegetable patch or community garden with a variety of healthy fresh vegetables for good nutrition. Volunteers also help with access to clean water, education for women and girls, road and bridge repairs, school renovations and other initiatives,” Fanning said. Noting how some CorpsAfrica partners are doing "really cool things with fashion," Fanning said a Senegalese company is making clothes out of used plastic water bottles.

As the second largest sector in Africa behind agriculture, the fashion and textile had an estimated market value of $31 billion in 2020, according to UNESCO. With expected annual growth, the field of fashion and textiles has the potential to create jobs for millions of people across the continent, especially for women and young people. Knowing about the global interest in fashion and the financial might of some fashion companies, Fanning said his organization is considering holding a fundraising fashion show featuring African designers in the United States, perhaps this year.