Mastercard Foundation Targets 10M Jobs for Ethiopian Youth

At a gathering of development partners in Addis Ababa this week, one statement cut through the noise. Mefthe Tadesse, Country Director of Mastercard Foundation's Ethiopia office, challenged everyone in the room to shift their focus from what they do to what they actually achieve.

The occasion was the Mastercard Foundation's 20th anniversary celebration, bringing together partners working to create jobs for young Africans. In Ethiopia alone, the Foundation aims to help 10 million young people find dignified work by 2030, with 7 million of those opportunities going to young women.

Tadesse's message addressed a problem that plagues development work everywhere. Organizations celebrate their programs, their partnerships, and their activities. But they rarely talk about whether any of it makes a real difference in people's lives.

The two-day community week in mid-May brought this challenge into focus. Partners shared what works and what doesn't in creating employment opportunities for youth. The conversations kept returning to one question: Are we actually changing lives, or just running programs?

The Ripple Effect

This focus on impact could reshape how development organizations operate across Africa. When groups measure their success by real outcomes instead of activities completed, every dollar and every decision becomes more meaningful.

The stakes are enormous. At current rates, achieving global gender equality will take 123 years, according to the World Bank. The world is also far off track from ending extreme poverty by 2030, the target set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

These numbers explain why Tadesse emphasized data collection and measurement. Organizations providing childhood education need to know exactly what it costs to educate one child for a year. Employment programs should calculate precisely what resources create one job opportunity.

Most programs celebrate reaching 70 to 80 percent of their targets. They explain away the shortfall with reasonable-sounding excuses about changing conditions, funding challenges, or policy shifts. But when you're fighting poverty and inequality, almost reaching your goal means real people are still left behind.

The Mastercard Foundation's work in Ethiopia started in 2019 with an ambitious target. Creating 10 million job opportunities in 11 years means helping nearly 2,500 young people find work every single day. That kind of goal demands more than good intentions.

Strong data systems help organizations prove their value. They show which approaches work and which waste resources. They help funders see where their money creates the most change.

The message from Addis Ababa offers hope for making development work more effective. When organizations love their impact more than their institutions, young Ethiopians get more than promises: they get real opportunities to build better lives.