Muni University wins $3m Mastercard Foundation prize for higher education transformation. Higher Education Transformation Convening Uganda's Muni University wins a $3 million Mastercard Foundation AHEFT Prize in Accra to transform higher education and boost youth employment in Africa. Uganda's Muni University has been named among five African institutions to win the inaugural Africa Higher Education for Transformation (AHEFT) Prize, earning $3 million to expand initiatives aimed at transforming higher education. The Mastercard Foundation announced the winners during its inaugural Higher Education Transformation Convening in Accra, Ghana, this week. Muni University joins Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Burkina Faso, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, and the University of Rwanda as the first recipients of the award. Each institution will receive $3 million to scale initiatives designed to expand education opportunities for young Africans. The AHEFT Prize is backed by a $500 million commitment from the Mastercard Foundation and is expected to recognise at least 150 higher education institutions across Africa over the next decade. The award focuses on institutions undertaking sustained changes in teaching and learning, research and innovation, students' transition into employment and health outcomes. The announcement came during a gathering of university leaders, the African Union, governments, financial institutions, businesses and young people. The meeting ran under the theme, "Reimagining Higher Education for Africa's Human Capital Development." Mastercard Foundation president and chief executive officer Sewit Ahderom said universities should move beyond providing qualifications and become drivers of economic opportunities for young people. "Transformation is not just a better university. It is a university that makes the whole economy around it work better for young people," Ahderom said. She called for courses designed alongside employers, qualifications that demonstrate graduates' practical abilities and institutions that prepare young Africans to lead technological change. Ahderom also urged universities to ensure that research moves beyond campuses and contributes to businesses, government programmes, communities and job creation. The Foundation's executive director for Higher Education and Strategic Initiatives, Dr John Nkengasong, said Africa's growing young population presents an economic opportunity that universities can help unlock. "Africa's young and growing population presents one of the world's greatest opportunities. Realizing that opportunity will depend on higher education institutions that can develop and retain talent, drive innovation, and create stronger pathways to dignified and fulfilling work," Nkengasong said. Higher Education Transformation Convening He argued that transforming universities should be treated as an economic priority requiring cooperation between governments, universities, investors and the private sector. African Union Department of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation director Prof Saidou Madougou also called for increased investment in higher education and research. He said higher education spending across the continent averages less than 0.8 per cent of GDP, while research and development receives less than 0.5 per cent of national budgets. The discussions support the African Union's Decade of Education and Skills Development, which runs from 2025 to 2034 and seeks to strengthen education and align skills development with the continent's long-term economic priorities. AHEFT jury chair Susan Chomba said the five inaugural winners demonstrated different approaches to reforming higher education that could provide lessons for other institutions. "Across the applications, we saw a strong appetite for change and institutions rethinking everything from how students learn and prepare for the world of work, to how universities engage with industry, strengthen research and innovation, and respond to local challenges," Chomba said. Applications for the 2027 AHEFT Prize are expected to open later this year.

The cost of excluding refugees. Without the resources to educate, train and economically include refugees, displacement will continue to drive onward migration NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 18 2026 (IPS) - For the young women I met through Global Give Back Circle's HER Lab in Kenya, displacement was not the end of ambition. It had interrupted school, separated families from stability, and narrowed the choices available to them. But it had not erased their hopes. What they wanted was not pity. They wanted skills, work, confidence and the chance to rebuild their lives with dignity. Kevine Muhimpundu, a Technology Skills participant at HER Lab Kajiado, told me how displacement and the cost of education had paused her ambitions. Monica Abul, a Fashion Design participant at HER Lab West Pokot, captured the point powerfully: "I am learning to focus not on what I have lost, but on what I can still build." Their stories point to what migration debates often miss: displacement is not only about movement, but also about whether people can rebuild their lives in safety and dignity. If work and opportunity do not exist locally, the question is not only how to manage migration. It is how to create opportunity in their host country. Kevine and Monica's experiences reflected a wider reality. UNHCR recorded 117.8 million people forcibly displaced worldwide in 2025. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reported 83.4 million people living in internal displacement across 117 countries and territories in 2024. This is where Africa's local experience matters, not as a continent people are simply leaving, but as one already hosting many of its own displaced people. African migration remains predominantly regional. The African Union and the International Organisation for Migration reported that 20.8 million people had moved between African countries. They also found that 86% of refugees and asylum seekers from African countries were hosted within Africa, compared with 9.6% in Europe. This should reset the debate. Most African refugees and displaced people are already hosted within the continent. The challenge is not simply whether Europe or the United States should receive more people, but whether African host countries have the systems, resources and investment to help refugees rebuild locally. When opportunity exists, onward migration becomes less about desperation and more about choice. This is not an argument against migration or the right to seek asylum. Migration can benefit individuals, communities and economies. But forced movement should not be the only route to dignity. Refugees need recognised skills, training, routes into work and confidence that their futures are not on hold. That means investing in education, accredited training, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion and community acceptance, so refugees can contribute to host economies. The kind of local capacity needed is not abstract. In Kenya, Global Give Back Circle's HER Lab, delivered in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, shows what this can look like in practice. Across Kajiado and West Pokot counties, HER Lab supports 32 young refugee women: 19 in Kajiado from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and 13 in West Pokot from South Sudan, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are receiving training in fields ranging from coding and electrical installation to fashion, food production, cosmetology and agriculture. The HER Lab model combines market-aligned skills, mentorship, confidence-building, financial inclusion and pathways into employment or enterprise. HER Lab reflects a broader shift. Through its $300 million partnership with UNHCR, the Mastercard Foundation is supporting half a million young refugees and displaced people across Africa to complete their education and enter dignified work. In Dadaab, Dadaab Refugee Voices is applying the ILO's Rural Employment Services model to connect refugees and host communities with job registration, guidance, matching, skills support and digital training. Already, 6,189 jobseekers have registered and received support, showing how local systems can move people towards work and self-reliance. During and after the 12-month HER Lab programme, young women are building businesses in poultry, beauty, beadwork, retail and regenerative farming, while others are gaining skills in plumbing, agribusiness, digital literacy and electrical work. Through the HER Financial Freedom Programme, hundreds of previously unbanked rural women have gained access to savings and credit in addition to membership in a women-operated tea production cooperative. These are local routes to dignity, income and self-reliance. That is why local capacity is central to the future of migration policy. Without the resources to educate, train and economically include refugees, displacement will continue to drive onward migration. With support for local initiatives and building inclusive systems, host countries can address some of the pressures that force people to move. The policy response is clear. Governments, donors, development finance institutions, philanthropies and the private sector should back efforts that are locally rooted, measurable and designed for scale. Western governments, in particular, have a role beyond deterrence or crisis response. Investing in African countries and locally led initiatives can expand education, skills, livelihoods and financial inclusion for refugees and host populations alike. It can also turn migration partnerships into a shared effort to reduce forced movement. The strongest migration policy is not one that pretends movement can simply be stopped. It is one that gives people real choices before movement becomes unavoidable. Africa is showing what inclusion can look like when opportunity is built locally. The world should not look away. It should invest in helping that approach scale. Linda Latsko Lockhart is the Founder and CEO of Global Give Back Circle, a serial social entrepreneur focused on the empowerment of women and girls in Africa and beyond. Named to Forbes "50 Over 50: Impact List", she brings over 25 years of global leadership designing scalable, gender-based financial independence models. Through her organisation, Lockhart helps marginalised women and girls gain education, financial tools, and lasting economic resilience. IPS UN Bureau

WorldFish targets 25,000 women, youth with fishery jobs project. 1 hour ago September 15, 2026 WorldFish, in partnership with Trademark Africa and Mastercard Foundation, has launched a project targeting 25,000 women and youth in Nigeria and Tanzania to create jobs and strengthen the competitiveness of the fishery and aquaculture sector. African Tech Startups The initiative focuses on job creation, climate-smart aquaculture, digitalisation, access to finance and reducing post-harvest losses across the aquatic food value chain. Dr Charles Iyangbe, WorldFish's Country Representative in Nigeria, said this at a stakeholder workshop in Ibadan to gather input for the programme's design. He said the project would address key barriers limiting growth in the fishery and aquaculture sector while supporting women and young people to access and diversify employment opportunities. Discover more EBRD ventures Business & Industrial Business Operations According to Iyangbe, four thematic areas will drive the project's job-creation strategy: innovation in the feed sector, climate-smart aquaculture, digitalisation and access to finance, and reducing post-harvest losses while strengthening the value chain. Geographic Reference "The idea, basically, overall is to create jobs. We have a target of reaching about 25,000 women and youth in Nigeria and Tanzania," he said. The intervention will cover six Nigerian states - Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Delta - with farmers' organisations in coastal areas expected to work alongside government and research institutions. Iyangbe said reducing production and operational costs, as well as addressing socio-economic barriers, would be critical to improving the sector's performance and making aquatic foods more accessible and affordable. Speaking at the workshop, Wellington Omoragbon, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, identified the high cost and limited availability of quality fish feed as a major challenge facing fish farmers. Discover more Youth Organizations & Resources Nigeria economic news He said feed accounts for more than 75 per cent of fish farmers' operational costs, making investment in modern production methods and feed innovation necessary to reduce production expenses. Omoragbon assured the project partners of government's commitment to providing policy and institutional support and working with stakeholders to promote sustainable fishery and aquaculture production. Ms Hadhami Hammi, Senior Expert, Monitoring and Evaluation at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), also expressed readiness to collaborate on strategies to strengthen fisheries programmes and improve women and youth access to jobs and finance. Dr Foluke Areola, Global President of the World Aquaculture Society, described the initiative as timely, citing the rising cost of fish feed and the importance of fisheries and aquaculture to food security, livelihoods and economic development. The stakeholder workshop brought together representatives from government agencies, private-sector organisations, financial institutions, research bodies and farmers' groups. Discover more Technology News Digital operations handbook