Together 25 Ensemble: Q&A with Reeta Roy - President and CEO, Mastercard Foundation

Reeta Roy is President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation—one of the largest private foundations in the world. Its vision is a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. She will be a Keynote Speaker at PFC’s national conference Together 25 Ensemble in September 2024.

Q: How was the Mastercard Foundation created and what is its purpose?

The Mastercard Foundation was established through the generosity of Mastercard Inc. when it became a public company in 2006. As a registered Canadian charity, we operate as an independent organization, separate from the company, and are now one of the world’s largest foundations. Our mission is to seek a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper. And we believe that all people, no matter their starting point in life, should have an equal chance to succeed.

In Africa, to deliver on that mission, we work with partners helping economically disadvantaged young people find opportunities to move themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty and into a better life.

In Canada, we focus on supporting Indigenous youth on their pathways through education and on to meaningful work and livelihoods that reflect their values, traditions, and aspirations.

Q: In the Keynote speech you will be delivering at Together 25 Ensemble, you will talk about self-determination and co-creation. How did the Mastercard Foundation decide on these values?

From the outset, we took a long-term view of how to achieve impact. We recognized that this isn’t a goal we should measure purely through numbers but through the substance of the partnerships we build, and the capacities we strengthen, to enable lasting and meaningful change at scale.

We enable that impact by living the core values that animate our work: Humility, Listening, Kindness and Respect, Co-Creation, and Impact. Co-Creation is key because it starts at the outset of all our partnerships and remains the driving force sustaining and deepening those relationships over time.

Those values emerged through our experiences of working with and listening deeply to our partners. True partnership starts with acknowledging the power imbalances too often inherent between funder and community partners and then working actively to redress that imbalance. Trust-based philanthropy is central to that effort. It requires recognizing and following the expertise and wisdom of our partners, and working with them to solve complex challenges their communities are facing. It also means placing agency where it belongs: in the hands of communities and, particularly, young people.

As a Canadian-based foundation, we also recognize that we have a responsibility to play a role in reconciliation, including efforts led by Indigenous youth, their communities, leadership, and organizations to advance and uphold Indigenous rights. That includes a commitment to Affirmation of Language and Culture, Equity and Inclusion, Addressing Systemic Barriers to Progress and Transformation, and Supporting Indigenous Self-Determination.

That commitment was the genesis of the EleV Program, our main Canada Program, which was cocreated with Indigenous people and is guided by the voices, visions and insights of Indigenous youth.

Q: Mastercard Foundation operates in several countries in Africa, as well as in Canada – what is the work focused on?

In 2009, we made a strategic decision to focus on Africa because it is home to the youngest fastest-growing population in the world. That demographic is a source of tremendous potential and opportunity for society. The challenge is to develop pathways for them into dignified fulfilling work.

In Canada, the youngest, fastest-growing population is Indigenous people, the future of this country and a tremendous source of energy and potential.

In Africa, our Young Africa Works Strategy is enabling 30 million young people to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030, focusing on young women, and forcibly displaced and disabled youth.

In Canada, our EleV Program aims to support 100,000 Indigenous youth through education and on to meaningful livelihoods by 2030. We and our partners are embedding Indigenous cultures, worldviews, learning and knowing into the education and employment systems.

Under EleV we are investing $500 million in Canada through more than 45 partners in education, employment, entrepreneurship, clean energy, environmental stewardship, eco-tourism, health, entrepreneurship, digital technology, and more.

In Africa, our goal is for 75 percent of our partners to be African-led institutions, meaning based in Africa, registered in Africa, and led by Africans.

In both cases, those are not aspirational targets but benchmarks of accountability, which reaffirm our commitment to forging authentic and equitable partnerships that drive real change at scale.