The Mastercard Foundation – EARTH University Fellowship Program plays a vital role in enabling viable pathways for graduates to transition from university to dignified and fulfilling work and entrepreneurship. During one-year placement opportunities beginning between August and October each year, selected Fellows receive mentoring services to support their career development and impact potential, as well as a monthly stipend and health insurance. In addition, EARTH organizes periodic gatherings of Fellows in Africa as spaces for peer-to-peer learning and continuing education. The Mastercard Foundation – EARTH University Fellowship Program is facilitating and accelerating transitions of 140 Mastercard Foundation Scholars over a period of 8 years to realize their potential as leaders of change in and for Africa.
Host partners are vital to the success of the Program. They provide supervision and mentoring, collaborate in developing a work plan, and participate in the evaluation of the Fellow. EARTH and select host partners provide these one-year placement opportunities in employment and entrepreneurship across four tracks: agricultural employment, agricultural entrepreneurship, agricultural education, and agricultural innovation through science and research. We are extremely grateful for our partners and the opportunities they are providing for our Fellows.
We checked in with three of our partner organizations to learn about their experience hosting and talked to the Fellows about what this experience means to them. It is exciting to see the mutual benefit to both the organizations and the Fellows that has resulted from this program.
Nancy Musa (EARTH Class of 2021 & Fellow 2023, Zimbabwe)
Nancy is completing her Fellowship at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Harare, Zimbabwe. ILRI’s mission is to improve food and nutritional security and reduce poverty in developing countries through research for efficient, safe, and sustainable livestock use.
It is clear to see that Nancy is very dedicated to her career as an agronomist. She is passionate when she talks about her work and about her opportunity to work as a Fellow with ILRI. “This Fellowship is an incredible opportunity, because I am working with farmers across various districts here in Zimbabwe. I’m learning more about niche markets, I’m learning more about added value in agribusiness. I’m building my network, and I’m also learning from experts, and this is making me an empowered woman, an empowered mother and an empowered professional who is also seen as a role model in my community, and it’s helping me contextualize all that I’ve learned, put it into practice and see the impact.”
Nancy has not only grown tremendously through this experience, but she also credits her Fellowship with helping inspire her to launch her own business. “The way I’m imparting my knowledge with other famers made me think what I can also do for myself, starting with my family. Now we are in the process of starting a family business that is based on poultry and later we’ll diversify to selling various meats. I feel very much empowered, and I feel that I’m growing. As an agronomist I feel like I have a responsibility to take care of the planet. I want my future, and my son’s future, to be food secure and also to have a sustainable living. I feel the responsibility to play a part, to make sure tomorrow is better.”
Supervisor Irenie Chakoma expressed her great appreciation for Nancy and her work for ILRI. “We are happy to have Nancy, and we are engaging her and mentoring her on a number of projects, including research and development and engaging smallholder farmers in the different districts where we work. As we work with smallholder famers, Nancy is getting training in leadership and learning how to engage with the community. They have their own cultures, and here is a young lady working with older men and women, and so there is a need for tact in order to get their respect. Then there is the aspect of developing her skills in entrepreneurship, creating those opportunities within these environments, seeing a passion, and identifying those opportunities where she can develop a business of her own which can be impactful in those communities. On the agribusiness side, we emphasize being a team player, being a part of us, and we are happy Nancy has become one of us. We encourage her to be innovative and come up with solutions – and she is someone whom we can rely upon to do this, to contribute positively to our activities.”
Marie Claire Nyiribambe (EARTH Class of 2019 & Fellow 2022, Rwanda)
Marie Claire worked as a Certification Assistant at the company Assistance in Sustainable Agriculture and Certification (ASAC) LTD in Kigali, Rwanda. Her work involved advising farmers on agricultural practices to enable them to comply with Sustainable Agriculture Standards and Certification schemes such as Rainforest Alliance, Global Gap, and Organic NOP. The main ASAC clients are in the coffee and organic pepper value chains.
Marie Claire explained how the Fellowship helped her in her career: “EARTH was a great opportunity for me to get knowledge in agriculture so I can come back to Rwanda and put into action what I have learned. It’s very important to have this higher education as it’s really helping me in my career and my Fellowship. I was providing assistance in sustainable agriculture and certification, and so I was working with farmers and different companies to help them to get organic and rainforest alliance certification. It’s great for me to be exposed and have connections, and this was a chance for me to try new things and implement what I learned at EARTH. I really thank the Fellowship Program for giving me this great opportunity.”
For ASAC, the opportunity to have a qualified agronomist join their team was invaluable. Operations Manager Thacien Munyamahame expressed what having a Program Fellow meant to them. “This partnership means a lot to our company. It helped us to help the Fellow implement what she learned at EARTH University – but also to support the local communities including farmers. For us it was a chance to have a person like us who can quickly learn what we are working on but who could also help us to make an impact in the community. It gave us another step of growth because we had another expert on board. We are really thankful to EARTH University for trusting us and for supporting these Fellows in terms of going through this transition from graduation to work.”
Salome Henerico Samson (EARTH Class of 2022 & Fellow 2023, Tanzania)
Salome is working for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. IITA is an institution that is making significant investment in research activities in efforts to increase food security and food safety, reduce rural poverty and undernutrition, and promote more sustainable management of natural resources.
After first being introduced to different IITA initiatives, Salome focused her work on conducting soil and fertilizer analysis in the laboratory and communicating with and advising farmers on the results. She feels she is making an impact through her work. “Throughout my experience as a Fellow I have acquired different knowledge which has helped me improve my skills – I feel like I can communicate with a farmer and explain different techniques to them in terms of soil, yield problems, or diseases. With the soil kits we are working with, for example, farmers can determine what kind of nutrients are not in their soil. These are things which boost farmers to have good yield and improve their productivity, and we are able to go and see this. I feel like this has really boosted my skills.”
Salome’s supervisor at IITA, Gloriana Ndibalema, spoke highly of her contribution to the organization. “Salome is pro-active, a quick learner – she is curious and open to learn. She came in as a researcher, and she is really good at understanding what is needed to be communicated from her research to the farmers. She is good at talking to people and engaging with them when it comes to field activities. She is someone who goes out and networks and talks to people. These are the most important things when it comes to soft skills – engaging with people. It has been a pleasure working with her and I see a great future in her, because she is a darer – she is ready to learn even with things she’s not used to, she’s happy to take new challenges and work on them.”
A special thanks to these and all our partner organizations for helping continue to educate, mentor, and prepare the leaders this world needs!