The MasterCard Foundation and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) have announced a collaboration that will make $27.1 million available for agricultural education in Africa.
The eight-year commitment from MasterCard will focus on smallholder farmers, connecting university education to the needs of rural communities, and support the training of 220 economically disadvantaged students (110 undergraduates and 110 graduates.
Gulu University in Uganda and Egerton University in Kenya, both early adopters of the RUFORUM approach, will be the key implementers of the program.
Established in 2004, RUFORUM is a network of 60 African universities with a mission to foster innovation for smallholder farmers through training, research and collaboration. The organization has supported the education of more than 1500 postgraduate students and the generation of 300 ag technologies, while mobilizing more than $70 million to strengthen postgraduate education in Africa.