Digital Opportunity Trust and the Mastercard Foundation expand the impact of the Going Beyond project with nine youth-serving organizations in Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire

Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) and the Mastercard Foundation are proud to announce nine new partner organizations for the project, “Going Beyond – Partnering for a Youth-Led Future.”

These nine youth-led and youth-serving partner organizations join the six named in the first year of the project, bringing the total number of partners to 15. The addition of these new partners will enable a rapid expansion of Going Beyond, which will train 300,000 young Africans in critical technology and business skills in coming years, as well as 4,000 youth digital business facilitators. The addition of these new partners allows the project to scale its reach in the two countries where implementation is already underway, Tanzania and Malawi, as well as begin transforming the lives of young people in two more countries, Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire. 

“We see this project as a win for us, a win for the community, and a win for our entire country,” says Nelson Kondowe, project lead for Going Beyond at Life Concern, a new partner organization that works to holistically improve the lives of young people in northern Malawi. “It’s a bottom-up approach where the community is being given the skills to bring up its own standard of living.”  

Indeed, these new partners all join Going Beyond with extensive expertise in empowering young people to transform their own lives. From Youth Education, an organization in Côte d’Ivoire that creates opportunities for young people to thrive and lead in their communities, to Timveni Child and Youth Media Organization, which amplifies the voices of Malawian young people so that they can fully realize their rights, these organizations are not simply imagining a youth-led future. They are already creating one.

“We see this as an extension and scaling up of the work we’re already doing, and a way to reach more youth, particularly those who are really marginalized,” says Judith Meta, the deputy CEO of Reaching the Unreached (RUT), a Tanzanian organization promoting the rights of women and girls. 

Already, Going Beyond’s existing partner organizations have co-created and refined the project, making sure it is tailored to local needs. The new partners DOT welcomes today will also shape Going Beyond’s future, making sure it effectively reaches as many young people as possible. 

“We don’t have the sense that we are in a boss-employee relationship,” says Koki Brice Élisée, Project Lead for Dynamiques et Excellentes d’Afrique (DynExcAfrica), a Côte d’Ivoire-based organization equipping young women with the skills and confidence to succeed in STEM fields. “We really feel like we’re working together.” 

These new partner organizations will deliver digital business trainings using a peer-to-peer model that entrusts local youth to upskill their own communities. They will also receive mentorship and training to strengthen their own organizational capacities, allowing them to expand their transformative reach. 

“It’s exciting – I will be running this project, but at the same time, I will also have an opportunity to learn as well,” says Tamara Ziba, co-founder of Avencion, a social enterprise in Zambia with extensive experience implementing youth empowerment projects alongside international partners. “Everyone is going to come out a different person.” 

The nine new partner organizations include:

• Avencion (Zambia), a social enterprise with more than a decade of experience implementing youth empowerment programs and a wide range of other development projects. 
• Dynamiques et Excellentes d’Afrique – DynExcAfrica (Côte d’Ivoire), an organization promoting the participation of women and girls in STEM fields.
• Generation Alive (Zambia), a feminist movement working for the empowerment of women and girls through advocacy, training, and psychosocial support. 
• Iringa Development for Youth and Disabled Children – IDYDC (Tanzania), an organization fighting for a society free from disease, poverty, and illiteracy by empowering young people.
• Life Concern (Malawi), an organization working with young people in northern Malawi to improve their access to health, education, and leadership opportunities.
• Pamoja Youth Initiative (Tanzania), an organization advocating for Zanzibari youth in the domains of livelihoods, political participation, climate change resilience, and sexual and reproductive health. 
• Reaching the Unreached – RUT (Tanzania), an organization promoting the rights of women and girls to live healthy, empowered lives.
• Timveni Child and Youth Media Organization (Malawi), an organization using radio and television to give a voice to Malawian youth, particularly girls.
• Youth Education (Côte d’Ivoire), an organization creating opportunities for young people to be active citizens and achieve economic security.