From 2025 to 2029, we are supporting the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) in training young people working in, or aspiring to work in, Ethiopia's rapidly changing financial sector. The SWIFT (Skilled Workforce for Innovation and Financial Sector Transformation) Program in Ethiopia is a partnership between NBE and the Mastercard Foundation aimed at equipping, through the Ethiopia Institute for Financial Studies (EIFS), about 100,000 young people with market-relevant skills and capabilities that will enable them to drive inclusion, innovation and transformation in the country’s financial sector.
The SWIFT Program targets young people, 70% of them women, who are either already employed or looking for employment in the financial sector and need upskilling and/or reskilling.
We are implementing this program through our project office in Ethiopia. The Program will have the following five main focus areas:
- Expanding, revising and developing modern finance education curricula and training modules;
- Establishing a training curricula-oriented research and knowledge hub to inform financial policy and practice in financial inclusion and industry innovation;
- Establishing online learning platforms and digital tools to make financial training accessible to underserved youths;
- Supporting NEWFin (Network of Ethiopia’s Women in Finance) by providing targeted support for young women professionals; and
- Upgrading EIFS’ IT, curricular and accreditation capabilities.
For more information, check out the SWIFT website.