The MasterCard Foundation and the Nairobi-based Equity Group Foundation have announced a three-year, $10.9 million initiative to provide financial education to 620,000 women and youth in Kenya.

The twelve-week program seeks to build individuals' financial skills through lessons covering budgeting, savings, debt management, financial negotiations, and banking services. Participants will learn basic economic concepts and gain an understanding of how to use a range of financial services — especially important in a country where nearly half the population lives on less than $2 a day, 40 percent are unemployed, and the youth unemployment rate exceeds 75 percent. After the initial phase of the program, 7,500 participants will be selected for intensive entrepreneurship training, including practical mentoring on how to grow their businesses.

Equity Bank will make up to $400 million in credit available to successful program participants. It has already trained 57,000 people across Kenya and offered credit to some 26,000 entrepreneurs working to start their own business.

"In order to become economically productive, people living in the lower income brackets require access to knowledge, supportive networks, and financial services," said Equity Bank CEO and Equity Group Foundation chair Dr. James Mwangi. "This program delivers these critical tools and empowers people to change their own lives. Lessons learned will influence our bank and others to mobilize social change."