Introduction to the Jobs Fund

Najwah Allie-Edries (Head of the Jobs Fund) provides an overview of the Jobs Fund, the R9-billion challenge fund established by National Treasury in 2011 to pilot innovative, competitively awarded job-creation models on a matched-funding basis. The presentation sets out the Fund’s instrument and reach: over R7.8bn in grants catalysing R15.8bn in matched funding, roughly 348,000 jobs created and 592,000 people trained. It positions the Fund as a “policy laboratory” whose outputs are evidence, scalable models and influence on national policy. Presented at the 2026 Public Economics Conference.