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An outcomes-based funding initiative is making R200m available over the next 12 months as part of a drive to double the number of digitally skilled workers the country produces to more than 40,000 by 2030.The project aims to help unemployed young people gain practical digital and information and computer technology (ICT) skills that ease them into employment.Industry data shows that rising demand for digital skills in South Africa is outpacing available talent, with less than half of applicants boasting the qualifications required for most advertised jobs in the IT sector.Collective X, a nonprofit organisation (NPO) that co-ordinates the country’s national digital skills plan, a public-private initiative, has removed the fixed application windows on its Digital Skills Impact Fund, which, since its launch in 2024, has supported more than 1,800 young people in finding training and employment, with a 97% employment absorption rate. With immediate effect, employers of people with entry-level digital skills and training providers can apply at any time for financial support for programmes that result in recognised digital qualifications and permanent employment for youth, the NPO said on Monday.Read: Only 42% qualify for IT jobs: how SA can fix surging skills gapThe digital skills fund is now operating at a scale where opening and closing applications a few times a year has become a bottleneck rather than a useful control, and the new “always on” approach is expected to increase the number of active employer and implementation partners delivering programmes to 100 by year-end from the current 30, its executive Nsika Mutasa said.“Removing fixed application windows means we can respond when employers and implementation partners are ready to launch a programme, instead of asking them to work according to a funding calendar that may not suit their timelines,” Mutasa added.With current multiyear financing commitments of more than R600m, R200m of which is committed to the next 12 months, the fund does not pay for training inputs but rather co-pays employers, aggregators and implementation partners for delivering verified outcomes, helping to build a pipeline of entry-level ICT talent for the digital economy. The fund supports two routes into employment, the first being targeted at young people with no post-school technology training, which combines foundational training with a structured period of paid, supervised work experience.The workplace experience route is aimed at young people who have already completed relevant technology training and are ready to move straight into structured workplace experience.Training is mapped to the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), the international standard used by employers, meaning it corresponds to specific skills in a recognised job rather than to a generic qualification.South Africa produces about 20,000 digitally skilled workers a year. Under the national digital skills plan, Collective X is working to double that to more than 40,000 a year by 2030 and to help some 500,000 young people into in-demand digital roles by 2034.Last month, leading online recruitment platform Pnet said only 42% of applicants have the qualifications required for most advertised jobs in South Africa’s IT sector. This skills shortage has left firms grappling with project delays and slower digital transformation.Research by Collective X in 2025 found there were about 118,500 ICT vacancies nationally, 36% of them — more than 40,000 — being junior-level digital jobs. Yet, employers said they struggled to find candidates who could fill them.Business Day
