Youth Employment Outcomes Fund
Launched in 2023 by Krutham, Jobs Boost Outcomes Fund is a pay-for-performance model in South Africa that aims to secure sustainable and quality jobs for unemployed and excluded youth. It is the largest outcomes fund of its kind in the world, and a major innovation in South Africa’s efforts to tackle chronic youth unemployment. Krutham is responsible for designing and managing the pilot programme, which is conducted through Employment Outcomes NPC, a non-profit company established by Krutham.
Jobs Boost is a R300 million (~$17 million) pay-for-performance model being piloted in South Africa. It is an outcomes fund that works with implementing partners to secure sustainable, quality jobs for unemployed, excluded youth. It is the largest youth employment outcomes fund in the world, and a major innovation in the South African government’s effort to confront the chronic youth unemployment problem.
Jobs Boost was initiated by the Presidency as part of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI). It received funding support through the Presidential Employment Stimulus and directly from the National Skills Fund. Funding for the design of the programme was provided by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.
Krutham designed and will manage the pilot programme. The Jobs Boost Outcomes Fund is a project of a nonprofit company, Employment Outcomes NPC, which Krutham established to administer the fund.
For the pilot, the National Skills Fund, a part of the Department of Higher Education and Training, will act as the sole outcomes funders, a pioneering role for a public entity. By acting as the outcomes funder, the NSF is spearheading innovation in government grant-making for skills development and setting global precedents for new approaches to funding solutions for youth unemployment.
Put simply, an outcomes fund pays for the successful delivery of outcomes, rather than inputs and activities. These instruments are an innovative approach to managing risk and improving efficiency in the delivery of public services. Traditional approaches to job creation are focused on inputs and activities, such as training, workshops or events. In contrast, an outcomes fund provides funding only once the intended results, such as gaining and holding a high-quality job, have been achieved. This enhances the public sector’s probability of getting value for money while transferring the performance risk to the implementation partners. This incentivises implementation partners to innovate and find new ways of delivering outcomes with the highest chances of success.
Outcomes funds are a variety of pay-for-performance contracting models and have some features in common with social impact bonds.
Employment Outcomes NPC will be managing a process to select implementation partners through a two stage process.
Jobs Boost will publish a call for expressions of interest (EOI) for organisations that want to become implementation partners. Additionally, Krutham will host a market development workshop with interested parties after publication of the EOI to guide prospective implementation partners and other interested market stakeholders on what to expect from the fund. Sign up to receive notifications related to the EOI and market building workshops.
All EOIs received will be assessed and organisations that are deemed to be suitable to bid will be invited to submit complete proposals through a closed request for proposal (RFP) process. Krutham will host a second market development workshop for prospective implementation partners to provide guidance on developing proposals.
We encourage all parties to express interest who believe they can deliver a programme to place excluded youth into quality jobs. The expression of interest requires basic information only. Those selected to move to the proposal stage will be required to provide detailed proposals.
For the purpose of this programme, the key criteria are defined as:
Excluded youth
Youth (18-34 years old) that experience difficulty in securing employment in South Africa, largely due to their historical circumstances. Included in the definition of previously excluded youth are the following:
- Be 18-34 years old (preference will be given to those 18-24)
- Registered on the PYEI database via the SA Youth Mobi platform.
- Having attended a quintile 1, 2, or 3 public school and/or
- Having been a beneficiary of the Child Support Grant (CSG) as a child
- Being able to provide documentary evidence of the above
- Highest level of completed education is matric
Quality jobs
Quality jobs must meet the following criteria:
- Full time (at least 30 hours of work per week) paying a salary of minimum wage or higher.
- Permanent or at least a 12-month contract.
- A formal sector employer fully compliant with Basic Conditions of Employment Act requirements and with a valid certificate of compliance with the Compensation Fund.
Partners can be NGOs, companies, industry associations or other organisations that will implement programmes to place youth that meet the pilot criteria in quality jobs. Partners should not be employers themselves, however they may have a formal relationship with employers to work with the employer to ensure successful placement. The partners will be selected based on the quality of their proposals (including budget), and their capability to implement (including historical performance).
Jobs Boost will release grant funding tranches to implementation partners as and when the achievement of milestones has been verified by an outcomes auditor. Implementation partners will submit regular reports and other information to Jobs Boost, and our staff will visit implementation sites regularly.
The expression of interest (EOI) phase has been successfully completed and we have now moved into the request for proposals (RFP) phase. We are pleased to share that after carefully evaluating 103 eligible EOIs, we have extended invitations to 34 organisations to take part in the closed RFP.
Thank you to the 103 organisations that submitted expressions of interest.
We encourage all organisations to keep in touch for future updates and opportunities.
Request for proposals
Status: Underway
Proposal submission deadline: 29 February 2024, 5 pm (SAST)
