South Africa’s Jobs Fund, which has been allocated R9-billion to support job creation initiatives over three years, has issued its second call for proposals, having approved 26 projects and grant funding worth R1.5-billion during the first window, which closed on July 31, 2011.

For 2012/13, R4.5-billion has been set aside for the fund, which is administered by the State-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).

The second of four bidding windows opened officially on April 2 and will remain open for eight weeks.

During the initial bidding round, the matching-grant scheme facilitated the release of financial resources worth R3.3-billion for employment creation projects across the private, public and nongovernmental sectors.

Chief investment officer Dumisa Hlatshwayo indicates that the approved projects, which were selected from 2 651 applications, are expected to create 162 040 jobs.

He also says that the DBSA’s systems have been improved since the first manually administered bidding round and that second-round applications will have to be submitted online.

Over its full operational period, it is anticipated that the scheme will support the creation of jobs through enterprise development initiatives, infrastructure programmes, capacity building and by providing support to work seekers.

“We have learnt valuable lessons during the first call for proposals,” Hlatshwayo says, adding that sufficient systems have now been put in place for the second window period.

A new website has been launched, stakeholder feedback sessions have been hosted across the provinces, provincial offices have been established and an automated application process instituted.