On 13 March 2020, during the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, JET Education Services (JET) released the special JET Bulletin, Extending the Capacity of Governments and Communities to Save Lives: The Role of Education Systems in Responding to COVID-19 and Other Threats. This was two weeks before lockdown measures in South Africa were to commence, and the education sector in South Africa was wholly unprepared for what lay ahead. Of course, South Africa was not unique in this precarious situation, with many countries across the world, including many first world countries, struggling to come to grips with the scale and potential impact of the crisis they were edging towards.

Susan de Witt, based at the UCT GSB Bertha Centre and co-leading the secretariat for Impact Investing South Africa, led the research team for Theme 12, ‘Innovative finance for education during and after COVID-19’. Tatenda Nyamuda supported the writing and Nathalie Vereen (JET Education Services) and Louise Saville (Social Finance UK) peer reviewed the paper. Their work culminated in this important contribution.

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