Back to the home pageWe've learned that Trevor Noah Foundation (TNF) is not the constant. Communities are. Our role is to ensure that, when we step back, hope, opportunity, and the tools to sustain them remain
Seven years ago, TNF began with one school and a straightforward belief: that education - understood not just as learning but as the whole environment in which a young person grows - is the most powerful lever for change in South Africa. That belief has not changed. What has fundamentally shifted in 2025 is how we act on it.
From Implementer to Enabler
This year marked a turning point in TNF's evolution. We did not simply deliver more programmes. We deepened our role: from implementer to system-strengthener, from sole operator to ecosystem enabler, from an institution that co-creates solutions with communities to one that enables them to lead, own, and sustain change and, increasingly, steps back so they can lead.
The Khulani Nathi Innovation Fund (KNIF)
Announced by Trevor Noah at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, KNIF is not merely a new funding mechanism; it is a declaration of what we believe about change. We believe the people closest to South Africa's education challenges are best placed to solve them. Trust is not a risk to be managed, but a condition for impact.
million
Co-founded by Microsoft over three years.
capital
Unrestricted funding to foster true ownership over compliance.
Concept notes
Deep response showcasing active community ingenuity.
That flexible, unrestricted capital in the hands of proximate leaders produces something no compliance-heavy grant ever could: ownership.
The fund, totalling nearly R50 million over three years and co-funded by Microsoft, received over 580 concept notes from education innovators across the country – a response that revealed both the scale of unmet need and the depth of ingenuity already present in South Africa's education ecosystem.
By the end of 2025, nine organisations had been selected through a rigorous assessment process, and more than R13.5 million in Year 1 catalytic funding had been committed and disbursed, enabling partners to begin implementing locally-led solutions that will continue to grow over the coming years.
Expanding Horizons
95%
Average matric pass rates achieved through 6 years of sustained partnership at our three partner schools.
1,044m²
300 seater community hall space built entirely by trained local youth at Eqinisweni Secondary.
240+
Education Changemakers alumni network expand to spanning over 240 leaders across 28 countries on the the continent.
Self-Help Groups (SHGs)
Embedding SHG principles across Khulani schools, capacitating community members to lead independently so learning conditions outlast any programme or funder.
AI & Digital Skills
Deepening our Microsoft partnership to position schools and KNIF grantees directly at the intersection of technological access and equity.
Deepening Systems Influence
Working alongside provincial government, co-funders, and peer organisations to shape the broader conditions in which good education work can thrive.
Looking ahead
We are learning that the most important question is not “Can we trust them?” but “How can we support them?” We are not chasing growth for its own sake. That reorientation - from control to partnership, from funder as gatekeeper to funder as catalyst - is the thread running through everything we did in 2025.
We are deepening our influence on the system, working with provincial government, co-funders, and peer organisations to shape the conditions in which good education work can thrive across South Africa. We are strengthening our ecosystem partnerships, making visible the collective value generated not just by TNF's programmes but by the network of innovators, educators, and communities we are connected to.
And we are building the evidence base that makes that value legible to partners, funders, and the field.
The work is long. The problems are deep. But so is the belief shared by every educator, youth leader, school principal, and community member who has walked this road with us: that education, done with intention and done with trust, can change what is possible.
Trevor Noah
Shalane Yuen