Our Impact
View our impact since 2021, with the full results for the financial year 2025/26 (1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026).
Since 2021
Five years of building a pipeline
- 11,396+
- Active learners
- 917+
- Industry certificates
- 12,351
- Cumulative course enrolments
Financial year 2025/26
This year
1,396 people registered with us, the largest intake we have recorded. More than half of them, 59.6%, were unemployed when they signed up.
- 1,396
- New registrations
- The largest intake in our history
- 2,819
- Course enrolments
- Across 81 active courses
- 382
- Certifications awarded
- Networking, cloud and soft skills
- 59.6%
- Unemployed at registration
- 832 of 1,396 registrants
Who we serve
The people behind the numbers
Percentages are shares of the 1,396 people who registered in FY2025/26.
Gender
- Male (50.6%)706
- Female (49.3%)688
- Prefer not to say (0.1%)2
Female learners made up 49.3% of registrations, close to gender parity.
Race group
Occupation at registration
832 unemployed learners joined our programmes this year.
Digital readiness on arrival
Reported by learners when they registered.
Self-reported digital knowledge
Most learners arrive with some digital knowledge. A quarter are already at an advanced level, so our programmes work from foundations to professional upskilling.
Where and what
Where learners are and what they study
Registrations by province
Learners from outside South Africa use our online academy. That group is 34.4% of registrations this year.
Learning focus
Cybersecurity and software development together are over 68% of registrations.
Where they choose to learn
Active courses by quarter
- 33Jan to Mar 2025
- 33Apr to Jun 2025
- 11Jul to Sep 2025
- 3Oct to Dec 2025
- 1Jan to Mar 2026 (in progress)
81 active courses produced 2,819 enrolments. The reporting year runs 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026, while the platform records courses by calendar quarter.
Outcomes
Certifications awarded
382 industry certifications this year, taking our total to over 917 since 2021.
Certifications by programme
382 in total, FY2025/26
- Networking and IT (academy courses)322
- Microsoft Soft Skills and Communication50
- AWS Cloud Practitioner10
Networking and IT certifications by gender
Women earned more networking and IT certifications than men this year, 165 against 157.
Our network
From one pilot academy to a pan-African footprint
We started with a single academy in KwaZulu-Natal. We now run five, support twelve more as an academy support centre, and train instructors as an Instructor Training Centre.
- 5
- DSA academies
- One online and four community labs
- 12
- Academies supported
- As an academy support centre
- ITC
- Instructor Training Centre
- Certifies instructors up to professional level
- 9 + 3
- Provinces and countries
- All 9 South African provinces, plus Nigeria, Ghana and South Sudan
| Academy | Location | Province or region |
|---|---|---|
| DSA Online Academy | South Africa and continental Africa | National and pan-African |
| The TSIBA Digital Academy | Pinelands, Cape Town | Western Cape |
| The Marsec Digital Academy | Marburg | KwaZulu-Natal |
| The RA Engar Digital Academy | Port Shepstone | KwaZulu-Natal |
| The Cortex Hub Digital Skills Academy | East London | Eastern Cape |
Across the continent
South Sudan
Digital Rights Foundation
International partnership concluded in FY2025/26, working across Africa on digital rights, safe internet access and digital inclusion.
Nigeria
Futuremap Foundation
Our first formal cross-border academy partnership, opening the way to deliver our curriculum and accredited programmes in Nigeria.
Ghana
Basics International
A growing partnership that extends our presence into West Africa and the delivery of certified technology programmes.
Case study
Microsoft and DSA: Skills to Jobs in KwaZulu-Natal
In June 2025 we ran a soft skills and communication programme with Microsoft for unemployed young people and women in KwaZulu-Natal. It went from proposal to certified cohort in under four weeks.
- 395
- Applications in 9 days
- From KwaZulu-Natal communities
- 7.9x
- Oversubscribed
- 395 applicants for 50 places
- 50
- Learners certified
- Microsoft-endorsed certificates
- 100%
- Attendance and completion
- All 50 learners present on both days
Applications per day
Applications received, June 2025
- 66 Jun
- 17 Jun
- 8411 Jun
- 19012 Jun
- 7213 Jun
- 2514 Jun
- 1715 Jun
Peak of 190 applications on 12 June 2025. Total received between 6 and 15 June: 395.
Who applied
Out of 395 applicants. Marsec Academy in Marburg was the first choice of 284 and RA Engar Academy in Port Shepstone of 111.
- 21 MayProposal submitted to Microsoft
- 6 to 15 Jun395 applications received in 9 days
- 17 to 30 Jun50 learners trained across two KwaZulu-Natal academies
- 30 Jun50 Microsoft-endorsed certificates awarded
Fifty learners were selected and trained, 25 at each of two venues, with every learner present on both days. All fifty received a Microsoft-endorsed certificate. Another 345 qualified applicants are waiting for the next cohort.
About these figures: the financial year 2025/26 runs from 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026. Figures are drawn from our registration records, certification and course platform data, AWS programme outcomes and our learner records since 2021. Percentages are shown as recorded and may not add to exactly 100 because of rounding. Digital Skills Africa NPC, registration 2020/914091/08, PBO 930081802.