Discretionary Grants

About Discretionary Grant Funding

The purpose of the discretionary grants is for the SETA to implement their Sector Skills Plan. These are grants that the SETA deploys to achieve its objectives in relation to the development of the sector.
Discretionary Grant funded projects may be once off projects; these are projects confined to one financial year and not repeatable or it may be rolling projects from one financial year to the other; these are projects that are multiyear in nature and/or repeatable in the following financial year(s).

There are three types of Discretionary Grant funded projects that the BANKSETA shall make available from time to time namely, Funding Windows and Strategic Projects and Responsive Proposals.

Funding Windows

A funding window is an invitation to stakeholders to apply for funding from the SETA for the programmes that the funding window is intended for.

The objective of a funding window is to allow stakeholders the flexibility to implement programmes in a way that is appropriate to their organisation. It also allows flexibility in content, duration, implementation dates and training provision platforms. Each funding window will have its own funding cost structure, additional qualifying criteria, timelines for disbursement of grants and criteria for supporting documents required to make payment.

The window period would open on a specified date and have a closing date.

Strategic Projects

The BANKSETA shall identify specific interventions that will have benefit for the sector, and which will support the National Skills Development Plan and/or the BANKSETA’s strategic priorities. Where necessary, projects will be outsourced to specialist providers and due procurement process will be followed as per the BANKSETA Supply Chain Management Policy.

Responsive Proposals

These are applications sent by prospective applicants in response to criteria and guidelines published by the BANKSETA. The funding of applications under this category will be limited and will focus on promoting innovation or creativity or immediate needs or national government priorities or a mix thereof and more importantly subject to budget availability.

All new Skills Development Facilitators are required to register online and link and their respective organisations to SDF profiles before accessing the WSP/ATR and WSS forms. The system can be accessed through MIS . The SDFs will be only be able to access the forms once their SDF application has been approved by BANKSETA.

Flowchart of Funding that informs Discretionary Grants

Step 1

Employer submit Levy Payments to SARS.

Step 2

SARS transfers Levy Payments to DHET.

Step 3

20% is allocated to the National Skills Fund (NSF).

Step 4

80% of the Levy is transferred to BANKSETA.

Step 5

10% SETA Admimistration

20% Mandatory Grants

49.50% Discretionary Grants

20% National Skills Fund

0.5% QCTO Administration

Open Discretionary Grant Funding Windows

Entrepreneurial Skills Development Programme

The programme is design to assist the Small and Micro Enterprises (including Cooperative Financial Institutions) that are operating within the banking and alternative sector to gain skills on entrepreneurship skills, knowledge, values and attitudes for their businesses over 3 months on an entrepreneurial skills programme of a mentoring programme.

How the programme works:

The entrepreneur will spend 6 hours per month with one SME/CFI in order with training institution to assist them with inter alia: formalisation of contract assignments and business viability study; formalisation of contract assignments and business viability study; linking and applying course principles to business management; keeping track of monthly liabilities; daily sales summary – cash; explaining how to keep record for easy referencing to the bank; recording cash expenses taken from sales income.

Career Guidance

Career Awareness

“There is no passion to be found playing small in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living” – Former President Nelson Mandela

The BANKSETA is committed to empowering the country’s youth, through various youth development initiatives which include learnerships, internships and career guidance workshops.

Forms and Downloads

One of the BANKSETA’s corporate strategies is that of Youth Development. The BANKSETA offers various vocational education and training programmes to bridge the gap between structured learning and work experience in the banking and inclusive banking industry. The BANKSETA has partnered with various institutions of higher learning and the banking sector to facilitate theory and workplace practice into qualifications that are registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

Learnerships have been identified as one of the best vehicles to build skills for both the employed and unemployed based on a unique feature that a learnership is an occupationally-based learning programme that combines structured theory and practical experience and leads to a registered qualification by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Learnerships place emphasis on practical work exposure and are linked to specific occupations to ensure relevance and sustainability.

When to Apply for Learnerships

Application forms are only available once the recruitment window is open. Recruitment takes place 6 months in advance prior to the year the programme commences. BANKSETA places advertisements in the national and regional newspapers, the BANKSETA website and Facebook page. BANKSETA appoints a recruitment agency that provides the relevant application requirements on their website as well; the advert would have the relevant details.

Contact Information

+27 11 805 9661

info@bankseta.org.za

Mon – Fri: 08:00 to 16:30

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Doctoral and Post Doctoral Research Funding

The BANKSETA has identified a need for the funding of Doctoral and Post-Doctoral research studies pertinent to the broader banking and inclusive banking (microfinance) sector. Doctoral/Post-doctoral students must be nominated by the Employer where the student is employed. BANKSETA will evaluate the application based on the importance of the research to the banking and inclusive banking sector and will approve/decline applications and allocation of funds.

Open Windows

There are currently no Open Funding Windows in this Programme.