Frequently Asked Questions

The JET Funding Platform is a coordination and matchmaking mechanism housed within the Just Energy Transition (JET) Project Management Unit (PMU) in the Presidency, established to support South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. It improves access to grant funding for small-scale community projects, capacity-building initiatives and social enterprises that benefit communities and workers most directly affected by the transition away from coal, while also supporting SMMEs to diversify into low-carbon and climate-resilient activities.

The JET Funding Platform does not provide funding directly. Instead, it acts as an aggregator and matchmaker, identifying credible projects, supporting their readiness, and connecting them with aligned grant funders.

The JET Funding Platform has run three funding windows to date and received hundreds of proposals from a wide range of organisations and sectors. It is currently working to match approved projects with interested funders.

The Next Phase

Our experience to date has shown the depth of energy, creativity and commitment across society to advancing a genuinely just energy transition. The diversity of proposals received in previous windows highlighted both the strength of the pipeline and the value of a more focused, themed approach. The JET Funding Platform has, therefore, introduced themed funding windows targeting specific aspects of the transition. This enables faster assessments, allows for the involvement of relevant sector experts, and supports stronger, more informed funding decisions. We open this window with a strong sense of optimism that there are credible and impactful agriculture and food-system projects ready to be supported.

No. The JET Funding Platform does not hold or disburse grants. Its role is to match selected, high-quality projects with appropriate funding partners. Selection into later stages does not guarantee funding.

Yes. The JET Funding Platform reserves the right to amend timelines and requirements at its discretion.

Window 4 focuses on agriculture and food systems, with a circular economy dimension expressed within agriculture (principally waste-to-value pathways such as composting and biogas). It responds to clear demand for agricultural support across the JET Funding Platform’s earlier windows and helps coal-affected communities move from dependence on coal toward diversified, locally owned agricultural livelihoods, with a focus on former mine workers, women and youth. Window 4 is limited to grant funding.

This EOI invites organizations to submit community-led agriculture and food-system projects that build sustainable livelihoods and jobs, develop the agricultural value chain, and turn waste into value, in communities affected by South Africa’s Just Energy Transition (JET).

This themed window focuses on Agriculture and Food Systems, with a Circular Economy Dimension, prioritizing:

• Community-led agricultural production and food systems
• Development of the whole agricultural value chain, beyond primary production
• Circular, waste-to-value pathways embedded within agricultural projects

The key objectives of this window are:

• To create sustainable jobs and livelihoods for coal-affected communities, including former mine workers, through agricultural production, processing and aggregation
• To support direct landholder participation, empowering farmers to develop and use land they own or control
• To develop the whole agricultural value chain, so that farmers and local enterprises capture more of the value they create
• To embed circular, waste-to-value pathways (composting, biogas, organic-waste reuse, land rehabilitation) within funded projects

Circular economy in Window 4 means turning crop, food and organic waste into compost, fertiliser or energy within agricultural projects, closing the loop between production, processing and inputs. It is embedded within agriculture rather than treated as a separate sectoral theme.

Window 4 adopts a national lens: projects from anywhere in South Africa are eligible and will be assessed on merit.

Primary preference: Coal-affected communities in Mpumalanga, within reach of the Eskom decommissioning sites and the coal value chain.

Secondary preference: National initiatives elsewhere in South Africa.

Eligible applicants include:

• Community-based organisations
• Cooperatives
• Non-profit organisations (NPOs / NGOs)
• Small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs)
• Community trusts or similar community-controlled legal vehicles

Applicants must be an appropriately registered legal entity and tax compliant with SARS (a valid Tax Compliance Status). This is checked first, before any assessment is conducted. Applicants that are not appropriately registered and tax compliant will not be assessed. Where communal or community-owned land is used, a single managing entity must be identified to hold and manage the project on the community’s behalf. Applicants must demonstrate a relevant track record in agriculture, food systems or community enterprise, or a credible delivery partner. Experience in Mpumalanga is an advantage.

The following are excluded:

• Individuals
• Political parties
• Pure research or feasibility-only proposals
• Projects whose only realistic financing route is a loan, equity or concessional debt
• Projects for which livestock or small-ruminant farming is the standalone primary purpose (such activity is supported only where it is incidental and waste-generating within a wider agricultural project)

Applicants must register on the JET Funding Platform, complete the required online form, and upload all required supporting documents directly on the JET Funding Platform.

The process includes:

• EOI submission via the JET Funding Platform portal
• Eligibility screening and assessment against the gating requirements
• Shortlisting of the highest-scoring EOIs, up to a maximum of 35, by an Adjudication Committee
• Invitation to the shortlisted applicants to submit a full application
• Scoring of full applications by the Project Selection Committee (PSC)
• Virtual engagements with shortlisted applicants
• Final approval by the Project Review Committee (PRC)
• Communication of outcomes and funder matching

Up to 35 applicants will be invited to submit a full application.

Window 4 uses a two-stage evaluation. Stage 1 assesses the EOI out of 50 (relevance, design and viability). Only EOIs scoring at least 30 out of 50 are eligible, and the highest-scoring, up to a maximum of 35, are invited to submit a full application. Stage 2 assesses the full application out of 130 across seven sections. Scoring produces a ranking, not a final funding decision.

EOIs will be assessed against:

• Alignment with the Window 4 theme, objectives and geographic focus
• Inclusion of women, youth and former mine workers
• Land access and a credible route to market
• Circular / waste-to-value integration
• Feasibility, readiness and risk
• Value-chain participation and commercial sustainability
• Potential impact and sustainability
• Organisational capacity, governance and compliance
• Value for money and leverage of co-funding
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) approach

Submissions that are late or are missing required sections may be disqualified and may not be considered.

Yes. Shortlisted applicants (up to 35) will undergo Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and due-diligence checks, including governance, tax and other compliance checks. Participation in this process does not constitute an offer of funding.

Projects may request between R500,000 and R20 million, subject to funder requirements and the nature of the project.

Projects may run for up to 36 months, recognising that agriculture typically needs a multi-year runway, subject to funder requirements and the nature of the project.

Co-funding is encouraged but not mandatory. It may take the form of blended grants from more than one grant-maker, corporate social investment (CSI), or socio-economic development (SED) and social-spend grants, rather than concessional or commercial debt. Applicants should clearly indicate the source, amount and status of any existing or potential co-funding.

The JET Funding Platform is a matchmaker, not a grant maker. It supports approved projects to identify and engage funders aligned with their work, while also enabling funders to find credible projects that match their funding priorities.

Any grant disbursement is managed by the matched funder and is milestone-based, aligned with agreed deliverables and reporting requirements, and subject to the funder’s terms and conditions.

Priority is given to community-led agriculture projects across the following focus areas:

• Smallholder and cooperative crop production
• Agro-processing and value addition (milling, drying, packaging, cold storage)
• Community food hubs and market infrastructure (aggregation, grading, bulk sales to institutional buyers)
• Regenerative agriculture and land rehabilitation on degraded or mine-affected land
• Organic waste-to-value: community-scale composting and biogas
• Agricultural skills and enterprise development, including business, financial-literacy and cash-flow management support
• Climate-smart and controlled-environment agriculture, including hydroponics

Benchmarks include:

• At least 30% women in leadership positions
• At least 40% women in overall employment
• At least 25% women ownership
• At least 30% of products or services directly benefiting women

Gender Lens Investing (GLI) benchmarks are integrated into the assessment framework to ensure gender inclusion and social impact are measurable, transparent and comparable, alongside environmental and financial performance. Their primary purpose is to support consistent data collection, accountability and evidence-based decision-making across the portfolio.

Projects are assessed against standard gender-related indicators covering women’s leadership, employment, ownership and beneficiary reach. These benchmarks provide a common reference point for portfolio-level comparison and learning, without making gender performance an exclusive eligibility criterion, allowing flexibility across different project types and stages.

GLI indicators function as a portfolio-level measurement and learning tool, enabling aggregation, comparison and tracking of progress over time. For the EOI, only a broad gender-impact description is required; for full applications, a GLI benchmark will be applied to the project or organisation.

Not necessarily. Projects may be assessed against one or more applicable benchmarks, depending on their nature, sector and operational model. Meeting at least one benchmark may qualify a project as contributing to gender-inclusive outcomes.

Compliance is measured using verifiable data such as:

• Organisational employment and leadership records
• Shareholding or ownership documentation
• Beneficiary data
• Periodic monitoring and reporting metrics

Yes. Projects are encouraged to adopt a progressive improvement approach, with targets reviewed periodically to reflect growth, transformation and enhanced social impact.

For investors and stakeholders, these benchmarks:

• Improve transparency and comparability across projects
• Reduce social risk
• Support responsible investment decisions
• Demonstrate measurable commitment to inclusive growth

Projects are assessed against measurable impact benchmarks across the areas below. For the EOI, only a broad impact description is required; for full applications, detailed benchmarks (with full definitions) will be applied.

Community involvement

• Share of interventions that plan for community involvement as part of their design
• Share of interventions reporting ‘Level 3 – community engagement’ (on a scale of 0 to 5) or higher

Institutional strengthening and capacity building

• Share of interventions reporting a positive change across institutional elements (capacity, systems, resources, information, coordination) at community/local, provincial or national level

Job creation

• Number of non-permanent full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs created or maintained
• Number of permanent FTE jobs created or maintained

Livelihoods and resilience

• Share of interventions self-reporting livelihood contributions ‘on track’ or better in planned asset categories
• Number of households estimated to have benefitted from the intervention

Gender equality

• At least 30% women in leadership positions
• At least 40% women in overall employment
• At least 25% women ownership
• At least 30% of products or services directly benefiting women

These core benchmarks are integrated into the assessment framework to ensure inclusion and social impact are measurable, transparent and comparable, alongside environmental and financial performance. They support consistent data collection, accountability and evidence-based decision-making across the portfolio. As with the gender benchmarks, they are a portfolio-level measurement and learning tool rather than an exclusive eligibility criterion, allowing flexibility across project types, contexts and stages.

Not necessarily. Projects may be assessed against one or more applicable benchmarks, depending on their nature, sector and operational model. Meeting at least one benchmark may qualify a project as contributing to social-impact outcomes. Compliance is measured, and improvement is encouraged, in the same way as for the gender benchmarks above.

The JET Funding Platform Team is available to support applicants with questions about the application process, eligibility criteria and other aspects of the funding window.

Applicants may submit questions via the JET PMU contact box or email the JET Funding Platform Team at helpdesk@jetfundingplatform.org.za