Catholic Relief Services- Jerusalem, West Bank, & Gaza (JWBG)

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Small Business Consultancy for Envision Gaza 2020 Project

March – July 2022

Introduction:

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international relief and development agency of the Catholic community in the United States.  CRS supports more than 100 million people in more than 100 countries on five continents. CRS works with local partners to promote human development by responding to major emergencies, fighting disease and poverty, and nurturing peaceful and just societies; and serving Catholics in the United States as they live their faith in solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world. CRS’ World Headquarters is located in Baltimore, MD.

CRS established an office in Jerusalem in 1961 and has maintained a continuous presence throughout the intervening decades of turbulence and change. Today, CRS’ strategic focus is on programs addressing food security, civil society strengthening, peacebuilding, the provision of humanitarian assistance. CRS employs 87 staff, spread across three offices in Jerusalem, Gaza City, Bethlehem, and Ramallah.

In Gaza, CRS has maintained an active presence and diverse portfolio of humanitarian response and development programs. CRS’ current work includes cash and voucher assistance to support vulnerable households with access to food and critical living supplies, shelter rehabilitation for families living in sub-standard housing, psychosocial support for children, adolescents, and caregivers, job training and career opportunities for female youth, medical and emotional support to children with severe disabilities and infection prevention and control training for health care workers along with supplies and equipment to support private healthcare facilities to provide safe essential services during the COVID-19 pandemic.  For further information about CRS, please visit: www.crs.org 

Purpose:

CRS seeks a business consultant /expert to support the Envision Gaza 2020 project team carry out activities that provide small capital grant assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises in Gaza.

Background:

Envision Gaza 2020 (EG) is implemented by CRS with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support Palestinian families in Gaza become more resilient to everyday stresses and rebound more quickly from crises, including COVID-19. EG helps communities build resilience and self-reliance through the expansion of employment opportunities and emergency assistance. In response to the recent May 2021 conflict, CRS launched an emergency response under EG to meet the basic needs of affected families. Additionally, the project employs a comprehensive livelihoods approach which enables participants to begin the transition from emergency to recovery. Under the Livelihoods component, EG will identify employment opportunities across several livelihoods modalities including Cash for Work (CFW) for unskilled or low-skilled workers, Cash-For-Internship and Cash-for-Apprenticeship (CFI/A) for skilled university or vocational graduates and Small Capital Grants (SCG) for business owners to rebuild or grow their businesses following crises.

Considering the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and recent May 2021 conflict, CRS will provide small capital grants to select employers and businesses to help them restart business owners who are hosting CFW and/or CFI/A participants will receive the highest priority for small capital grant support along with micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, women-owned businesses, and recent startups.

Objective:

Under this consultancy, the consultant will primarily be responsible for the following activities:

1. Contribute to the technical assessment of competitive business plans: Envision Gaza will be accepting different business plans from micro and small businesses to receive a cash grant; the consultant is tasked with supporting the project team as part of a panel of evaluators to review technical and financial business plans against pre-set scoring criteria.
2. Provide Coaching and Mentoring sessions: the consultant is expected to deliver coaching sessions to CRS and local partner staff, supporting them to better manage and support grantees in developing their business plans, managing their grants and their business, and in each session adhering to C19 SoPs.
3. Contribute to a learning event at the conclusion of Cohort 1: Following the completion of cohort 1, CRS and partners will host a learning event to discuss the successes and challenges. The consultant is expected to participate and contribute to the recommendations for improving our approach in the future. 

The business consultant is expected to complete the following activities during a 6-month period and the level of effort demonstrates the time expected for the consultant workload 

, stabilize, or grow their business. To promote greater integration of project components,

* Additional time preparing for sessions is also expected.

Deliverables:

The consultant will submit to CRS the following deliverables:

• Inception report outlining the planned timeline.
• Review and input of evaluation selection criteria for business plans.
• Detailed evaluation according to the EG2020 scoring and evaluation sheet of each of the submitted business plans.
• Facilitation guide for the coaching and mentoring sessions for CRS staff and partner team.
• Facilitate coaching and mentoring sessions to CRS staff and partner team, adhering to COVID-19 standard operating procedures.
• Support with creating business management templates for small capital grants recipients, such as financial management tools, based on need.
• Support with the environmental checklist for each selected business plan.

*A detailed Scope of Work with deliverables and timeline will be negotiated and agreed upon at the time of contract and included as an Annex to the signed agreement.

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Job Requirements

Consultant qualifications:

• Applications will be accepted from specialized entrepreneurs and/or small business management experts, business developers with demonstrated experience delivering training; this may include individuals or consulting/training firms.
• A minimum of 4-year proven record of accomplishment and experience in formal and small business management settings within Gaza 
• A proven understanding of the profile of micro, small, and medium enterprises in Gaza, in terms of size, registration, experience, skills, and knowledge; particular emphasis on understanding the profile of micro business in Gaza (including registration, effective outreach methods, etc.)  as well as understanding challenges and critical gaps faced by different profiles of business (micro, small, medium) across different sectors 
• Consulting/ training firms must be legally registered with the PA and with any other business regulators, with supporting documentation provided upon request; this does not apply to individual consultants applying for this opportunity.
• Arabic proficiency and working knowledge of the English language.

Deadline17 - Feb - 2022