PALESTINE CATALYST

MENACatalyst Foundation

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Project Coordinator

Reference: PC/INSPIRE/2026/CO-01  |  Issued: 19 July 2026

1. Background

Palestine Catalyst (MENACatalyst Foundation) is Technical Partner to Business Women Forum – Palestine (BWF) for INSPIRE WOMEN — Innovative Sustainable Financial Inclusion for Resilient MSMEs in the West Bank —running from 1 August 2026 to 30 April 2027. BWF is the grant recipient; Palestine Catalyst is a third-party recipient of forwarded funds.

Women-led MSMEs in the West Bank, despite strong business acumen and sound financial management, face significant barriers to scaling: limited access to growth capital, restricted mobility, unequal access to commercial lending on grounds of gender, and collateral requirements that fail to recognise proven business performance. Under the MoU, Palestine Catalyst directly implements Work Package 2 — the Green Finance Business Readiness Programme, reaching 100 MSMEs across four sectors — and Work Package 4 (regional business events, networking and diaspora connection).

2. Purpose

The Project Coordinator holds day-to-day responsibility for delivering Palestine Catalyst’s share of INSPIRE WOMEN: Work Package 2 (the Green Finance Business Readiness Programme for 100 MSMEs across the four target sectors) and Work Package 4 (the regional business event, diaspora networking and follow-up).

The role is the operational centre of that delivery. It converts the approved design into scheduled activity across a 9-month window with no slack in it, holds the relationships with 100 participating MSMEs, commissions and quality-assures five external contracts, coordinates with BWF as grant recipient, and ensures that what is reported upward is an accurate account of what was delivered. The technical content comes from contracted experts; the Coordinator’s job is to commission, sequence, quality-assure and integrate that expertise — which is why this post requires someone who has run comparable projects and can hold consultants to standard rather than defer to them.

3. Scope of Work

3.1 Planning and delivery

• Develop and maintain the implementation plan, activity schedule and procurement plan for WP2 and WP4, updating as conditions change.
• Coordinate all activities on schedule, within budget and to the technical standard in the proposal.
• Maintain the risk register and contribute to quarterly risk reviews. Anticipate and mitigate the programme’s known risks — mobility and access constraints affecting MSMEs, trainers and experts; cohort attrition from the 100; limited coach availability; instability; and difficulties securing regional event participation. Apply the virtual-delivery fallback where mobility prevents in-person activity.

3.2 Consultants and service providers

• Support preparation of ToRs, tender documents and evaluation for Palestine Catalyst’s five procurements: screening and coaching (EC-03), follow-up coaching and knowledge product (EC-04), communications (CS-02), venue and catering (PR-05), travel and registration (PR-06).
• Serve as operational focal point for all contracted experts and providers. Review deliverables against specification and recommend acceptance, revision or rejection to the Project Manager. Certify delivery before payment.
• Ensure outputs connect across contracts: screening data feeds the coaching; coaching experience feeds the knowledge product; toolkit content from the technical expert reaches the communications consultant for design; and the 100 MSMEs are not asked for the same information twice.

3.3 Cohort and stakeholders

• Manage identification and onboarding of the 100 MSMEs across four sectors and three regions, with a transparent, documented and defensible process.
• Maintain relationships with participating enterprises, including managing expectations about what the programme does and does not offer.
• Coordinate day-to-day with BWF on women beneficiary selection (Work pPackage 4), cohort overlap between work packages, joint visibility and reporting interfaces.
• Build working relationships with banks, MFIs, leasing companies, guarantee scheme operators and green investment funds relevant to the pipeline.
• Organise the lessons-learnt roundtable (half day, 20 participants) with financial sector and regulatory actors, and coordinate Work Package 4: the regional event for up to 10 beneficiaries and 3 team members, the virtual diaspora event, and the post-event follow-up session.

3.4 M&E, reporting and finance

• Operate the M&E framework aligned with output indicators, with gender-disaggregated data throughout, and maintain means of verification to the donor audit standard — all budget lines settle against evidence.
• Prepare quarter internal progress reports and contribute to programme reporting to BWF and onward to the donor.
• Support documentation of lessons learned: baseline versus endline, changes in green finance awareness and in ability to negotiate with financial institutions, before/after readiness assessments, and barriers encountered.
• Monitor expenditure against Palestine Catalyst’s budget (forwarded funds) with the Financial Manager; flag variances and forecast burn rate; ensure compliance with the procurement guidelines; maintain audit-ready documentation.

4. Deliverables

5. Duration and Reporting

Full-time for up to 9 months within 1 August 2026 – 30 April 2027. Duty station Ramallah, with regular travel across the West Bank; a significant share of working time is expected in the field with participating enterprises, not office-based.

The Coordinator reports to the Project Manager and works closely with the Financial Manager, BWF’s programme team and contracted consultants. Performance is reviewed at three and six months against Section 4.

6. Required Qualifications

6.1 Essential

• Minimum eight (8) years coordinating or managing donor-funded projects in Palestine with NGOs, of which at least 5 on projects of comparable scope and complexity.
• Demonstrated experience in at least one of: MSME development, access to finance, private sector development, entrepreneurship support, or green/climate finance.
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, economics, finance, development studies or a related field. A Master’s is an advantage and may substitute for one year of experience.
• Demonstrated experience managing consultants, including reviewing technical deliverables and holding contractors to specification.
• Proven working knowledge of donor compliance, reporting and procurement.
• Demonstrated experience with M&E systems, indicator tracking and gender-disaggregated reporting.
• Strong working knowledge of the Palestinian MSME landscape and its institutions — banks, MFIs, chambers of commerce, business associations, ministries.
• Full professional proficiency in Arabic and English; proficiency in Excel for budget and indicator tracking.
• Ability and documentation to travel regularly across the West Bank (North, Central, South).

6.2 Desirable

• Experience on projects with a green finance, energy efficiency, renewable energy or climate resilience component.
• Familiarity with any of the four target sectors: marbles and stone, food processing, recycling, construction.
• Experience delivering gender-specific targets and gender-responsive programming in the Palestinian private sector.
• Established relationships with Palestinian financial institutions active in MSME lending; experience coordinating international travel for beneficiary groups; PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent.

7. Submission Requirements

Submit the following, in English, to Jobs@menacatalyst.org quoting PC/INSPIRE/2026/CO-01 in the subject line:

• A CV (maximum 4 pages) with dates, organisations and project titles.
• A cover letter (maximum 1 page) explaining how you meet the eight-year requirement and the sectoral requirement, with specific reference to comparable projects delivered.

Deadline: 30 July 2026, 15:00 (Palestine local time). Late applications will not be considered.

*Note: applications close 26 July 2026, 15:00. Interviews are planned to be scheduled on July 29.*

8. Evaluation

9. Conditions

• This is an employment contract with Palestine Catalyst under Palestinian labour law, subject to satisfactory references and a probationary period.
• The post-holder shall comply with Palestine Catalyst’s Code of Conduct, Safeguarding, Anti-Fraud, Conflict of Interest and Data Protection policies, and shall hold enterprise financial data in strict confidence.
• Continuation is contingent on the programme period and continued funding. This ToR does not constitute an offer of employment; application costs are borne by the applicant.
• Palestine Catalyst reserves the right to accept or reject any application, or cancel the process, without stating grounds.
• Palestine Catalyst is an equal-opportunity employer; women and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

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