Business Development Officer - 4 positions

Title: Business Development officer (up to 4 positions)

Reports to: Agribusiness, Markets, and Renewable Energy Lead

Duty Station: 20% of time at Ramallah Project Office and 80% of time in the field in different governorates.  

Location of work:  West Bank, applicants should have flexibility to move between all governorates.

BACKGROUND: ABOUT COWATER INTERNATIONAL 

With more than 30 years of experience, Cowater International is Canada’s global leader in management consulting services specializing in international development. We have managed the implementation of over 800 projects in more than 80 countries around the globe for clients such as DFID, DFAT Australia, the World Bank and Global Affairs Canada. We work with governments, partner organizations, communities and civil society to design and implement sustainable solutions that generate lasting social, economic and environmental impacts. Our adaptive approach to management has led to our award-winning work and recognition as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies in 2017 and 2018. Cowater International Inc. (lead), in collaboration with the Palestinian Businesswomen’s Association (Asala). and the Near East Foundation (NEF- for the first two years of the project), will implement a 4-year initiative that aims to enhance economic empowerment and increase prosperity for low-income women and youth in the West Bank.

1. GENERATING REVENUE OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND YOUTH IN THE WEST BANK (GROW)

The goal of the GROW project is to enhance economic empowerment and increase prosperity for low-income women and youth, particularly female youth, in the West Bank. The project will seek to achieve this by adopting a gender transformative approach aimed at recognizing, formalizing, and amplifying women’s existing roles in key value chains whilst promoting women’s increased decision-making and control over income, assets, and productive resources. This project will focus specifically on value chains, where significant potential exists to empower women, including female youth, to move beyond their essential but largely unrecognized roles, ultimately contributing to their increased agency in both economic and social spheres.  

III. MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Based in the West Bank, and reporting directly to the Agribusiness, Markets and Renewable Energy Component Lead, the Business Development Officer (BDO) will be engaged on the project full-time and will be responsible for the overall coordination and implementation of the project activities set in the approved action plan under the immediate result “Enhanced opportunities for women entrepreneurs, including female youth, to successfully establish and/or grow sustainable businesses in the olive oil and agro-food processing value chains” or Component II. The BDO will carry out all planned activities in an effective and timely manner in accordance to the milestones set in the approved action plan and required quality criteria.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Contribute to all project work planning and reporting processes with focus on Component II of the project; 
• Under the direct supervision of the component lead and in close coordination with other senior team members, set up annual targets, monthly schedules, procedures, and work plan;
• Liaise regularly with other staff and project partners in monitoring progress towards achievement of program outcomes, reporting any matters arising to the Component Lead;
• Support the documentation of lessons learned and good practices in women’s economic empowerment; 
• Work collaboratively with project partners to identify opportunities to synergize, complement and maximize impact on the project beneficiaries; 
• Facilitate knowledge building and information sharing in relation to both the knowledge outputs of the project, business skills training and BDS supports.
• Follow day to day implementations of project activities in the targeted locations;
• Contribute to project beneficiaries' recruitment, business plan evaluations, and project's selections;
• Prepare and organize for the workshops, training, coaching sessions, peer networking sessions, project's activities and meetings;
• Follow up and coordinate delivery of training and coaching sessions with trainers, beneficiaries and any other service providers; 
• Participate in the training, coaching and mentoring for women participants, and submit progress reports;
• Conduct business plan development coaching sessions for the beneficiaries;
• Develop business and marketing plans in coordination with beneficiary to achieve business's establishment and its expansion goals;
• Facilitate the coaching, peer networking, and exchange visits activities for the project beneficiaries;
• Follow up and provide on site technical support to ensure provision of business skills training and BDS support to target women;
• Contribute to the design and implementation of the project awareness raising campaigns;
• Follow up closely and continuously with project’s beneficiaries and report challenges and successes accordingly using project’s monitoring and documentation forms; 
• Facilitate a professional relationship and coordination with market actors, community-based organizations, chambers of commerce and other relevant stakeholders;
• Prepare periodic narrative and analytical reports on the project’s achieved activities and progress which show the project's implementation and achievements at the field to the project manager.

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VII. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS 

Minimum Education: Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Business Administration, Marketing, Social Sciences, Food Processing, Industrial Engineering.

Experience: Minimum of 5 years’ experience in a relevant field, preferably in economic empowerment, private sector development, product development, or development field. 

Preferred characteristics: 

• Believer in human rights, particularly women’s rights
• Positive teamwork attitude
• Eagerness to learn and adapt
• Proactive and innovative 
• Passion for supporting marginalized and vulnerable groups

Other: 

• Professional use of MS Office applications, including Word, and Excel.
• Ability and commitment to work and produce results with minimum supervision
• Ability to work under pressure
• Extensive written and verbal communication skills.
• Highly attentive to detail in order to maintain accurate records
• Flexibility in accepting work assignments
• Strong command of both Arabic and English languages 

In order to apply for the position of Business Development Officer, please submit your application to the following address: [email protected], no later than 18 January 2020, before 4:00 p.m. Make sure to indicate in the email subject: BDO Position.

Your application should include the following required documents, any missing document will disqualify the application:

1. Cover letter outlining reasons for your interest and qualifications for the position
2. Detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV) 
3. List of three relevant references 

If you have any questions or inquiries, please contact us at Tel: 02-2951656

We thank all applicants, however only the successful applicants will be contacted.