1.     Purpose of the consultancy

The objective of this consultancy is to recruit a training specialist in Financial Literacy and financial technology (FinTech) to provide Training of Trainers to 11 women who own Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises and form the elected members’ council of The Palestinian Businesswomen’s Association (Asala). The purpose is to educate Asala’s 11 members’ council members on financial literacy, and access to finance, FinTech and its potential and possible uses, in order for them to become multipliers and spread this knowledge among other members of Asala and train them to become more financially literate and responsible. The trainer shall provide strategic advice, technical support, and capacity development to the 11 women through a training. After having completed the training the 11 women shall have acquired the required standards and techniques to teach and train Asala’s members how to financially manage their businesses, provide enough information to the members to understand and responsibly use FinTech solutions.

1. Background

Asala is a leading Palestinian business association established in 1997 and specialized in supporting women micro-entrepreneurs to be successful by breaking down social and financial barriers through business training, capacity building, marketing, and advocacy and lobbying. Asala aims to provide Palestinian women with the necessary skills and opportunities to successfully contribute to the advancement of their society on the basis of equal rights and access to resources and markets.

Asala provides comprehensive and needs-based services to women entrepreneurs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip along three strategic tracks, namely:

1. Advocacy and lobbying for women’s economic and social rights.
2. Capacity building for women entrepreneurs.

• Facilitating access to local, regional, and global markets for women entrepreneurs.

3. Methodology and Scope of Work

The consultant is expected to support Asala in organizing and conducting the technical trainings/workshops in Financial Literacy and FinTech to enhance the women’s capacities to teach financial management of (micro-)businesses, as well as equip them with information on the technicalities of FinTech platforms and their usage. Under the supervision and in close co-operation with Asala the training specialist will implement the following tasks:

1. Creation of the methodology and development of training material for the workshop for approval by Asala and provide pre and post training evaluation surveys and a report of the findings including review and feedback interviews with members’ council, attendance sheets.

The training material shall include information and examples of different available financial products, services, especially for enterprise finance, including classical products, alternative products, Islamic products, and innovative, technology-driven solution. It shall introduce topics related to financial education (terminology, innovations and emerging topics e.g. digital responsible finance) as well as financial education measures with specific focus on women-led (micro-) enterprises. The trainer shall share evidence based and relevant information that is culturally appropriate (language, religiously sensitive, etc.) and fits to the circumstances in Palestine.

The trainer shall use training material provided by Asala, including the video material from “Deer Malak” campaign and material provided by GIZ, as well as Asala’s own financial literacy training materials that Asala’s trainer pool has previously developed. 

1. Drafting and finalizing the methodology and training/workshop schedule and submission to Asala for final approval.
2. Conduct one technical training workshop for four days (20 hours)

The training course will take place as classroom training. It could also be conducted in a hybrid manner between face-to-face and virtual participation to facilitate the participation of women from far or remote areas. The sessions shall also be recorded. The workshop shall be highly practice oriented (e.g. by inviting FinTech companies to present & demonstrate their solutions available in Palestine) and include continuously a Q&A possibility to address questions.

1. One follow-up session with trained members’ council to address open questions to be held directly before the members’ council will start conducting the trainings.

4. Characteristics of the consultancy

 Type of consultancy:

Individual / Group Consultancy

Duration:

4 days (20 training hours)

Place of work:

Palestine, Ramallah 

Qualifications:

The Consultant should have high technical and/or academic qualifications and extensive experience in financial literacy and experience in FinTech.

General Work Experience

At least five (5) years of professional working experience in teaching and training in financial literacy and FinTech.

Specific Work Experience:

The consultant must provide at least two (2) contactable references of similar work done within the past five (5) years. 

Arabic is required, English a plus.

Experience working on a similar project is an asset.

5. Deliverables

The following will be the expected deliverables of the consultancy:

• Work plan for developing the training/workshops, including strategy and proposed methodologies.
• Comprehensive report on challenges, recommendations, lessons learnt and next steps for the participants to ensure their success as multipliers.
• Archiving agenda, presentation materials, other documents produced, participants’ lists

6. Duration and time frame

The trainings/workshops shall be expected to be completed within a Four-day period in Four working days (20 hours).

Four (4) days after signing of the contract the trainer will have to provide to Asala the inception report that will articulate the overall requirements of the ToR including proposed methodology, work plan with clear timelines.

7.     Requirements

• A summarized description of the scope of work and the intended methodology to be used as well as a tentative work plan including activities and timeframes. 
• An example of similar pieces of work completed recently. 
• For companies: Registration certificate, source of deduction and tax invoice.
• Freelancer: Copy of ID
• For Both: CVs of the team who will implement the assignment and examples of previous similar projects, and policy papers (attach written policy papers if available).
• Itemized financial proposal.

8. Evaluation and Selection Process

This application is open to trainers/specialists who are specialized in delivering trainings/workshops in financial literacy and FinTech with proven experience in the field of specialization and entrepreneurship/enterprise finance. The selected contractor will be responsible for designing and executing all the activities described in this ToR in collaboration with Asala.

The selection process of the trainer will be based on the set of criteria developed by the Asala Evaluation Committee to evaluate the proposals. The Evaluation Committee will evaluate the proposals by using the combined scoring method. The technical proposal will be evaluated on 60%; whereas financial proposals will be evaluated on 40%. The shortlisted bidding consultant or firm may be asked for a formal presentation prior to the final selection.

9. Final report

The final report will document the context in which the trainings/workshops took place, challenges, survey findings, indicators of change, suggestions, opportunities, and next steps.

The deadline for sending the report is 10 days after the completion of trainings/workshops. Approval of the final report will be the basis for issuing the final payment.

10. Proposal Structure:

Interested Consultants should submit:

1. Technical Proposal

Explaining your experience in similar assignments, technical approach, and methodology of work, team structure (for companies), C.V of consultant/ team members.

2. Financial Proposal

Your price offer should be in USD including VAT.

Interested Consultants should send their proposal and price offer to the Palestinian Businesswomen’s Association ASALA Office located AlBireh – Hamodeh Al Derawi Budling 4th floor in sealed and signed envelopes no longer than July 26th, 2023 (2:00 PM).