ToR - Rapid institutional assessment of Chambers of Commerce in the Gaza Strip

Background

The Gaza Strip's economy has been profoundly affected by enduring blockades and recurrent wars since 2007. Restrictions on the movement of people and goods, coupled with the near-complete closure of commercial gateways, have severed the region's connection to international markets and devastated its economy. In addition to the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, the war in Gaza has caused widespread displacement, job losses, and a worsening humanitarian crisis that has left most of the population in poverty. Around 69% of structures, including 92% of housing units and 80% of commercial facilities, have been destroyed or damaged with an estimated US$53 billion in recovery costs. In 2024, GDP in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) shrank by 32.2%, including an 84.7% decline in Gaza. Unemployment soared to 51.1 %t across the OPT, 34.9 % in the West Bank, and an unprecedented 79.7 % in the Gaza Strip. According to an assessment by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in May 2024, the war has had devastating effects on the Palestinian people, economy, and human development. The war has severely disrupted Gaza's business environment, affecting private sector capabilities, market access, and financial services. Damage to firm assets, business infrastructure, and governance systems, combined with the blockade, has led to a collapse in business operations and market connectivity. The value of Gaza's exports to Israel and the West Bank is estimated at around $134 million annually, with the majority being fruit, vegetables, fish, clothing, and furniture. The suspension of exports has put this vital source of income at risk, further worsening the already severe economic conditions in Gaza.

According to the FPCCIA, PFI and UNDP report on the “Impact of the Gaza War on Private Sector and Pathways for Recovery”, urgent interventions are needed to support the recovery and revitalization of businesses, such as the rehabilitation of critical economic activities (agrifood, garment, construction) facilitating access to energy, finance, raw materials, machinery and other inputs, rehabilitating central markets and expanding the support provided through the Emergency MSMEs Helpdesks. Key advocacy actions are needed to ensure a more conducive business environment and access to crucial information, goods and services, clear import procedures and safer trading zones[1].

The Chambers of Commerce in the Gaza Strip play a crucial role in supporting the business community and advocating for expedited business recovery to prevent further economic collapse and humanitarian crisis. During the war, these employers and business membership organizations (EBMOs) have been providing critical information and advice and trying to sustain their business community with very limited capacities: Most of their facilities have been destroyed and their staff have been displaced internally or to neighbour countries. Besides, the already weak financial capacity of these institutions has diminished as a result of most of the companies having stopped operating or are not paying their subscription fees to the Chambers. This situation has diminished the capacity of private sector organizations and complicates recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Objectives of the assignment

This rapid assessment aims to contribute to the institutional assessment of the Federation of Palestinian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (FPCCIA), as main national cross sectoral organization representing the interest of the private sector in the OPT. It will also help refine the support and services to be provided to the Gaza Chamber of Commerce in its role in the reconstruction and economic recovery of the Gaza Strip. This should be carried out by evaluating the current state of the five Chambers of Commerce in the Gaza Strip, or what remains of them, assessing their actual capacities, proposing an internal structure and identifying new areas of work and services. This includes proposing more resource-effective governance and administrative structures, identifying the most pertinent services and exploring digital solutions to deliver essential services to support the recovery of the Gaza private sector.

The aim of this assessment report is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the 5 Chambers of Commerce in the Gaza strip in their organizational capacity and analyse its external interactions with stakeholders providing focused and prioritized recommendations as an outcome. A Report will be developed to assist the Chambers’ senior management team and Board of Directors in reviewing their current operations and designing quick restructuring plan for the organization. Given the anticipated volume of work for recovery and reconstruction, this assessment is expected to position the Gaza Chamber leadership as a key recovery partner and help them pitch to donors and development partners for the support needed to lead the business recovery efforts.

The assessment will complement the work being undertaken for the establishment of an Enterprise Support and Advocacy Unit (ESAU) and the support to business resilience aspects within the Federation and their members.

In particular, the team in charge of this work will undertake:

1. A rapid individual assessment of each of the five Chamber of Commerce. This assessment will include the state of the physical infrastructure including facilities, venues, equipment, machinery, and transportation, ii) digital infrastructure such as servers, website, access to software and hardware, and overall technological capabilities with limited resources, iii) human resources available and needed against core functions iv) financial health of each organization v) governance structure, vi) resource mobilization capacity vii) review main services offered, membership engagement and current operations status.
2. Membership engagement: analysis of the actual members, their status, recovery options and support needed.
3. Identify potential new areas of work, including reorientation of existing services, pooling of services in partnership with other Gaza chambers and /or the Federation and leveraging technology and digital tools.
4. Deliver proposed recommendation in a validation workshop and gather feedback.
5. Develop a comprehensive proposal and action plan for revitalizing the functions and reach of the Gaza Chambers. The proposal and plan should include a proposed governance structure for the Chambers of Commerce, outlining core functions and required competencies for technical staff. It should also propose a list of essential services, target groups, data collection and analysis strategies, a digital improvement plan, and an advocacy and resource mobilization strategy and plan. The report should also include a proposal for partnership with other member-based organizations.
    

Consultancy details

The assessment process will require multiple interviews and/or focus groups with Gaza Chambers board members, staff and key stakeholders that will assist in developing a complete picture of the institutions. Meetings with the FPCCIA are also critical for the success of this assessment.

The assessment process will be structured as follows:

ACTIVITY 1 Preliminary work and launch of the assessment 

Work to conducted:

• Initial meetings with ILO staff, PFCCIA and a representative of the Gaza Chambers to inform about different interventions, contextualisation and validate objectives.
• Meetings with other member-based organizations in Gaza, UN and development partners to map what is existing
• Initial desk research on the economic recovery plans and support provided at national and international level and identified key services to be provided by the Gaza Chambers.
• Conduct if the situation allows so, on site visits or virtual visit to the five Chambers of Commerce to assess the situation of the chambers (if not at least one individual meeting with each of the Chambers leaders is requested).
• Drafting of research tools and working plan

Deliverables:

1. Inception report for the rapid assessment with detailed desk research analysis of the economic recovery plans and strategies for Gaza, proposed outline of the institutional assessment report and methodology, workplan

ACTIVITY 2 Analysis of institutional capacity through meetings with Chambers leaders, staff and general managers.

Work to be conducted:

• Internal and confidential meetings with Chamber staff to ascertain the internal capacity of the institutions and assess HR capacity and needs – at least 15 meetings organized
• Development of a survey or any other qualitative research method to collect membership needs and better understand services requested to the Gaza Chambers,
• Meeting with external stakeholders (Local and regional authorities, NGOs, Donors) to assess the perception of the services offered by the Gaza Chambers and their role in the economic recovery process of Gaza.
• Validation through virtual focus groups discussion with Board members and members of 5 chambers of main services requested

*The EO assessment Tool ( from the EESE Toolkit) and other ad-hoc tools developed by the Bureau for Employers Activities will help guide these discussions. The consultant will always validate the tools with the ILO Team. This process will assess the capacity of the Gaza Chambers in terms of: Representativeness Governance, Resources (Financial & Human), communications, services, Partnerships and digital means. It will include the possibility of some services to be pooled through FPCCIA.

Deliverables:

1. Research tools (survey, FGDs and KIIs) to be cleared by ILO team
2. Analysis of survey results – short word doc or PPT
3. Main results of the focus groups discussions and proposed recommendations

ACTIVITY 3 Drafting of the final institutional assessment  

Work to be conducted:

• Produce the quick institutional assessment including all recommendations and based on the agreed outline (deliverable 3) of around 30 pages plus annexes. The report will be analytical in nature and is to be considered confidential for the Federation and Gaza Chambers. The final report should be available in English and Arabic.
• Present the main findings and recommendations to the FPCCIA and main Gaza Chambers leaders in a virtual meeting or validation workshop

Deliverables:

1. Quick institutional assessment draft report
2. Validation workshop minutes
3. Final institutional assessment report

ACTIVITY 4 Draft proposal and action plan 

• Incorporate feedback and develop the recommendation section into a comprehensive proposal and action plan for revitalizing the functions and reach of the Gaza Chambers. The proposal and plan should include a proposed governance structure for the Chambers of Commerce, outlining core functions and required competencies for technical staff. It should also propose a list of essential services, target groups, data collection and analysis strategies, a digital improvement plan, and an advocacy and resource mobilization strategy and plan. The report should also include a proposal for partnership with other member-based organizations.
• Present proposal and plan to the ILO and Chambers, incorporate feedback and finalize.

Deliverables:

1. Proposal and action plan.

Reporting

All deliverables must comply with ILO’s quality standard and brand identity. Respective guidelines (ILO House Style Manual) and templates (Word and PowerPoint) will be provided by the ILO.

Work will be performed under the direction of the ILO, more specifically, the Senior ACTEMP Specialist in Beirut and ILO Jerusalem Team.

Timeframe and Payment Schedule

Exact dates for this assignment and its respective deliverables will be agreed with the consulting firm. It is expected that the assignment will be carried out over a 3–month period. The payments will be executed upon submission of the respective deliverable and according to the tentative schedule in the attached ToR.

Qualifications, experience and eligibility of agency/ consulting firm/organization

Minimum eligibility criteria of the firm/organization

The assignment will be contracted to a consulting firm which demonstrates knowledge, understanding and professional experience of conducting institutional assessment preferably in conflict and crisis situations. Familiarity with methods typically used by the ILO, namely EESE Assessment is an asset.

The consulting firm needs to have the institutional capacity to not only write the report but also to conduct related key informant interviews, focus group discussions, stakeholder workshops and sectoral consultations and dialogues in OPT and more concretely in Gaza. Specific previous experience in Gaza Strip will be considered as an asset.

Minimum qualification and experiences of team leader or focal person

Education

The team proposed by the consultancy firm will require at least to have one member with a master’s degree in business administration, strategic management, political economics or a field relevant to the job.

Experience

• At least 8 years of professional experience in organizational development -in the area of Strategic Planning or Strategic Management- in private and public sector
• Previous experience on institutional assessment with institutions of any nature (corporations, public entities, NGOs)
• Experience in working with Chambers and business associations in OPT

Languages

Excellent command of English and Arabic

Competencies

• Excellent competencies on strategic management
• Excellent knowledge of political and economic context of OPT
• Good knowledge on the business environment in OPT and main bottleneck for enterprise development
• Knowledge of multimedia to develop a range of communication and surveys products
• Knowledge of the working practices of Chambers and business associations in OPT
• Good knowledge of PC software (including word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software) such as Microsoft Office