E-Commerce Capacity Building Consultant for MSMEs

The consultancy will deliver a practical, multilingual training programme and toolkit that equips MSMEs—particularly women-led enterprises—with the skills to adopt e-commerce and AI-enabled business tools. Through ecosystem assessments, tailored training, coaching, and stakeholder engagement across target countries, the programme will strengthen MSMEs’ capacity to formalize, manage and scale online operations, enhance digital marketing, and access international markets, while contributing to policy dialogue and improved enabling environments in line with ESCWA standards.

Remote

9 months

The consultancy supports the implementation of two complementary ESCWA projects: “Advancing E-Commerce for Women-Led SMEs in the Arab Region” and “Enhancing MSMEs Soft Infrastructure and Internationalisation in Countries Facing Security, Financial, or Political Transition Challenges.” Targeting countries such as Djibouti, Mauritania, Tunisia, and Syria, these initiatives aim to strengthen MSMEs and women-led enterprises facing fragile conditions. Together, the projects address key barriers—including limited digital skills, weak e-commerce infrastructure, and restricted market access—by building capacities in digital transformation, e-commerce, and internationalisation, while improving policy and regulatory environments. Through training, ecosystem analysis, policy dialogue, and platform development, they enhance MSME resilience, competitiveness, and regional and global market integration, contributing to inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the Arab region. Duties and Responsibilities: The consultant will be responsible for the timely and accurate execution of assigned tasks, ensuring full compliance with ESCWA’s policies, procedures, and quality standards. The responsibilities of the consultant will include: A. Digital Ecosystem Mapping and MSME Assessment • Conduct mapping and ecosystem assessment activities in Tunisia, Syria, Djibouti, and Mauritania. • Complete the mapping and assessment activities for Tunisia and Syria prior to the implementation of country missions and training activities. • Contribute to stakeholder consultations, ecosystem analysis, MSME clustering, and development of country-level recommendations. • Support the development of a recommendation tracking matrix to monitor follow-up and uptake of policy and ecosystem recommendations. B. MSME E-Commerce and AI Capacity-Building Activities • Design and deliver practical training activities on e-commerce, AI-enabled business tools, digital marketing, formalization, and internationalisation for MSMEs and women-led businesses. • Support MSMEs in applying digital tools and strengthening online business operations. • Contribute to the development and adaptation of practical training materials, coaching resources, toolkits, exercises, and participant guidance materials aligned with ESCWA project outputs. • Deliver country activities according to the following indicative timeline: 1. Tunisia in-person activities: August 2026; 2. Djibouti and Mauritania online activities: September 2026; 3. Syria online and/or in-person activities: October 2026; 4. Lebanon in-person e-commerce training activities (tentatively scheduled for July 2026), subject to security conditions and operational feasibility; 5. AGFUND online training and coaching activities (tentatively scheduled for October 2026). 1. Tunisia – In-Person Training • Deliver in-person training workshops for approximately 90 women-led businesses in Tunisia (tentatively in August 2026), including group coaching, demonstrations, feedback on assignments, and Q&A activities. • Facilitate practical learning sessions focused on e-commerce and AI-enabled business tools. • Adapt training delivery methods to local context and participant needs. • Document participant progress, challenges, and lessons learned. 2. Syria – In-Person or Online Training • Deliver online and/or in-person training sessions for MSMEs in Syria (depending on operational feasibility and project requirements) including group coaching, demonstrations, feedback on assignments, and Q&A activities. • Facilitate practical learning sessions focused on e-commerce and AI-enabled business tools. • Adapt training delivery methods to local context and participant needs. • Document participant progress, challenges, and lessons learned. 3. Mauritania – Online Training • Deliver online training sessions for approximately 20–25 MSMEs in Mauritania including group coaching, demonstrations, feedback on assignments, and Q&A activities. • Facilitate practical learning sessions focused on e-commerce and AI-enabled business tools. • Adapt training delivery methods to local context and participant needs. • Document participant progress, challenges, and lessons learned. 4. Djibouti – Online Training • Deliver online training sessions for approximately 20–25 MSMEs in Djibouti including group coaching, demonstrations, feedback on assignments, and Q&A activities. • Facilitate practical learning sessions focused on e-commerce and AI-enabled business tools. • Adapt training delivery methods to local context and participant needs. • Document participant progress, challenges, and lessons learned. 5. Lebanon – E-Commerce Training Activities • Deliver two to three rounds of e-commerce training activities for MSMEs and women-led businesses in Lebanon, subject to the security situation and operational feasibility. • Each round will consist of three training sessions, including two in-person sessions and one follow-up session delivered either online or in person. • Facilitate practical learning activities focused on digital commerce, AI-enabled business tools, digital marketing, and online business management. • Adapt training delivery methods to local context and participant needs. • Document participant progress, challenges, and lessons learned. 6. AGFUND Online Training and Coaching Activities • Deliver one online training and coaching round for AGFUND participants. The programme will include three online training sessions, three online coaching sessions, and two follow-up support sessions. Each session will have an indicative duration of 1.5 hours. • Facilitate practical learning activities and participant coaching focused on e-commerce operations, AI-enabled business tools, and online business growth. • Document participant progress, challenges, and lessons learned. C. National Community Policy Dialogues and Stakeholder Consultations • Support the facilitation of national community policy dialogues, stakeholder consultations, and technical exchanges focused on e-commerce enabling environments and women-led MSMEs. • Facilitate up to 4 national community policy dialogues, either online or in-person, as well as stakeholder consultations and validation activities. • Contribute to technical background materials, policy recommendations, validation processes, and lessons learned documentation. • Support the preparation of inputs for regional exchanges, policy briefs, and policy uptake tracking processes. D. ToT Workshops • Support the facilitation of Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops targeting policymakers, business support organisations, entrepreneurship enablers, and relevant institutions. • Develop and adapt dedicated ToT materials, facilitator guides, toolkits, presentations, exercises, and supporting resources aligned with ESCWA project outputs and country contexts. • Deliver and/or support up to four ToT workshops across target countries between November 2026 and March 2027, subject to project implementation needs and operational feasibility. • Contribute technical inputs and documentation related to participant learning outcomes, feedback, and workshop recommendations. The consultant will be responsible for delivering, coordinating, facilitating, and documenting project activities while ensuring timely implementation and compliance with ESCWA quality standards and procedures.

A bachelor’s degree in E-commerce, Business Administration, Digital Marketing, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree or proof of work experience. Incomplete applications will not be considered. A minimum of 8 years of professional work experience in developing and delivering training programmes on e-commerce, digital transformation, or AI tools for small businesses, is required. Proven experience in designing practical training curricula and toolkits, with the ability to simplify digital tools for MSME audiences, is required. Hands-on experience in e-commerce operations or managing an online business, with practical understanding of marketplace platforms, digital tools, and customer engagement, is required. Experience working with MSMEs, women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship support programmes, and public institutions in the Arab region, is desirable. Proven experience conducting digital ecosystem assessments, policy analysis, stakeholder consultations, or digital economy research, is desirable. Demonstrated experience facilitating multi-stakeholder workshops, policy dialogues, and capacity-building activities, including conducting live virtual trainings and coaching sessions with interactive exercises and feedback facilitation, is desirable. Familiarity with AI-powered content generation tools, e-commerce platforms (e.g. Shopify, Magento, WordPress, Amazon), digital marketing tools, and automation tools, is desirable. Prior experience working with United Nations agencies or international development organisations, is desirable.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in Arabic and English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Not available.

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.