• Duty Station: Taiz, Yemen
• Project Coverage: Economic recovery and enterprise support components
• Contract Type: Fixed-Term (Full-Time)
• Contract Duration: One year, with the possibility of extension for up to four years based on performance, project need, and funding availability
• Reporting to: Technical Manager
• Announcement Date: 08-July-2026
• Application Deadline: 30-July-2026

About Altwasul

Altwasul for Human Development is a leading Yemeni non-profit and non-governmental organization established in 2004. With over two decades of experience, Altwasul delivers humanitarian and development programs across Yemen in areas including livelihoods, food security and agriculture, health, education, WASH, protection, shelter, nutrition, and community empowerment. Altwasul is committed to inclusive, accountable, and people-centered programming that strengthens resilience, promotes social cohesion, and supports vulnerable communities, including women, youth, persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons, and conflict-affected households.
Altwasul is also ISO 9001:2015 certified for Quality Management and holds the Institutional Commitment Certificate 2025 – 2028.

Project Background and Job Purpose

The Enterprise Development Officer will support the delivery of enterprise development, MSME support, business coaching, market linkages, financial inclusion, B2B facilitation, and grant-readiness activities under Altwasul’s Partnership Sector-funded projects.
The role will identify and support viable entrepreneurs, MSMEs, cooperatives, women-led businesses, and relevant market actors through practical business development support, coaching, technical follow-up, and linkages to appropriate services, markets, and opportunities.
The Enterprise Development Officer will ensure that enterprise-related activities are demand-driven, feasible, inclusive, transparently selected, and well documented. The role will also support technical verification of business progress, grant-readiness, and post-support follow-up, while coordinating closely with MEAL, Finance, Logistics and Procurement, field teams, and relevant project staff.
The role will apply a market systems lens to identify constraints, opportunities, incentives, and relationships among entrepreneurs, suppliers, buyers, cooperatives, financial institutions, and service providers. This is intended to strengthen sustainable market-based solutions and reduce dependency on project support.
The Enterprise Development Officer will also coordinate closely with the Skills and Employment Officer where trainees, graduates, or jobseekers transition into self-employment, enterprise support, or market linkage opportunities.

Key responsibilities:

1. Enterprise Identification, Assessment, and Selection

• Support market assessments, value-chain analysis, business mapping, supplier mapping, cooperative mapping, financial service mapping, and private sector analysis.
• Identify potential entrepreneurs, MSMEs, start-ups, cooperatives, women-led businesses, and relevant market actors eligible for project support.
• Support transparent outreach, registration, screening, and selection processes in coordination with the Technical Manager, MEAL, Community Mobilizers, and local stakeholders.
• Assess business profiles against agreed criteria, including market demand, buyer/customer demand, business feasibility, technical capacity, inclusion, risk level, growth potential, and ability to benefit from project support.
• Ensure that selected enterprises are realistic, locally relevant, and aligned with project objectives, donor requirements, and field conditions.
• Maintain complete and accurate enterprise files, assessment forms, selection records, business profiles, and supporting documentation.

2. Business Development Support and Coaching

• Provide or coordinate practical business development support to selected entrepreneurs, MSMEs, cooperatives, women-led enterprises, and rural or agriculture-related enterprises where relevant.
• Support business diagnostics, business planning, basic financial management, costing, pricing, customer analysis, marketing, recordkeeping, risk analysis, and growth planning.
• Develop or support simple and realistic business improvement plans based on the capacity, market position, and needs of each enterprise.
• Follow up with supported enterprises to ensure that coaching, training, mentorship, and business support are applied in practice.
• Coordinate with business development service providers, trainers, mentors, and consultants to ensure quality and relevance of support.
• Ensure that business support is practical, field-based, and adapted to the literacy, capacity, market access, and operating constraints of targeted businesses.

3. Market Linkages, B2B, and Financial Inclusion

• Facilitate linkages between supported enterprises and suppliers, buyers, cooperatives, service providers, financial institutions, business development service providers, and private sector actors.
• Identify practical market constraints and opportunities affecting supported enterprises, including access to inputs, finance, buyers, services, information, transportation, technology, maintenance, after-sales support, and women’s economic participation.
• Facilitate relationships between market actors without replacing their commercial roles, ensuring that linkages are practical, mutually beneficial, and likely to continue beyond the project period.
• Support B2B activities, supplier engagement, market linkage events, rural delivery models, aggregation points, leasing options, maintenance services, and other market-based solutions.
• Coordinate with microfinance institutions, Islamic finance providers, savings groups, cooperatives, and relevant financial actors to explore suitable financial inclusion pathways.
• Support VSLA/e-VSLA-related enterprise linkages where relevant, including business readiness, recordkeeping, financial literacy, and referral to appropriate financial services.
• Document market linkage outcomes, business agreements, referrals, follow-up visits, and evidence of enterprise progress.

4. Grant-Readiness and Technical Verification

• Support the preparation of selected enterprises for start-up grants, business grants, enterprise-related toolkits, in-kind support, or staged enterprise support where applicable.
• Review business needs, proposed investment items, cost assumptions, implementation capacity, market relevance, and risk level before support is recommended.
• Prepare grant-readiness assessments, business improvement plans, milestone plans, and technical recommendations for review by the Technical Manager and relevant committees.
• Conduct field verification before, during, and after enterprise support to confirm business status, use of support, progress against milestones, and emerging risks.
• Provide technical input to support grant disbursement decisions, while ensuring that financial approval and payment processing remain with Finance and authorized management.
• Flag misuse risks, unrealistic business plans, weak capacity, market saturation, safeguarding concerns, or other issues that may affect the success of enterprise support.

5. Monitoring, Reporting, and Documentation

• Track enterprise progress, including business survival, income changes, sales improvement, job creation, women’s participation, market access, use of grants or in-kind support, and sustainability risks.
• Conduct regular field visits to supported businesses, cooperatives, VSLAs, suppliers, and market actors.
• Provide timely technical updates, field visit reports, coaching records, business progress notes, and implementation updates to the Technical Manager.
• Work closely with MEAL to ensure accurate data collection, indicator tracking, beneficiary verification, satisfaction monitoring, and evidence collection.
• Contribute to donor reports, case studies, success stories, lessons learned, and learning products by providing field evidence and technical analysis.
• Ensure that all enterprise-related files and means of verification are complete, accurate, confidential, and ready for internal review, donor verification, or audit.

6. Coordination, Accountability, and Inclusion

• Coordinate with local authorities, community structures, business associations, chambers of commerce, cooperatives, service providers, private sector actors, and financial institutions.
• Work closely with Community Mobilizers to ensure inclusive outreach and transparent communication with communities and applicants.
• Ensure that women, youth, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups, and vulnerable households are considered in outreach, selection, business support, and follow-up.
• Support safe and accessible communication with beneficiaries, including clear explanation of project criteria, support packages, selection processes, and complaint channels.
• Refer complaints, safeguarding concerns, protection risks, or sensitive cases through the appropriate channels.
• Maintain neutrality, confidentiality, transparency, and do-no-harm principles in all enterprise development activities.

Technical Validation and Quality Checks

The Enterprise Development Officer is expected to apply technical judgment and field validation before recommending or following up enterprise support. This includes checking:

• Whether the business idea or existing enterprise responds to real market demand
• Whether the entrepreneur or business owner has the capacity and commitment to implement the proposed activity.
• Whether the proposed support is realistic, cost-effective, and aligned with the project objective.
• Whether the proposed investment can generate income, improve productivity, create jobs, or strengthen resilience.
• Whether the enterprise support may create protection, safeguarding, conflict, exclusion, or reputational risks.
• Whether women, youth, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable groups can access and benefit from the support safely.
• Whether the business has basic records, documentation, or a practical plan for improvement.
• Whether grant or in-kind support is justified by clear business needs and measurable milestones.
• Whether the enterprise can continue operating after project support ends, including access to inputs, customers, finance, maintenance, and basic business records.
• Whether the proposed support may distort local markets, create unfair competition, undermine existing businesses, or create dependency on free inputs.

Shared Accountability

The Enterprise Development Officer contributes to enterprise selection, business development support, grant-readiness, technical verification, market linkages, financial inclusion, monitoring, and reporting by providing technical inputs, field evidence, business analysis, and follow-up updates.
Formal accountability for financial approval, grant disbursement, procurement processes, contractual commitments, donor communication, and compliance approval remains with the relevant departments and authorized management.

Required Qualifications and Skills

• University degree in business administration, economics, agriculture, livelihoods, development studies, social sciences, or a related field.
• Minimum 4 years of relevant experience in enterprise development, livelihoods, MSME support, business coaching, market systems, financial inclusion, grants, or economic recovery programming.
• Proven experience supporting entrepreneurs, MSMEs, cooperatives, women-led businesses, or income-generating activities.
• Strong ability to assess business viability, market demand, business risks, and enterprise support needs.
• Ability to facilitate market relationships rather than directly manage or replace the role of private sector actors.
• Experience in business training, coaching, mentorship, business diagnostics, market linkage, or grant-readiness support.
• Understanding of donor-funded programming, field documentation, beneficiary selection, monitoring, reporting, and accountability requirements.
• Experience coordinating with private sector actors, suppliers, cooperatives, financial institutions, business development service providers, local authorities, and community structures.
• Strong fieldwork, communication, facilitation, negotiation, and problem-solving skills.
• Good computer skills, especially Microsoft Excel, Word, and data collection tools.
• Good Arabic communication skills; working knowledge of English is an asset.
• Experience with EU, SDC, UN, INGO, or consortium-funded livelihoods or economic recovery projects is a strong asset.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Required Competencies

• Strong business judgment and market awareness.
• Ability to assess whether an enterprise is viable, coachable, and ready for support.
• Practical understanding of MSME development, business planning, financial literacy, and market linkages.
• Ability to work directly with entrepreneurs, women-led businesses, cooperatives, suppliers, and financial institutions.
• Strong field follow-up and documentation discipline.
• Ability to apply transparent selection criteria and avoid bias or favoritism.
• Strong coordination with technical, MEAL, finance, logistics, and community teams.
• Ability to identify risks and propose practical corrective actions.
• Commitment to inclusion, accountability, safeguarding, conflict sensitivity, and do-no-harm principles.
• Ability to work under pressure and travel regularly to field locations.

What We Offer

1.    Monthly gross salary based on Altwasul’s salary scale.
2.    2.5 days of annual leave per month.
3.    National holidays in line with the Yemeni calendar.
4.    Opportunities for learning, development, and career advancement.

Safeguarding and Equal Opportunity

Altwasul for Human Development is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in its workforce and encourages qualified candidates to apply regardless of gender, nationality, disability, religious or ethnic background.
Altwasul maintains zero tolerance for exploitation, abuse, harassment, discrimination, misuse of power, fraud, corruption, and any behavior that conflicts with the organization’s values, principles, and institutional commitments. Altwasul is also committed to child safeguarding and protection from sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment.
Selected candidates will be subject to reference checks, verification of academic credentials, employment history, and other relevant background checks. Applicants may be required to disclose any previous cases of sexual misconduct, other forms of misconduct, service termination, criminal records, or violations registered with relevant authorities, and to authorize former employers to disclose such information during reference checks.

Apply with

• Altwasul for Human Development is committed to diversity and diversification in its workforce, and encourages all people applying to join the organization, regardless of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including people who are committed to doing so.
• Altwasul for Human Development follows zero tolerance for behavior that conflicts with the principles and institutional goals and values, including exploitation, violence, harassment, and accountability for the use of power and discrimination. The Foundation is also committed to the Child Protection Pledge. Accordingly, all those selected will adhere to this Order and the Principles, and in particular will be subject to reference checks, including verification of accreditation from academic data, types and employment data.
• Selectees are then required to communicate additional information.
• The applicant must disclose any previous cases of sexual misconduct or other forms of misconduct, previous service terminations, criminal records, and violations registered with government authorities and agree to the disclosure of any such information by their former employers during reference checks.