Two permissions, set per role
Contact and beneficiary data is often personal, so access is not automatic: each project decides, role by role, who can see the lists and who can change them. Contacts and beneficiaries have separate permission pages, so a project can, for example, let every field worker see contacts while only reviewers see beneficiaries.
Open Project Settings → SITE CONTACTS → Permissions (or SITE BENEFICIARIES → Permissions). The page is a simple matrix:
Roles - every role in the project: All, Mobile User, Focal Reviewer, Reviewer, Editor, Reports Manager, Viewer, Users Manager, Manager.
View - Selected roles will be able to view contacts. Without it, a user does not see the CONTACTS tab at all.
Create & edit - Selected roles will be able to create and edit contacts. This includes deleting.
Ticks save immediately; there is no Save button.