Consultant to Conduct Trainings on Forest Patrolling in CFM Models of the USAID “Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management” Project

Consultancy Announcement

Position: Independent consultant for conducting trainings on forest patrolling in CFM (Community Forest Management) models of the USAID “Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management” Project, RECOFTC Viet Nam.

Sub-Activity Code:

• 1.2.8.2: Conduct trainings on participatory forest monitoring in Lao Cai, Nghe An and Quang Nam

Duration: 34 person-days in the period from March 2022 to April 2022

Application deadline: 5.00 p.m. Hanoi local time, February 25, 2022

At RECOFTC, we believe in a future where people live equitably and sustainably in and beside healthy, resilient forests. We take a long-term, landscape-based and inclusive approach to supporting local communities to secure their land and resource rights, stop deforestation, find alternative livelihoods and foster gender equity. We are the only non-profit organization of our kind in Asia and the Pacific. We have more than 30 years of experience working with people and forests, and have built trusting relationships with partners at all levels. Our influence and partnerships extend from multilateral institutions to governments, private sector and local communities. Our innovations, knowledge and initiatives enable countries to foster good forest governance, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The USAID Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Project supports the Government of Vietnam to reduce carbon emissions associated with deforestation, degradation of natural forests and poor plantation management. The project implements a “Green Prosperity” approach that strengthens local communities’ ability to protect their natural resource base and reduce emissions while building a strong foundation for sustainable livelihoods and equitable economic growth.

The project works in seven provinces: Lao Cai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Tri, Quang Nam. It focuses on five main objectives:

1. Strengthening community forest management
2. Promoting conservation-friendly enterprises
3. Improving law enforcement to tackle environmental crimes
4. Enhancing the management of production forests
5. Mobilizing domestic resources.

RECOFTC is implementing Objective 1 by improving and expanding community forest management in the seven target provinces, in close coordination with other partners and Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Background

Forest dependent communities’ participation is increasingly recognized as an important factor in effectively maintaining forests. Communities have been engaged into forest management and protection in various forms. Four main types of these engagements include i) traditional community forests, ii) introduced community forests, iii) groups of households managing forestlands, and iv) individual households, who all individually own forestland, collaborating in forest management.

Under the SFM Project, the concept of community forestry covers two forms of local people's participation in forest management. The first modality is community forest management (CFM) in which residential communities/villages manage communities’ allocated forests. This also covers the modality where communities manage household’s allocated forests as a community group. The second modality is community-based forest management (CBFM) in which village communities manage contracted forests with protection forest management boards.

With CFM models, local communities are accessible to different financial sources, including but not limited to the payments for forest protection, the Payment for forest environmental services (PFES) scheme, Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) incomes, cooperation/joint investments and other credit schemes. To support communities to perform more effectively their roles and responsibilities of forest owners under CFM modalities, or forest protection contract holders under CBFM, it is necessary to improve communities’ capacities, particularly skills on forest patrolling, handling forest law violations in collaboration with forest rangers and other techniques to enhance effectiveness of community forest protection groups.

Objectives of the consultancy

The overall objective of this assignment is to improve capacity of communities in the forest patrolling activities through improved skills on arrangement, performance of forest patrolling activities and communications skills for more effective management and protection of community forests.

Specific objectives of consultancy

1. Review current status and demands for capacity building of community in forest patrolling and management.
2. Determine methods of building and enhancing the capacity of communities on forest patrolling and disseminating policies and laws on forest patrolling to community members.
3. Prepare guidelines to support establishment/consolidation of the community forest patrolling groups (organizational arrangements, rules, etc.)
4. Draft/design a set of tailor-made training documents on forest patrolling and disseminating policies and laws on forest patrolling.
5. Conduct four training courses in Lao Cai, Nghe An and Quang Nam provinces.
6. Propose recommendations and follow-up plans after the trainings, ensuring active and effective coordination among stakeholders to maintain and enhance participation of community in forest patrolling.

Scope of work (SOW)

The consultants are requested to conduct the following tasks but not limited to:

1. Desk review of relevant laws/policies including Forestry Law 2017, Decree 156 and other guiding papers of the Forestry Law relating to forest management and patrolling, documents of the Project with linkage to different CFM models, with particular focus on the capacity development need assessment (CDNA) report and the CFM manual and conduct online surveys and consultations (if needed).
2. Propose the plan for building capacity on forest patrolling for different types of CFM and CBFM models (including the forest management by a group of households, community owned forest model and community contracted forest model);
3. Prepare training plans and draft training documents on, including but not limited to the followings:
   3.1       Updates on the state laws and policies on community forest management and patrolling;
   3.2     Guidelines to establish and consolidate forest patrolling groups for different types of community forest managements; regulations/ rules of forest patrolling, etc.;
   3.3       Professional technique and method of handling violations of laws and regulations in forest management and patrolling;
   3.4      Methods of recording the cases of forest encroachment and other forest violations, template for taking minutes of community meetings related to forest patrolling (refer to the CFM manual);
   3.5      Introduction of some software/applications to support forest protection patrols applied in Vietnam (for example, mobile app software applied at Thua Thien Hue Provincial Fund);
   3.6       Skills for planning patrolling missions, assigning tasks among patrol team members; templates of quarterly and monthly patrol plans, patrol report template (refer to CFM manual);
   3.7       Skills/methods to raise awareness for community members in forest protection.
4. Conduct four training courses at the selected communities, including:
   4.1. Prepare pre and post training evaluation forms
   4.2. Deliver the participatory training courses
   4.3. Prepare training reports (including process, findings, training photos, and recommendations for other similar training courses to ensure the effectiveness)
5. Finalize the training document packages in Vietnamese.

Level of Efforts, deadline, and deliverables:

Total of 34 person- days, starting from March to April 2022 with the following deliverables:

Qualifications and experience:

Essential:

The successful candidate must meet the following requirements:

• Vietnamese national
• Bachelor’s degree in forestry, natural resources management or other related fields
• At least 10 years of experience in the fields of agriculture and forestry, particularly in forest law enforcement and conservation.
• Experienced in conducting trainings for adults, particular for ethnic people on knowledge and skills related to forest patrolling.
• Knowledge of forestry policies and legal framework and familiarity with current development in the forestry sector, especially in community forestry at central and local levels
• Practical skills or engagement on forest patrolling and handling forest law violation cases during the patrolling missions;
• Good spoken and writing skills in Vietnamese with working knowledge in English.

General:

At RECOFTC, our core values are the foundation of our culture and guide all our work. In addition to job specific skills and experience, the applicant should possess the following characteristics, attitudes and skills:

• Embrace innovation
• Adapt to, and learn from, challenges
• Collaborate with partners and stakeholders
• Nurture commitment, responsibility and ownership
• Prioritize sustainability
• Cultivate participation, social inclusion and gender equity

How to apply

Interested candidates are requested to submit a CV and a cover letter indicating why they are suitable for this consultancy along with the expected fee or daily rate, number of work-days and current contact details of three referees, including recent supervisors to [email protected] [1]. Please quote the consultancy title in the subject line of the email. Only short-listed candidates will be notified.

For any further information you may need about the consultancy, please contact [email protected] [1].

To learn more about RECOFTC, please visit our website www.recoftc.org [2]