Short-term Consultancy: Environmental and Climate Change Risk Stocktake – Agriculture Portfolio

Short-term Consultancy

Environmental and Climate Change Risk Stocktake – Agriculture Portfolio

ABOUT US

With more than 35 years of experience, Cowater International is Canada’s global leader in management consulting services specialising in international development. We have managed the implementation of over 2500 projects in more than 95 countries around the globe for clients such as FCDO UK, DFAT Australia, the European Union, the World Bank and Global Affairs Canada. We work with governments, partner organisations, communities and civil society to design and implement sustainable solutions that generate lasting social, economic and environmental impacts. Our adaptive approach to management has led to our award-winning work and recognition as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies from 2017 to 2021.

BACKGROUND

GREAT is a flagship initiative of the Australian aid program.  The Program promotes women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in the ethnically diverse north-west region of Vietnam, through the integration of a market systems development (MSD) approach.

The primary beneficiaries are women living in the provinces of Son La and Lao Cai, while an overarching emphasis is placed on the inclusion of women from ethnic minority communities as these provinces are home to twelve and twenty-six ethnic groups respectively.

The objectives of the Aus4Equality|GREAT Program are:

• Objective 1 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai, have improved economic benefits.
• Objective 2 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai, have increased confidence and social status, including more balanced workloads and greater decision-making within the home, workplace, and community.
• Objective 3 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women and household members living in Son La and Lao Cai benefit from more gender-responsive, inclusive, and effective provincial and national policies, plans, strategies, and programs.

The Program is entering its second five-year phase and GREAT 2 will continue its focus on agriculture and tourism, identifying specific sectors that lend themselves to opportunities for women’s economic empowerment and work with multiple stakeholders to address constraints, generate opportunities, drive market growth and increase productive value of the sector. A limited number of agriculture sectors are being targeted including bamboo shoots, cinnamon and ramie.

SUMMARY OF CONSULTANCY

The Program is seeking to commission the services of a qualified professional to undertake a stocktake of its agriculture portfolio to assess the degree to which it currently supports sustainable climate and/or environmental degradation mitigation and/or adaptation measures and provide recommendations, as appropriate, to strengthen intervention strategies in order to support sustainable mitigation and/or adaptation strategies of ethnic minority producers.

KEY TASKS

The objective of the consultancy will be to apply an environmental and climate change risk ‘lens’ to the agricultural portfolio to identify risks and potential remedial measures to how effectively portfolio interventions address in a sustainable manner environmental and/or climate risks facing ethnic minority producers. Specifically:

• Develop a simple environmental and climate risk analysis framework for application to GREAT’s agricultural portfolio;
• Apply the environmental and climate risk analysis framework to the current sector portfolio (i.e. bamboo shoot, cinnamon, ramie) to:

1. identify and prioritise crop-specific vulnerabilities;
2. identify and assess where existing Program activities are, or have the potential to, address some or all those environmental/climate vulnerabilities identified in a sustainable manner;
3. provide practical recommendations, where relevant, for how GREAT and its implementation partners might strengthen existing intervention strategies and/or tactics to further enhance support to existing or new strategies of ethnic minority producers in addressing environmental and/or climate risks and resilience.

• Provide a cost-effective monitoring framework covering a set of key indicators, frequency of measurement and methods of measurement for measuring the changes generated from the application of the proposed environmental and/or climate risks control and resilience practices
• Prepare a succinct (no more than 20 pages), solution-oriented report and set or prioritised recommendations to guide GREAT and its implementation partners in strengthening its agricultural portfolio in addressing priority environmental and/or climate risks facing target sectors and producers.

SERVICE PROVIDER REQUIREMENTS

Education:

• Degree / Master’s Degree in agriculture, environment or another relevant field.

Minimum Experience:

• A minimum 10 years relevant work experience in agricultural or rural development or related fields including 5 years’ experience in supporting sustainable (or ‘climate smart’) agricultural production
• A good understanding of environmental and/or climate risk analysis in the agricultural sector
• Demonstrated professional experience in high quality analysis, practical advisory services and report generation;
• Experience in climate change monitoring;
• Networks among public and private agriculture sector stakeholders in Vietnam including, ideally, in Son La and/or Lao Cai

Essential Skills:

• Demonstrated professional experience in high quality analysis, practical advisory services and report generation
• Critical thinking skills and conceptualisation.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills in English

Desirable

• Spoken and written and spoken communication skills in Vietnamese
• Working experience with ethnic minorities is a strong advantage

APPLICATION PROCESS

Candidates are encouraged to apply no later than 5 pm Hanoi Time (GMT+7), 18^th October 2023. Applications will be assessed as they are received. We thank all applicants, however, only those making the shortlist will be contacted.

Interested candidates are invited to send an application to [email protected]. Please indicate in the subject “Environmental and Climate Change Risk Stocktake – Agriculture Portfolio”.

Applications should include:

• A cover letter responding to the selection criteria.
• A Curriculum Vitae.
• Contact details of three referees.

Cowater is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people with a disability, and people from minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply. We thank you for your interest in building a better tomorrow with Cowater International.

For more opportunities, please visit our website at https://equality.aus4vietnam.org/careers [1]