Environmental Crimes Control Specialist

Job Title:       Environmental Crimes Control Specialist
Project:         USAID Sustainable Forest Management Project
Reports to:    Environmental Governance Director
Location:       Hanoi with travel to SFM provinces
Date:             March 2021

DAI Organization and Values

DAI is a global development company with corporate offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, EU, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Palestine and project operations worldwide. We tackle fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability. DAI works on the frontlines of global development. Transforming ideas into action—action into impact. We are committed to shaping a more livable world.

DAI and its employees are committed to confronting racism and holding ourselves accountable for positive change within the company and in the communities, cultures, and countries in which we live and work. DAI is committed to attracting and retaining the best employees from all races and backgrounds in our continued effort to become a better development partner.

DAI upholds the highest ethical standards. We are committed to the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment as well as other ethical breaches. All of our positions are therefore subject to stringent vetting and reference checks.

Overview of the Position

The Sustainable Forest Management Project (the Project) will work with the Government of Vietnam (GVN) to reduce carbon emissions associated with deforestation, the degradation of natural forests, and poor plantation management. The Project will implement 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 will work in seven provinces and focus on five activities:

• Strengthening community forest management;
• Promoting conservation-friendly enterprises;
• Improving law enforcement to tackle environmental crimes;
• Enhancing the management of production forests; and
• Mobilizing domestic resources.

The Environmental Crimes Control Specialist contributes among others to the Project’s Objective Three to “Improve functionality of law enforcement systems for forest crimes”.

The primary duty of the Environmental Crimes Control Specialist is to assist the Project’s Environmental Governance Lead to “help Vietnam in improved detection and monitoring of illegal deforestation, reduced timber poaching, and strengthened compliance with PFES and CFM in order to reduce conversion of natural forests”.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Serve as the Project’s resident expert on policy, laws and regulatory issues related to prevention and resolution of environmental crimes and to suspected violations in the major thematic areas of the Project;
• Facilitate dialogues with key law enforcement actors and identify/engage VPN champions to reinforce importance of sustainable legal forest management as a national level priority;
• Assist the adoption of Vietnam’s Forest Management Information System (FORMIS) and Forest Resource Management System (FRMS) in participating provinces to develop the ability to real-time identification of forest change (e.g. encroachment) and other GHG emitters required to operationalize the C-PFES system consistent with PEFT in Objective 5;
• Introduce the integration of additional data sources and geospatial analytical tools to empower law enforcement by using open source data analysis for early detection of deforestation events;
• Introduce SMART cost effective user friendly tools for improving ranger patrols (e.g. smart phones, tablets, GPS, other);
• Promote the integration of Sustainable Forest Management monitoring capabilities with the national monitoring, reporting and verification system (MRV);
• Build capacity of the environmental justice system to document, manage, prosecute and resolve environmental crimes and forestry suspected violations by training prosecutors in forest law, training enforcement agents in evidence collection and what constitute a forest crime;
• Provide training on environmental crimes and forestry suspected violations controls to Project staff and participants;
• Produce reports as required by the Project;
• Others related.

Minimum Qualifications

• Advanced degree in law, control of illegal protected species traffic environment law, policy or related field;
• Localized knowledge of legal, policy, judicial, and tenure issues in Vietnam related to environmental crime and conservation law enforcement;
• Experience formulation of laws and regulations as well as working with law enforcement, rangers, and communities on monitoring and managing illegal environmental activities;
• In depth experience working with the Government of Vietnam on biodiversity and conservation initiatives;
• Strong relationships and networks in the Vietnam conservation, legal, and law enforcement community;
• Proficiency in English, both spoken and written at level 4 of 5. Native fluency in Vietnamese.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with USAID-funded projects preferred

How to apply and requested documents

Interested candidates are requested to submit:

• A CV in English;
• A cover letter in English indicating why applicant is suitable for this position;
• Scanned copy of highest related degrees.

to our recruitment email at [email protected]. Please quote the position title in the subject line: “Application for Environmental Crimes Control Specialist”

Deadline for application: 5.00pm (Hanoi time), March 22, 2021

To learn more about DAI, please visit our website www.dai.com.

DAI is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer with a commitment to diversity. DAI does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, parental status, veteran status, or other non-merit factor.