Program Advocacy Specialist

USAID VIETNAM FORESTS AND DELTAS PROGRAM
RECRUIT
Position: Program Advocacy Specialist

1. Background:

The Vietnam Forests and Deltas (VFD) Program is a technical assistance project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Winrock International in partnership with MARD, provincial governments and other partners. Since late 2012, VFD has been supporting communities and the Government of Vietnam to transition towards climate-resilient and low-emission sustainable development.

In 2018, the project began a new phase to provide further support for the advancement of payment for forest environmental services (PFES) in Vietnam. During this phase, VFD works in cooperation with local partners in three key areas of PFES implementation:

• Expanding PFES in key sectors, with a focus on PFES for the carbon sequestration and storage services of forests;
• Strengthening PFES monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, and
• Developing innovative digital payment mechanisms for more transparent and efficient distribution of PFES benefits

2. Position description:

Outreach and advocacy with private sector partners, government decision makers, and the general public are critical parts of VFD’s PFES work. The Program Advocacy Specialist is responsible for leading these efforts to maximize program impact.

VFD’s outreach and advocacy work focuses on two main areas: e-payment and carbon PFES. The Program Advocacy Specialist will work with e-payment providers such as banks, telecom companies, and other financial service providers to ensure that available solutions meet the technical and programmatic needs of VFD and of PFES. Once the e-payment system is designed, the Program Advocacy Specialist will work with VFD technical staff to develop necessary communications and outreach campaign materials to target both VNFF/provincial forest fund staff and PFES recipients to meet awareness and capacity building needs for effective e-payment implementation. With carbon PFES, the Program Advocacy Specialist will assist in liaising with industrial emitters such as thermal power plants to build their understanding and commitment to a carbon PFES mechanism. The Specialist will also work with VFD technical staff to develop a strategy and materials for communicating the significance and importance of carbon PFES to government decision makers and policy specialists.

The Program Advocacy Specialist will also supervise overall communications and outreach efforts from the VFD Hanoi office. The Specialist will supervise a Junior Program Officer who will support the development of fact sheets and other communications materials.

3. Key responsibilities:

a. Serve as liaison with, and coordinate outreach to, private sector partners

• Engage e-payment providers, including banks, telecommunications companies, and financial service providers, to identify effective available e-payment solutions for PFES.
• Work with VFD technical staff to ensure available solutions are appropriate given technical and administrative contexts of project sites in Lam Dong and
• Son La.
• Develop communications materials and publications such as e-payment technical guidelines, implementation guidelines and other communication materials as appropriate for the staff of provincial funds, community and related stakeholders;
• Liaise with industrial emitters such as thermal power plants and cement companies to build their engagement and buy-in for carbon PFES pilots in Quang Ninh and Thanh Hoa, and build support from government leaders and policy makers.
• Work with VFD technical staff to ensure effective communications strategy and messaging with private sector partners for PFES activities.

b. Lead development and implementation of a strategy to integrate communication across VFD activities:

• Update VFD communication strategy to reflect VFD Phase 2 activities;
• Working with technical staff and Junior Program Officer, oversee communication development process: including work with technical staff to develop content, oversee design and layout, work with national and provincial partner for media channel selection and field placement;
• Work with the technical staff to develop and design appropriate communication material for conference, workshop and training purposes;
• Support technical staff in organizing events and design event-related communications products. These events include conferences, advocacy events, and community events.

c. Support overall project implementation and reporting

• Contribute to quarterly reporting, annual reports and to the annual work planning process and final documents.

4. Qualifications:

• Bachelor/University degree in marketing, communications, public affairs, development, or related field.
• Experience working on donor-funded projects in the area of communications and/or advocacy.
• Experience developing campaigns using a variety of methods such as social media, publications, community meetings, etc.
• Understanding of environmental issues, and experience working on environment/forestry projects is an advantage.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work well in a team setting.
• Creativity and enthusiasm to tackle new challenges.
• Able and willing to undertake periodic field travel.
• Strong experience working with MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) required, experience working with Abode Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) is
• preferred.
• Strong English speaking and writing skills are required.

5. Supervisor: The Program Advocacy Specialist will report directly to the Deputy Chief of Party with advice by COP and Winrock HQ.

6. Application:

Interested candidates with the right qualifications and motivation are invited to send letter of interest, a full CV in English and three references to the following email address: [email protected] with subject line of “Program Advocacy Specialist” no later than 17 August, 2018.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interview.