Consultant to Conduct One Two-day Training on Teamwork Skills, Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Contracts

Position: Independent consultant to conduct one two-day training on teamwork skills, drafting and negotiating commercial contracts for the initiative “Production-driven Forest landscape restoration under REDD+ through private sector-community partnerships as Asian regional learning exchange” (FLOURISH), RECOFTC Viet Nam

Sub-Activity Code: 2.1.5. Conducting one training course on necessary skills for the Private Agreement Partnership groups in Chau Thang Commune, Quy Chau District, Nghe An Province

Duration: April - June 2022

Application deadline: 31^st March 2022, 5 p.m. GMT +7

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, the 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.

FLOURISH is an innovative four-year forest landscape restoration (FLR) initiative that uses market forces combined with community forestry to combat climate change, restore degraded forests and improve the well-being of forest communities. It is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Energy (BMU) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI).

In Viet Nam, FLOURISH works in four communes in two districts in Nghe An Province with focus on three main objectives:

1. Establish partnership agreements between communities and private sectors (PAP)
2. Increase the forest area legally managed by communities or smallholders or improved forest use agreement
3. Increase forest carbon stocks in selected villages identified as pilot sites

Background

The private sector accounts for the majority of investment in different sectors including forestry in rural areas and is therefore crucial to the creation of jobs, strengthening of markets, the building of sustainable communities. Promotion of partnership agreement between the local community and private sectors can, if done right, potentially brings huge benefit to business and economic development such as: 1) Engagement of local community, local farmers into commodity value chain development hence to increase added value to their products and to tighten linkages between primary producers to processing sectors, market access; 2) Private sector has opportunities to establish a sustainable supply chain of raw materials, to outsource primary production activities to local communities which can help the private sector to reduce production cost and secure supplies in the long run.

Under the FLOURISH project, the development of partnership between local community and the private sector contributes to addressing the issues of unsustainable use of natural resources, participation of local communities into the development of key forest product value chain development, increase forest product value while local government is achieving forest coverage, carbon storage increased and sustainable natural resource management.

The project has facilitated establishing five private agreement partnership groups (PAP) in Chau Thang Commune, Quy Chau District, Nghe An province in 2019 with the main articles as below:

1. Cooperation agreement in buying and selling Lung (Bambusa longissima) materials for production and processing of handicraft products.
2. Work together to communicate for awareness raising and organize the establishment of the Lung Protection and Harvesting Group, improving the Group's operation capacity.
3. Cooperate in an investigation, survey, and evaluation of Lung bamboo reserves at villages to plan for Lung purchase and supply.
4. Coordinate to review and assess the training need of sustainable Lung management, harvesting, and primary processing.
5. Jointly organized negotiations and signing of purchase contracts in the detail according to the needs of both parties.
6. Organize conferences, seminars, exhibitions, forums to propagate, introduce and exchange to preserve and promote the value of Lung bamboo and products made from Lung.
7. Establish a production and processing facility of Lung products in the villages to make use of the availability of labor and material areas.

Since then, two parties have actively implemented seven articles as mentioned above. However, according to the annual meeting between two parties and participation of commune authority in 2020 and 2021, there is a strong need to provide further necessary skills to these five groups including working effectively in a team, and drafting and negotiating commercial contracts. Thus, these five groups are able to work independently and confidently in partnership with the private sector to increase their revenues and sustain their natural resources.

Objectives of consultancy

The overall objective of this assignment is to conduct training that equips communities with the necessary soft skills in teamwork, drafting and negotiating commercial contracts for five PAP groups in Chau Thang Commune, Quy Chau District, Ngha An Province.

The consultant will:

• Propose training method and content that convey useful and necessary knowledge and practical experience in teamwork and drafting and negotiating commercial contracts including but not limited to relevant legislation, general terms, contract content, price terms, terms of payment, terms of goods delivery and transfer of title and risk, and language in the contract
• Conduct one two-day training in Chau Thang commune, Qu? Châu district, Ngh? An province
• Propose any recommendations and follow-up plans after the training courses for future implementation within the life cycle of FLOURISH and local plan in forest monitoring

Scope of work

The consultant is requested to conduct the following tasks:

• Develop training plan on the topic of necessary soft skills including teamwork, drafting, and negotiating commercial contracts. The plan describes 1) method, 2) agenda, 3) trainees’ requirements, 4) physical materials needed and 5) evaluation aspects
• Develop training materials and necessary content focusing on the target groups and topics by demand of the FLOURISH project
• Implement the courses directly with training methods for adults, focusing on sharing practical experience on commercial contract drafting and negotiating skill, answering questions from participants
• Develop training report that indicates the training results and draws any recommendations for better implementation at the local level.

Level of effort, deadline, and deliverables

A total of 10 working days for one independent consultant is allocated for this assignment, starting from April to June 2022. Deliverables will be in Vietnamese and English as below:

Qualifications and experience

The successful candidates must meet the following requirements

• Vietnamese national
• Master’s degree in economics, finance, accounting, MBA, or other related fields
• At least 7 years of experience in the fields of teamwork, contract drafting, and negotiating skills, focusing on agricultural, NTFP products and services
• Experience in conducting training for adults, particularly for ethnic groups on knowledge and skills related to this course
• Good spoken and writing skills in Vietnamese with working knowledge and skills in English.

Core values

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 their CV and a cover letter indicating why they are suitable for this consultancy along with the current contact details of three referees, including recent supervisors to [email protected]. 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].

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

The Consultant will develop a flexible plan to conduct required tasks under the consultancy that considers the COVID-19 imposed travel restrictions.