International and National Consultants for Various Assignments

CARE in Vietnam is a Non-Government Organisation representing the CARE International network. CARE in Vietnam is a creative and dynamic organisation, working with Vietnamese partners in the sectors of health, rural development and disaster mitigation and preparedness.

CARE in Vietnam and local partners are implementing 2 market based approach projects funded by EU and CARE Denmark with the information as below:

The Social Inclusion in Economic Enterprise Development (SIEED) Project in Dien Bien province. This is a 4 years project commencing in early 2008. The project will support poverty reduction in 15 remote northern mountains communes in 3 Districts of Dien Bien Province through facilitating group and value-chain based product, business and market opportunities, sustainable farm/forest production systems, business service provision and capacity building of local partners including Community Centre Development (CCD), Women’s Union (WU) and Farmer’s Union (FU).

Thai Nguyen Women’s Economic Collaboration for Development (ECCODE) Project in Thai Nguyen province. This 4 year project commencing from early 2008 focuses on economic collaboration development for poor people in 8 communes in Dinh Hoa district, Thai Nguyen province through a market based strategy, enabling poor rural women and men to form their own group-based businesses (rice, tea, handicrafts etc) and improving the capacity of local agencies, in particular the Women’s Union and Cooperative Alliance.

These projects are looking for international and national consultants for various assignments as the followings:

Assignment 1: for SIEED project, VCA analysis: One international and one national consultant for carrying out the value chain analysis for 2 selected products that are black chicken and rattan. The assignment will include but not limited to: 1) building capacity for project and local partner staff on VCA through learning-by-doing; 2) Value chain mapping to identify potential for value adding or new enterprise development. 3) Analysis of margins and profits to determine the distribution of benefits within the value chain and which actors could benefit most from increased technical knowledge or organizational ability; 4) Identify the potential for up-grading the chain to improve the quality or range of products within the chain; and risk management strategy; 5) Action plans for enterprise development and value addition.

Depending on the availability of the consultants, the nature of the products and time schedule of the project plan, this assignment will start from January/February 2010. The number of working day for each consultant is 20-25 days.     

Assignment 2: for SIEED project, local service provider mapping and organizational development:

This assignment is for one international and one national consultant. The tasks include but not limited to:
1) Map out local service providers in Dien Bien province, including CCD, WU, FU and local extension services and demand/potential demand of local farmers on business service and market information. Results of this mapping exercises will give project a clear picture of roles, responsibility and capacity of various government and private service providers in the province, as well as gap/opportunities to build up CCD, WU, FU, and local extension servicer capacity; 2) Develop an organizational development for CCD especially on business and market support; 3) Develop a capacity development for WU, FU and local extension servicer based on results of this analysis.  
Depending on the availability of the consultants and time schedule of the project plan, this assignment will start from January/February/March 2010. The number of working day for each consultant is 20-25 days.     

Assignment 3: for ECCODE project, market sub-sector and service analysis

This assignment is for one international and one national consultant. The task includes but not limited to:
1) Assess the existing market and potential market in Thai Nguyen or neighboring provinces for different products of agricultural/forest sector such as tea, organic vegetable, fish, local rice, bee products, rattan etc; 2) Map out local service providers in Thai Nguyen and neighboring provinces including commercial input providers and buyers, technical services, demand/potential demand of local farmers on the service and market linkages/information; 3) Make recommendation on market linkages development of potential products and service provision; 4) Informal training through meeting/workshop discussion/learning by doing for project staff and partners.
Depending on the availability of the consultants and time schedule of the project plan, this assignment will start from January/February 2010. The number of working day for each consultant is 20-25 days.     

Candidate can apply for one or more than one assignment, and for one or both two projects. Interested candidates should send a full CV in English and application letter which clearly indicates interested assignment/s and time available for each assignment. The application should be sent (preference by email) before 20 January 2010 to email: [email protected]. The first draft of TOR for assignments can be obtained from 6 January 2010 by sending email to the same above address.     

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted for interviews.