Consultant to Conduct an Assessment on the Daily Income of Primary Producers from Managing Production Forests

Consultancy Announcement

Position: One independent consultant to conduct an assessment on the daily income of primary producers from managing production forests in the “Production-driven Forest landscape restoration under REDD+ through private sector-community partnerships as Asian regional learning exchange” (FLOURISH) Project, RECOFTC Viet Nam.

Sub-Activity Code: 2.2.1. Conducting assessment on daily income of primary producers from managing production forests in four project communes in Nghe An province.

Duration: July - September 2022.

Application deadline: 20 June 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.

The FLOURISH project 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

Project beneficiaries in four communes (Chau Hanh and Chau Thang communes in Quy Chau district, Dong Van and Thong Thu communes in Que Phong district) in Nghe An province rely mainly on harvesting of Lung bamboo and Acacia; working as hired labours; collecting some common NTFPs such as bamboo shoots and medicinal plants. The income of the primary producers was assessed through wealth ranking, situational analysis, and reference from preliminary research findings of the TU Dresden report (research conducted in 2018). These assessments showed that Lung harvesters could earn $12 to $15 per working day. However, the income for Lung generated for 2 to 3 months per year only. Other incomes were from Acacia harvesting and other NTFP collections, or working allowance for people who worked in forestry-related facilities (raw material factories, commodity workshops, etc). The average daily income from all activities related to forestry was estimated to be around USD 7 per day.

The FLOURISH project has supported communities in four communes with a number of main interventions, as listed below:

• Facilitating private sector-local community partnership agreements in Lung production and management
• Enhancing smallholders’ skills on applications for ownership certification on forest titling
• Developing communal forest protection and management plans
• Enhancing smallholders’ skills in forest management practices to improve forest productivity
• Developing a and training on participatory forest and forest fire monitoring for communities, staff of provincial, district and commune authorities
• Developing a community forestry management plan
• Establishing a Lung propagation model
• Etc.

One of the project targets is that the daily income of primary producers (return to labor) from the management of production forest activities is expected to be competitive with off-farm employment. Thus, the project is looking for a consultant to conduct an assessment of the daily income gained by farmers who were supported by the aforementioned interventions of the project.

Objectives of the consultancy

The overall objective of this assignment is to conduct an assessment on daily income of project beneficiaries in Chau Thang and Chau Hanh communes (Quy Chau district), Dong Van and Thong Thu communes (Que Phong district), Nghe An province and make a comparison with that of the baseline year (2019).

The consultant will:

1. Propose an evaluation method on the daily income of project beneficiaries on their production forest management activities (harvesting Lung and Acacia, collecting NTFPs) to verify any positive changes before and after project interventions.
2. Propose the working agenda and inputs needed (human resources and materials) for the evaluation, including both office and field work.
3. Conduct an evaluation in each of the four communes mentioned above in Nghe An province.
4. Propose any recommendations and follow-up plans after the evaluation for the Project and its partners, and local stakeholders for future references.

Scope of work

The consultant is required to conduct the following tasks:

1. Conduct desk research (project documents such as baseline report, other related reports of the province).
2. Develop solid argumentation and logical framework on which the Design a field survey method will be built for assessing project beneficiaries’ daily income in their production forests (harvesting Lung and Acacia, collecting NTFPs). The consultant is expected to gain approval of the proposed logical frameworks and evaluation approach (incl. minimum sampling of community members/communes) from the RECOFTC Vietnam Country office.
3. Conduct the assessment in four project communes in Nghe An province.
4. Undertake an initial briefing and a debriefing of Project staff and partner before and after the survey to obtain their inputs.
5. Develop a report that includes the logical framework, designed method, implementation plan, results, and recommendations, in particular, how to justify within project and outside in case of income has not increased as expected (incl. annexes with 1) interviewed community members, village and interview dates, 2) a selection of 2 specific case studies representing the impact of Lung bamboo on household livelihoods and change in household income as a result of FLOURISH project activities/approach).

Level of effort, deadline, and deliverables

A total of 15 working days for one independent consultant is allocated for this assignment, starting from July to September 2022. Deliverables will be in Vietnamese and English as below:

Qualifications and experience

The successful candidates must meet the following requirements:

• Vietnamese national
• A Master’s degree in economics, finance, accounting, MBA, or other related fields
• At least 7 years of experience in the fields ofcost-benefit analysis, household income assessment, and socio-economic effect assessment, focusing on forestry, agricultural, and NTFP products
• Experience in working with communities, particularly with ethnic groups
• Good spoken and writing skills in Vietnamese with working knowledge of 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; including a 2 page-technical proposal stating the evaluation method, in particular on the logic why a particular method is proposedfor carrying out 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.