Consultant to Develop a Forest Protection and Management Plan - Quang Nam Province

Consultancy announcement

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Position: Consultant to develop a forest protection and management plan for a community under forest protection contract in Quang Nam province for the USAID Sustainable Forest Management Project, RECOFTC Viet Nam.

Sub-Activity Code: 1.2.7.2

Estimated number of consulting days: 20 person days, from July to September 2022

Application deadline: 5.00pm. Hanoi local time, July 15, 2022

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, 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 USAID Sustainable Forest Management Project (The SFM 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 SFM 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 SFM Project will work in seven provinces (Lao Cai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Tri, Quang Nam) and focus on five objectives:

• Improve and expand community forest management
• Increase conservation-friendly enterprises in forest-dependent communities
• Increase functionality of law enforcement system for forest crimes
• Improve production forest management practices
• Mobilize domestic resources for forest management and protection

The SFM Project is being implemented during the period 2020-2025 by DAI in collaboration with RECOFTC and Preferred by Nature as partners, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) as the counterpart and the Management Board of Forestry Projects (MBFP) as project owner.

RECOFTC Viet Nam is now inviting applicants for a consultant to develop a forest protection and management plan for a community who are contracted with forest management board in Quang Nam province.

The activity will be expected to contribute directly to the main indicator: ID2: Number of institutions with improved capacity to address sustainable landscape issues as supported by USG assistance; ID3: Number of laws, policies, regulations, or standards addressing sustainable landscapes formally proposed, adopted, or implemented as supported by USG assistance, ID5-Number of livelihood beneficiaries; and ID8: Number of hectares under improved natural resource management, safeguards or sustainable business practices (in 11 monitoring and evaluation indicators of the Project).

Background

Background

Forest dependent communities’ participation is increasingly recognized as an important factor in effectively maintaining forests. Communities have been engaged into forest management and protection in various forms. Four main types of these engagements include: traditional community forests; introduced community forests; groups of households managing forestlands; and individual households, who all individually own forestland, collaborating in forest management.

Under the SFM Project, the concept of community covers two forms of local people's participation in forest management. The first modality is community forest management (CFM) in which residential communities/villages manage their allocated forests. This also covers the modality where communities manage household’s allocated forests as a community group (community forest household groups). The second modality is community-based forest management (CBFM) in which village communities manage contracted forests with protection forest management boards.

In order to improve institutions and strengthen the capacity of the community in managing, protecting and developing forest resources under the contract with forest management board, the development and implementation of the Forest Management and Protection Plan, improvement of Forest Management and Protection Conventions with the consent of parties is very necessary. Through this process, communities will effectively perform the role of forest protection and management at the grassroots level, exploit the potential of eco-tourism associated with the culture of ethnic minorities, contribute to economic development, and improve the life of people.

In order to support the community to develop the forest management and protection plan in 2022, improve Forest Management and Protection Conventions for Areh ?hr?ng village, Tà Lu commune, Dong Giang district, Quang Nam province with integrating GESI in the process of forest management and protection planning, the SFM Project needs to recruit one (01) consultant to perform the above task.

Objective of the consultancy

To build capacity for Areh Dhrong village community through formulation of a forest protection and management plan (FPMP), reinforcement of the village convention on forest management and protection to promote CBFM model Areh ?hrong village, Ta Lu commune, Dong Giang district.

Tasks

The consultant is responsible for performing the following tasks:

1. Support the community to develop yearly forest protection and management plan (FPMP)

• Research relevant documents, draft the FPMP (including schedule for patrolling, forest fire prevention and fighting, NTFP, forms of planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting) in consultation with stakeholders such as the FPD, PPMU, Dong Giang Forest Protection Management Board, Sao La Nature Reserve Management Board, Commune People's Committee;
• Meeting with the community’s core group to discuss on the draft FPMP including:
  
  • A detailed schedule for patrolling and protecting forest (including a map/diagram of the patrol route, diary during and after the patrol)
  • Fire prevention and fighting activities according to current regulations (Forestry Law; Circular 25/2019/TT- MARD dated December 27, 2019 on forest fire prevention and fighting);
  • Forest development (afforestation, zoning, forest care);
  • Exploitation of plantation forests, the use of NTFPs;
  • Mechanism for sharing benefits from the contracted forests (including PFES, NTFPs etc.);
  • Potential value chain development;
  • Mechanism for coordination, monitoring, evaluation and reporting;
  • Integration of gender and social inclusion issues into the community forest protection and management plan.

2. Support the community to reinforcement of the village convention on forest protection and management (FPMC) with acknowledgement by authorities

• Review current community conventions, identify contents that need to be revised and supplemented;
• Discuss with the community’s core group on the contents that need to be revised; work together with the community’s core group to draft the village convention on forest protection and management (FPMC);
• Meeting with the community to present the revised conventions, seek for comments from members of the community;
• Support the community’s core group to complete the revised conventions and submit to the District, Commune People's Committees for consideration and acknowledgement;
• Disseminate the (FPMC) in the community

Scale and sites for implementation

Areh Dhrong village, Ta Lu commune, Dong Giang district, Quang Nam province.

Anticipated duration, level of effort (LOE), timeline and deliverables

Duration

Estimated time for this assignment is 20 man-days, start from July 2022 and submit final report in September, 2022.Details are in the following table

LOE

Implementation plan and deliverables

The schedule to support the community in developing the Forest Protection and Management Plan, reinforcement of the Forest Management and Protection Conventions is presented in the table bellow:

Requirements of deliverables

1. The Forest Protection and Management Plan of Areh Dhrong village community of Areh Dhrong village with consensus of Ta Lu Commune People's Committee, Dong Giang Forest Protection Management Board, Sao La Nature Reserve Management Board.
2. The Forest Management and Protection Conventions acknowledged by Dong Giang District People’s Committee.
3. Village meeting minutes.
4. Final report approved by RECOFTC/the SFM Project.

Required qualifications

• Vietnamese nationality only; priority is given to local candidates;
• A bachelor’s degree or higher, majoring in forest protection or related fields;
• Have at least 10 years of experience in the forestry sector;
• Having in-depth knowledge and understanding of community forest management; experience working with community;
• Having experience and expertise in forest management and protection;
• Having experience and skills in teamwork;
• Having experience and skills in writing reports in Vietnamese; Able to speak English is an advantage.

RECOFTC’s 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 individuals are requested to submit their application in both English and Vietnamese, including CV; a cover letter (indicating why they are suitable for this consultancy); expected consultant fee /or daily rate; current contact details of three references by email to [email protected] [2]. Please indicate “Your full name_Consultant to develop a FPMP for communities in Quang Nam” in the email subject title.

Please quote the consultancy title in the subject line of the email. Only shortlisted individuals will be notified.

For any further information you may need about the consultancy, please contact [email protected] [2].

To learn more about RECOFTC, please visit our website www.recoftc.org [3]