01 Technical Expert for reports on rubberwood supply chain and compliance against the VNTLAS requirements in the rubberwood industry

1. Background information The Viet Nam Rubber Association (VRA) is implementing the project "Leveraging VNTLAS compliance within the Viet Nam rubber industry" funded by the EU-FAO FLEGT Program via the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The project has been implemented for 12 months since July 23, 2020. It covers 02 provinces: Tay Ninh and Binh Duong. The project aims at building the capacity of the Viet Nam Rubber Wood Industry, and in particular, smallholders' supply chains to meet VTLAS requirements. The project is expected to achieve four outcomes: (1) Build the capacity for smallholders supplying rubberwood to VRA members to comply with the VNTLAS requirements; (2) Develop a standardized Legal Timber Dossier for the Viet Nam rubberwood sector; (3) Increase VRA's capacity to support members with smallholder-based supply chains to meet VNTLAS; and (4) Ensure communication and visibility throughout the project. In the framework of the project, VRA is looking for one technical expert with professional knowledge and good experience to conduct the reports on the rubberwood supply chain and compliance against the VNTLAS requirements in the rubberwood industry for this project. 2. The detailed activities a. Conducting a national assessment of rubberwood producers and mills in Viet Nam to obtain a good understanding of areas of plantation, type of land, ages of plantations, socioeconomic status of rubber plantation owners (e.g., big companies or households). A desk study will be carried out to get a national overview of the state of rubber plantations and mills in Viet Nam followed by more in-depth field surveys in Tay Ninh and Binh Duong provinces where some 100 household producers are engaged in the management of 2,500 ha of rubber plantations. Field surveys will also verify findings from desk review and through interviews with local stakeholders. The assessment will also include cooperation/linkage among households (e.g., group of households) and/or with other actors along the selected supply chains. b. Participating in an assessment of compliance against the VNTLAS requirements along the two selected rubberwood supply chains. The assessment will focus on Tay Ninh and Binh Duong provinces. A participatory supply chain mapping of the two selected VRA members will be carried out to identify all suppliers to these two mills which might include smallholder rubberwood producers as well as traders who buy rubberwood from smallholder plantations. Once the two supply chains have been selected, all actors along the two supply chain (suppliers up to the mills) will be accessed against the VNTLAS requirements. The aim of this assessment is to identify compliance, gaps in non-compliance and critical points for non-compliance along these two supply chains as well as to explore options to facilitate VNTLAS uptake by smallholders and provide clear and contribute recommendations in the report. Field surveys will also be conducted along these two selected supply chains to verify the desk review’s findings, to obtain feedback and consultation with relevant stakeholders. c. Participating in developing a Guidebook on VNTLAS requirements for smallholder rubberwood producers with guidance for VRA. Based on the findings, particularly the piloting results, and building on similar documents developed by VIFORA, FEREC/VAFS and others, the project will develop a Guidebook which contains the basic VNTLAS requirements targeted at smallholder rubberwood producers and other intermediaries along the supply chains will be developed. The Guidebook will also contain a chapter for VRA members with smallholder-based supply chains – this chapter will cover the guidance for such members on how to support smallholder rubberwood producers to meet the legal requirements of the VNTLAS in order to encourage trade with smallholder producers. 3. Tasks and duties - Conducting desk study, developing technical proposal and recommendations; - Participating in the field surveys for data collection; - Synthesizing information, processing data, writing and finalizing reports; - Presenting results/findings of the activities at the project workshops. 4. Deliverables - 01 assessment report on the supply chain of rubberwood in Viet Nam (in Vietnamese and English); - 01 evaluation report with clear recommendations for smallholder rubberwood producers and processing enterprises at a national scale and lessons learnt from the implementation of the project. 5. Qualifications - At least Master degree in agriculture, development studies and other related fields. - Good understanding of Viet Nam rubberwood industry, VPA-FLEGT, VNTLAS, etc. - At least 10 years of experience in wood or rubber industry. - Having experience in working with NGOs and wood enterprises is preferred. - Good skills in analyzing, synthesizing information and writing report. 6. Time to start: ASAP The ToR can be found here. Interested candidates are invited to send CVs and application letter via email no later than September 10th, 2020: office@vra.com.vn with cc hongvan@vra.com.vn