Consultant

CONSULTANT ON DEVELOPING DECREE ON INVESTMENT POLICIES FOR FOREST PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT, FOREST PRODUCT PROCESSING AND TRADE IN FORESTRY

Project: USAID Sustainable Forest Management       

Location: Ha Noi with travel to field sites to conduct the assessment and data collection

Date: As soon as possible but no later than March 27^th, 2021

DAI Organization and Values

DAI is a global development company with corporate offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, EU, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Palestine and project operations worldwide. We tackle fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability.DAI works on the frontlines of global development. Transforming ideas into action—action into impact. We are committed to shaping a more livable world.

DAI and its employees are committed to confronting racism and holding ourselves accountable for positive change within the company and in the communities, cultures, and countries in which we live and work.  DAI is committed to attracting and retaining the best employees from all races and backgrounds in our continued effort to become a better development partner.

DAI upholds the highest ethical standards. We are committed to the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment as well as other ethical breaches. All of our positions are therefore subject to stringent vetting and reference checks.

Project Background

The USAID Sustainable Forest Management Project (the 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 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 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:

1. Improve and expand community forest management
2. Increase conservation-friendly enterprises in forest-dependent communities
3. Increase functionality of law enforcement system for forest crimes
4. Improve production forest management practices
5. Mobilize domestic resources for forest management and protection

The Project will be 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.

Description of Consultancy Service:

1. Background

a. Legal basis

According to Article 91 of the Government's Decree No. 156/ND-CP dated November 16, 2018, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Forestry, protection programs, projects and activities, and forest development, processing and trade of forest products invested by the State, investment support and investment incentives under current policies will continue to be implemented until the Government and the Prime Minister issue the New Decree.

- MARD assigns the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) to preside over the elaboration of "Decree of the Government on policies on investment in forest protection and development, forest product processing and trade" to submit to the Government of Vietnam for promulgation to detail the implementation of a number of articles of the law on Forestry related to forest policy.

- Accordingly, the Decree will be built on the basis of research, considering: (i) transitional mechanisms and policies under Clause 1, Article 91 of Decree No. 156/ND-CP; including 2 policies to be implemented by 2020 and 7 policies to continue to be implemented after 2020; (ii) other policies related to investment, development, trade and forest product processing; and (iii) policies specified in the Forest Law assign the Government to detail the implementation under existing conditions.

- Specifically, policies should be studied and reviewed as follows:

• Policy group implemented by 2021, including:
  1. Mechanisms and policies on forest protection and development, associated with policies on rapid and sustainable poverty reduction and support for ethnic minorities in the period 2015-2020 according to Decree No. 75/2015/ND-CP dated September 9, 2015 of the Government on forest protection and development policies associated with sustainable poverty reduction and ethnic support policies.
  2. Policy on investment in protection and development of special-use forests for the period 2011 - 2020 according to Decision No. 24/2012/QD-TTg dated June 1, 2012 of the Prime Minister on policies on investment in the development of special-use forests use in the period 2011 – 2020.
  3. Policy on contracting forests, tree gardens and water surface areas in the Management Boards of special-use forests, protection forests and State Agriculture and Forestry One-member LLC according to Decree No. 168/2016/ND-CP December 27, 2016 of the Government stipulates the contracting of forests, tree gardens and water surface areas in the Management Boards of special-use forests, protection forests and the State Agriculture and Forestry One-Member Limited Liability Company.
  4. Policy on forest protection and development and investment in infrastructure, assigning public tasks to agroforestry companies according to Decision No. 38/2016/QD-TTg dated September 14, 2016 of Thu Prime Minister.
  5. Policy to strengthen forest protection under the Prime Minister's Decision No. 07/2012/QD-TTg dated February 8, 2012, except for Clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5, Article 3 of this Decision.
  6. Policy on sustainable management, protection and development of coastal forests in response to climate change in accordance with Decree No. 119/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 of the Government.
  7. Policy of funding support for forest protection for the natural forest area of the forest companies closing their forests according to Decision No. 38/2016/QD-TTg dated September 14, 2016 of the Prime Minister promulgating a number of policies on forest protection and development and investment in infrastructure, assigning public tasks to agricultural and forestry companies.
  8. Credit policy in forestry according to Decree No. 55/2015/ND-CP dated June 9, 2015 of the Government on credit policy for agricultural and rural development.
  9. Policies to encourage and support enterprises to invest in forestry according to the Government's Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP dated April 17, 2018 on policies to encourage enterprises to invest in agriculture and rural areas.

• Group of other policies related to development of investment, trade and forest product processing:
  1. The above policy groups need to be studied and reviewed to identify strengths, weaknesses, and existing planting areas in order to propose new feasible policies. At the same time, it is also necessary to synthesize proposed orientations for building mechanisms and policies for development investment, protection of biodiversity or forest resources and sustainable forest development in the period 2021-2030. In addition, global information is also an indispensable input to ensure that new policies are up to date with international trends and internalize initiatives outside the territory.
  2. To develop the Decree, MARD has established a Drafting Board comprising representatives of stakeholders including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade; Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Government Office. The Drafting Board is responsible for developing the entire content of the Decree for MARD to submit to the Government.

However, the workload requires in-depth research in addition to 9 current policies, fully updating international trends and ensuring the feasibility of the Decree in limited time, all members concurrent participation is a challenge for the Drafting Board. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement resources to support the development of this Decree.

b. Practical basis

• The development of the Decree requires analysis and evaluation of current policies such as: (i) results achieved, (ii) previous and current conditions, (iii) Evaluation advantages, shortcomings and limitations of each policy; (iv) Identify gaps of policies as a basis for proposing new policies; and (v) building mechanisms and policies for forestry development investment in the coming time.
• To develop the Decree's framework and detailed content, identify issues that need to be researched as a basis for the terms of reference in order to select suitable consultants to support the Drafting Board and Editorial Team to build the Decree is highly feasible. It is necessary to organize a number of national workshops and regional workshops with the participation of stakeholders including state management, implementation, research and research groups, international organizations, domestic and foreign NGOs. It is also necessary to have a number of research and assessment activities considering that the funding source for research and consultation is still limited.

In 2020, US Forest Service has supported Ministry of Investment and Planning (MPI) to develop this Degree, then GVN moved this duty to MARD. Implementation of Decision No. 5481/QD-BNN-PC dated December 31, 2020 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development promulgating the Plan to develop legal documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2021, in which the VNFOREST is assigned to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with relevant agencies in, drafting a Decree on investment policy on forest protection and development, forest product processing and trade. The Legal Department and Inspector of the VNFOREST is the focal point assisting the VNFOREST in implementing the above tasks. DLAI inherits the documents developed by MPI and uses them as reference source for developing the new Decree.

The Project supports the development of a Decree on Investment Policies for Forest Protection and Development, Forest Products Processing and Trade, and accompanying documents, contributing to policy improvement in the sustainable forest management. The consultancies include:

• Consultancy 1: Consultant on developing the Decree on investment policies for forest protection and development, forest product processing and trade in forestry;
• Consultancy 2: Consultant on developing a Report on investment policies in forestry and review of legal documents related to the Decree;
• Consultancy 3: Consultant on developing a Report on investment policies for production forests;
• Consultancy 4: Consultant on developing a Report on investment policies and incentives for forest product processing and trade;
• Consultancy 5: Consultant on developing a Report on Assessment of Policy Impact of the Decree;
• Consultancy 6: Consultant on developing a Report of administrative procedures of the Decree.

This Scope of work (SOW) is intended to detail the tasks of the Consultancy 1 as part of the overall consultancies to be provided. The Department of Legal Affairs and Inspection (DLAI) - The VNFOREST is the agency within MARD assigned to lead the drafting of this Decree.

2. Overall Objective

To support the DLAI of the VNFOREST to develop a Decree on investment policy on forest protection and development, on forest product processing and trade; prepare relevant documents to submit to competent state agencies according to regulations.

3. Specific Objective

To prepare, develop, submit, receive, explain and complete the documents of the Decree on investment policies on forest protection and development, forest product processing and trade in accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legal documents, legal normative documents in 2015 and preparation of accompanying documents and reports to support the formulation and approval of the Decree.

Coordinate other consultants in the team as a team leader to deliver the results as plan.

4. Tasks

The Consultant – Team leader, is expected to conduct the following tasks:

• Work with the consultant supervisor to agree on workplan, report and other works related to the consultancy.
• Coordinate, guide, review and recommend approval of the work from other consultants assigned to developing the Decree to deliver the results as planned under corresponding SOWs. Five consultancies will be additionally contracted by the Project based on individual SOW to support in developing the final draft decree.
• Collect, study, synthetize the related data for the drafting of the Decree including the reports delivered by the other consultants in the team covering (i) report on the current investment policies in forestry and review of legal documents; (ii) report on investment policies for production forest; (iii) report on policies to support investment and investment incentives for forest product processing and trade; (iv) report on policy impact assessment of the Decree; (v) report on assessment of administrative procedures specified in the Decree; and 2 reports produced by WWF (vi) report on investment policies for special-use forests and protection forests; and (vii) report on mainstreaming gender equality issues in the Decree.
• Develop, edit, supplement and complete the Decree, submit for review and approval to MARD/DLAI Editorial Team representing the Government and to the Project the draft Decree on policies on investment in forest protection and development, forest product processing and trade.
• Conduct survey and consultation with localities about the Decree as designated by the Project based on an approved plan;
• Collect, synthesize, explain, provide feedback comments from MARD/DLAI, ministries, branches and localities, Ministry of Justice, Government members on the Decree's dossier.
• Prepare documents to serve the meetings of the Drafting Board, Editorial Team, Seminars, conferences about the Decree documents.
• Produce deliverables of related events/works conducted for this activity described in Section D.
• Prepare final decree in both English and Vietnamese and submit to DLAI, MBFP and SFM for approval.

Anticipated Level of Effort (LOE) and Deliverables

The estimated LOE for this assignment is 98 person-days starting as soon as possible but no later than March 27^th, 2021, from which submission of Decree in second draft to be submitted by May 15^th,2021 as first deliverable, including field travel to Project and designated locations. The required deliverables are listed in the table below. All final deliverables must be submitted in both English and Vietnamese. The specific deliverables and timeframe are listed below.

Qualifications:

• Vietnamese National
• Have a Master degree or higher in forestry economics, law or relevant areas.
• Have at least 10 years of experience in areas related to forestry policy, law, economics.
• Have experience in developing legal documents related to forestry; Priority is given to candidates who have participated in the development of the Law on Forestry and documents detailing the Law on Forestry.
• Have knowledge of forestry sector strategies and programs; Scheme on Restructuring the Forestry Sector; issues in the forestry sector at central and local levels;
• Have deep understanding and extensive knowledge of the forestry legal system, especially relevant to investment policy in Vietnam.
• Have management skills and experience to lead the group of experts team to complete consultancies with necessary qualify and time requirements.
• Capable of analyzing and drafting draft decree and reports incorporating input/recommendations from stakeholders consulted and other studies and writing reports.
• Skills in using Microsoft office applications such as word and excel, data analysis tools and software.
• Have skills in analyzing statistical data; synthesizing and writing reports and presenting research results.
• Have Vietnamese and English proficiency in speaking and writing.

How to apply and requested documents

Interested candidates are requested to submit:

• A CV in English and Vietnamese
• A cover letter in English indicating why they are suitable for this position along with salary requirements and current contact details of at least three referees
• Scanned copy of highest related degrees
• Similar consultancy projects completed before either in English or Vietnamese
• Technical proposal in English and Vietnamese to carry out this consultancy assignment (Detailed approach and implementation plan)

to our recruitment email at VietnamSFM@dai.com.  Please quote the position title in the subject line: “Application for Consultant on developing Decree on investment policies for forest protection and development, forest product processing and trade in forestry – SHORTTERM TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE I”

Deadline for application: 5.00pm (Hanoi time), March 21, 2021

To learn more about DAI, please visit our website www.dai.com.

DAI is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer with a commitment to diversity. DAI does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, parental status, veteran status, or other non-merit factor.

SCOPE OF WORK (Vietnamese)

• Việc làm tại các tổ chức phi chính phủ - NGO Recruitment

• Website: https://ngorecruitment.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ngorecruitment_vn
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngorecruitment
• Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/VieclamPhichinhphu
• Youtube: http://bit.ly/Youtube_NGORecruitment