Planning Consultant

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Sustainable Tourism Development Action Plan - Mekong Delta city governments, Vietnam

Title:                                  Planning Consultant - Sustainable Tourism Development in Mekong Delta city governments of Vietnam

Program:                           FCM-International

Project Title:                     Partnerships for Municipal Innovation in Local Economic Development Program (PMI-LED) in Vietnam

Purpose of assignment:   Foster the sustainable tourism development plan across PMI-LED cities (Cao Lanh - Sa Dec - Hong Ngu and Can Tho cities) in Mekong Delta Region, Vietnam

Period:                              February - March 2021

Level of Effort:                A maximum of 15 days (for the national consultant)

Financial:                          TBD

Budget Code:                   13-29-02

Candidate(s):                   TBD

Background

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is the national association representing municipal government in Canada. Its mission is to foster sustainable communities dedicated to improving the quality of life by promoting strong, effective and accountable municipal government in Canada and internationally. FCM has delivered programs to support partnerships and exchanges between municipal governments in Canada and developing countries since 1987.

FCM began the implementation of a global program, the Partnership for Municipal Innovation: Local Economic Development (PMI-LED). The Association of Cities of Vietnam (ACVN) and FCM are the lead partners for the program in Vietnam. The two organizations collaborate together to guide municipal development cooperation between the Canadian and the Vietnamese local government sectors in order to address local sustainable economic development and prepare a Regional Economic Development (RED) Plan with a focus on strengthening business development through trade and sustainable tourism development. PMI-LED support for institutional strengthening efforts within selected local governments (Cao Lanh, Can Tho, Sa Dec and Hong Ngu) includes capacity building for elected officials and staff as well as technical assistance in local development planning, strategic planning for sustainable trade and tourism development with the community and private sector engagement.

In order to achieve its goals, PMI-LED in Vietnam prioritizes a. development of an enabling environment (for local business and economic development); and, b. Regional Economic Development (RED) and trade. Under the RED component, PMI-LED’s municipal partners and stakeholders focus on developing a sustainable tourism linkage among other cities in the Mekong Delta Region, with the city of Cao Lanh in Dong Thap province as a coordinating partner municipality. The regional hub of Can Tho and 3 other municipalities (Sa Dec, Hong Ngu and Chau Doc) are also active members of the program and are, together with Cao Lanh, partnered with the Canadian municipalities of Edmonton, Alberta and Rossland, British Columbia which provide technical assistance in the development of sustainable tourism plan across these PMI-LED cities.

In 2021, PMI-LED Vietnam is seeking to review and then link the above-mentioned cities' tourism development plans together in order to ensure the effectiveness of the regional comparative advantages and being synched with new realities concerning tourism in Mekong Delta region and more broadly in Vietnam. It is an opportunity to ensure that tourism can grow and flourish in Cao Lanh and other neighboring cities in Dong Thap province and the city of Can Tho in the post-COVID period and include elements that the project (PMI-LED) can continue to support to the end of the program. Mekong Delta region based consultancy services are required to lead this review and update. This person will work closely with the PMI-LED Vietnam team, local governments' focal point staff and Canadian consultant that will support the process.

Goal and Objectives

Goal: The national consultant together with Canadian consultant and the local governments of Cao Lanh, Sa Dec, Hong Ngu and Can Tho will be responsible for review and updates of the sustainable tourism development plan in Dong Thap region.

Objectives:

• To analyze the current situation of Cao Lanh and other cities' tourism potentials in Dong Thap provincial region, including updates on the local tourism plans and strategies;
• To identify the challenges faced by the development of sustainable tourism network in Dong Thap province and Can Tho city, and how COVID-19 pandemic affects the tourism plan/strategy implementation (What is missing in terms of current needs (COVID-19 impacts; tourism
• downturn, climate change effects, other)?
• To communicate with the local government staff and involving stakeholders in tourism sector to gather the necessary information and other inputs needed to improve and update the plan so it is more effective in achieving its goals and addressing the current challenges, e.g., post COVID-19 recovery plan with focus on tourism sector;
• To develop useful tools and methods that will run the tourism plans efficiently and effectively and that will mobilize more private sector tourism providers to get involved and take part in the plan implementation;
• To provide a clear methodology on how to best attract tourists to use the services across the cities in the region;
• To provide general recommendations and best-practices related to an improved inter-city tourism places.

Scope of Work

REVIEW (with Canadian city partner and consultant)

• Review existing tourism plan and strategy and consult with other resources in Mekong Delta in Vietnam and Canada (to be arranged) on overall assessment of plan;
• Review Dong Thap province's current LED plan (Cao Lanh’s Economic Development Strategy) in order to see how the tourism development plan fits into the larger strategic framework;
• Analyze and identify SWOT for the sustainable tourism development;
• Analyze and consider current conditions in terms of Cao Lanh and other cities in Dong Thap province and Can Tho hub, ASEAN and International tourism (with respect to COVID-19 scenario, etc.)

CONSULT

• Develop questionnaire (based on assessment/SWOT) and conduct interviews with tourism stakeholders and the city governments;
• Consolidate findings as inputs into development of the sustainable tourism development and inter-city tourism network;
• Review with other resources (Vietnamese and Canadian).

FINALIZE (with Canadian city partner and consultant)

• Draft revised sustainable tourism plan and consult with PMI-LED team, Vietnamese and Canadian tourism experts on final drafting;
• Ensure there is a concise Step by Step Implementation Plan to be followed by PMI-LED city governments in Dong Thap province and Can Tho and its adherents (including PMI-LED, ACVN, the city of Cao Lanh);
• Implementation should include an initial step of presenting the revised plan to Cao Lanh city government and other city governments in Dong Thap province for their inputs prior to finalization;

The process:

• Questionnaires and survey framework will be developed to identify the local tourism needs and expectations from an operation of local sustainable tourism plan.
• A consultation meeting organized with Cao Lanh, Sa Dec, Hong Ngu and Can Tho city government staff and involving stakeholders from tourism sector after the questionnaire survey to evaluate key considerations of current tourism plan/strategies (Challenges, Accomplishments, relevant aspects to date, aspect that are still relevant, priorities, etc.) and update the local tourism situation;
• Consultant work on the assessment and updating of the tourism development plan (with inputs from Edmonton city partners);
• Participatory workshop to validate updated master plan;
• Finalize the sustainable development plan (ensuring it is actionable – step by step guide to rolling out key actions need to improve tourism in the city of Cao Lanh and Dong Thap region)

Deliverables

• Provide hard copies of the draft and final revised tourism development plan with inter-city tourism linkage, as well as digital files (Word, Excel and PDF).
• Develop and deliver presentations on the report to municipality/ACVN. Ensure steps in place to present to inter-city tourism group (either directly or via the municipality/ACVN);
• An interception brief after the consultation meeting and field mission;
• Recommendations for integrating the sustainable tourism development into Dong Thap’s LED Plan.

National Consultant Expectations

• Tourism and relevant area (hospitality and services industry, landscape planning, tourism/private sector network ...) backgrounds.
• Fair command of English language fluency
• At least 5-year tourism hands-on experience.
• Sound knowledge of the Mekong Delta region and the city government.
• Ability to coordinate training workshops.
• Candidates from Mekong Delta region (Can Tho and Dong Thap province) is preferable.

Relationships

A National Consultant will be recruited to work together with Canadian Tourism Advisor/Consultant; Canadian City Partners (Edmonton); Cao Lanh focal-point staff in charge of tourism and ACVN based PMI-LED National Program Coordinator (NPC) to accomplish the above tasks and assignments as described in the scope of the work;

The Consultants will be guided in their work by Nguyen Phuong Thao, National Program Coordinator for PMI-LED-Vietnam, and will work closely with the PMI-LED team in ACVN, Cao Lanh city-based focal point staff, PMI-LED Regional Program Coordinator (Dzung Nguyen), other advisors and project stakeholders participating in the revision.

The National Consultant will closely communicate with Canadian Tourism Advisor/Consultant and PMI-LED ACVN for specific assignments implemented on the ground. This including the field missions, if possible, with Canadian Tourism Advisor/Consultant to support Cao Lanh and other municipalities in Dong Thap in the consultation workshop and accomplishment of the sustainable tourism development plan.

Budget/Logistics

The potential working rate per a day will be offered by candidates for consideration by FCM and ACVN in their application.

If local travel is needed, all costs for domestic accommodation, local transport and per diems (meals and incidental expenses) will be covered by the FCM-PMI-LED project in accordance with Treasury Board of Canada guidelines.

A detailed budget estimation including all the above costs will be developed and approved by FCM in accordance with 2020/21 budget allocation under budget code 13-29-02;

How to apply

Candidates are requested to submit their application to Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao – PMI LED National Coordinator Vietnam via npthao.fcm@gmail.com before 17 February 2021. Applications should include:

• A Curriculum Vitae;
• A Draft Proposal with methodology, detailed work plan/roadmap, budget estimate for costs, working rate;
• Any other documents supporting for the applications (Recommendation Letters, evidences of experiences etc.).

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