Technical Expert, NTFP and High Value Agriculture

Technical Expert, NTFP and High Value Agriculture, based in Hue Helvetas has been working in Vietnam since 1994, with an initial focus in agriculture, forestry and biodiversity as well as rural development like water and sanitation and local participatory development planning. Today, Helvetas Vietnam focuses mainly on Sustainable Inclusive Economies with a focus on pro-poor and gender-responsive value chain and market systems development in agricultural commodities and natural ingredients. The organisation has built strong experience and expertise in promoting gender and social equity, enhancing the empowerment of ethnic minorities and developing partnerships with diverse actors – government, private sector and civil society. Helvetas Vietnam, in a consortium with WWF, IUCN and Fauna and Flora International (FFI), were recently selected to implement USAID’s Vietnam Biodiversity Activity, a five-year project covering five provinces of central Vietnam. Helvetas Vietnam has the overall responsibility for the conservation- friendly enterprise development component, targeting forest-dependent communities bordering national parks in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam and Lam Dong provinces. We are looking for a Technical Expert, NTFP and High Value Agriculture, based in Hue city with frequent travel to project sites: DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES The NTFP and High Value Agriculture Expert works as part of the Conservation Friendly Enterprise Development Team, as part of the larger USAID Vietnam Biodiversity Activity. The expert is responsible to develop and manage a portfolio of partnerships with private companies and NGOs that provide forest-dependant households with resilient, sustainable and profitable economic opportunities. The key responsibilities include:

Identifying and analysing agricultural and NTFP sub-sectors with the potential to make substantial contributions to social, economic and environmental wellbeing in target areas.
Supporting private companies, supporting service providers and NGOs to develop sustainable, inclusive business models that provide improved income and employment opportunities for women and men in forest-dependent communities.
Managing capacity building, technical and financial inputs that enable project partners to unlock realize new business models, and which encourage other actors to copy and crowd- in.
Contributing to planning, monitoring, review, learning and adaptation by the Enterprise Development Team and in coordination with provincial implementation teams in the five target provinces.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

The Agriculture and NTFP Technical Expert should have a minimum of 5 years of experience working in development, preferably focusing on sustainable agriculture or NTFP development. The candidate will be familiar value chain development concepts, with experience with the Market Systems Development strategic framework strongly preferred.
The Expert should have excellent analytical skills, an open mind and the ability to identify creative and realistic solutions. As a strong team player, they are able to work across institutional boundaries with patience and flexibility. The candidate’s intrinsic motivation and commitment to quality allows them to deliver exceptional results with minimal external supervision.

The Expert should have good written and verbal communication skills in both English and Vietnamese, high awareness of gender, social equity & conflict sensitivity, and willingness to travel.

APPLICATIONS: Interest candidates please send updated CV and an Expression of Interest letter to Helvetas.vietnam@helvetas.org and trieu.tuanh@helvetas.org by October 10th, 2020. Only short- listed candidates will be contacted.