Community Based Adaptation Officer

CARE International in Vietnam is a Non-Government Organization representing the CARE International network in Vietnam since 1989. CARE in Vietnam’s Program Strategy is explicitly oriented around achieving impacts for particularly vulnerable and marginalised groups in Vietnam. To achieve this, we work with Vietnamese partners across sectors such as health services, rural livelihood development, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. We recognise that women’s empowerment is a critical pathway for poverty reduction and place women and girls from marginalised population groups at the heart of our programming efforts.

CARE in Vietnam is looking for an experienced and qualified Vietnamese to fill in Community Based Adaptation Officer.

Position information:

Position title:          Community Based Adaptation Officer.
Contract:           From start working day to 31 December 2014            
Base in:                  Mekong with frequent travel to project sites

Position Summary

The Community Based Adaptation Officer will be based in the An Giang province field office in Long Xuyen. S/he will be responsible for the technical inputs, support to program/ projects in the Mekong region, including the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in those key areas:

• Capacity strengthening
• Community Based Adaptation (CBA) planning
• Climate Change Mainstreaming into Socio-Economic Development Planning (SEDP)
• Gender Integration

Specifically, s/he will be engaged mainly in the current 2,5 years Integrated Community-based Adaptation in the Mekong Delta (ICAM) project (July 2012-December 2014), which will empower 5,000 women and men in five communes in An Giang and Soc Trang provinces in the Mekong Delta to increase their resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change; and other future relevant programme/ projects as assigned.

Duties:

Following are the main duties, which are not necessarily limited to those under-mentioned and subjected to change without prior notice and in line with the CARE in Vietnam’s organisational re-structure.

CAPACITY STRENGTHENING ON CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PLANNING (75%)

• Under the supervision of the ICAM Project Manager, support the implementation of project activities in line with the agreed project framework;
• Take lead on the project capacity strengthening initiatives (including training, coaching, co-planning, etc.) for partners, communities and staff on community based adaptation planning, climate change mainstreaming into socio-economic development planning, gender mainstreaming and any other related;
• In collaboration with the M&E officer, regularly assess the capacity of the project partners and track improvement;
• With support from the CBA Technical Advisor, facilitate the design, tool revision, and implementation of the update of the Community Based Adaptation (CBA) planning process at village, commune and district level, ensuring gender sensitiveness, ethnic minority and disability inclusiveness, alignment with local policies and strategies and promoting replication1;
• Support partners in the integration of climate change adaption analysis and actions into local socio-economic development planning, adaptation and disaster risk reduction planning and other sectoral plans;
• Actively encourage involvement of the provincial project partners and other climate change decision makers in these activities;Document methods, good adaptation practice, experiences and results from communities and partners, particularly on CBA planning and for scaling up;
• Facilitate shared learning and skills transfer to and between partner organizations on climate change adaptation planning and implementation; and
• Assist with organizing workshops and training, and with developing training guidelines and materials relating to climate change awareness raising and mainstreaming for partners, local authorities and beneficiaries.

GENDER INTEGRATION (25%)

• Monitor and track progress of the project gender action plan: review/revise when necessary, coordinate with other project team members, quarterly progress reporting of the plan (in collaboration with the M&E project officer) and provide technical support to implement the plan;
• Initiate capacity strengthening activities on gender for project partners, communities and staff;
• Document good practice and lessons learned on gender integration and collect Human Interest Stories on the topic;
• Work closely with the CARE Program Quality Team in dissemination gender information to other team members and partners; and
• Support other CARE Vietnam program work focused on gender

Selection Criteria

• University Degree in environment, climate change or relevant subjects;
• At least two years working experience in disaster risk management, emergency response and/or climate change, preferably in an international organization;
• Strong experience/knowledge on gender integration and women’s empowerment;
• Experience/knowledge with Community-based Adaptation Planning;
• Good facilitation skills and experience in participatory approaches and community development;
• Understanding of ethnic minority issues, and respect for ethnic minority knowledge and capacities;
• Good writing and speaking skills in both English and Vietnamese;
• Previous experience in the Mekong Delta Region would be an advantage; and
• Willingness to travel frequently.

Child Protection:

CARE International in Vietnam is committed to protecting the rights of children in all areas we work around the world. Applicants are advised that CARE International in Vietnam reserves the right to screen candidates to ensure a child-safe environment. Further information can be found in the CARE Vietnam child protection policy.

Interested candidates should send a full CV in English and a cover letter stating the position title to email: [email protected]. Closing date to apply for this position: 7 January 2013

The short-listed applicants will be contacted for interviews. Please no telephone contact after submitting the application.

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1: An extensive CBA planning process has been implemented in 2013, comprised of a range of village meetings to carry out climate change vulnerability and capacity assessment, visioning and planning for adaptation, including disaster risk reduction (DRR). This resulted in 33 village CBA plans that were integrated into commune and district socio-economic development plans (SEDP), adaptation and DRR plans and other sectoral plans through a number of SEDP mainstreaming workshops. The intention for 2014 is to repeat the process but in a much shorter way, for replication and done entirely by the Government partners.