Policy Consultant (Team Leader) to Support the Revision of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP

INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT SCOPE OF WORK

Policy consultant (Team Leader) to support the revision of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP

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A. 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.

B. 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.

C. DESCRIPTION OF CONSULTANCY SERVICE:

I.           BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

1.1.        Background

The Forestry Law (No. 16/2017/QH14) was approved by the 14th National Assembly on November 15, 2017 and came into force on January 1, 2019. Decree No. 156/2918/ND-CP, approved and promulgated by the Government on November 16, 2018, is one of the key legal documents that guides the implementation of the Forestry Law.

Decree 156/2018/ND-CP covers 6 major thematic topis, of which the topic of “investment policies for forest protection and development” has recently been covered by a separate Decree[1], the development of which was also supported by USAID- SFM Project in 2021 – early 2022. The remaining policy issues to be reviewed and amended/supplemented include: 1) Criteria for forest identification, forest classification and forest management regulations; 2) Allocating forests, leasing production forests, changing forest types, changing forest use; purposes to other purposes, recalling forests; 3) Forest fire prevention and control; 4) Objects, forms of payment, level of payment for forest environmental services; adjustment, exemption or reduction of payment for forest environmental services; management and use of financial resource from payment for forest environmental services; and 5) Tasks, organizational structure, mechanism of management and financial use of the Forest Protection and Development Fund.

After over three years of implementation, upon reflection of concerned actors, who face difficulties in implementing the provisions of Decree 156/2918/ND-CP, MARD, by issuing the Decision No. 5254/QD-BNN-PC dated 31 December 2021 on the Plan of developing legal documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2022, assigned the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNForest) to lead the revision of the Decree. Following MARD’s Decision, VNForest assigned the Department of Legal Affairs and Inspection (DLAI) to act as the focal point for the review and revision of provisions related to points 1 to 3; and the Forest Protection and Development Fund (VNFF) to point 4, 5 listed above.

In response to the request of VNForest, the USAID-funded Sustainable Forest Management Project (SFM Project) will provide VNForest (through its focal points of DLAI and VNFF) with technical support to revise the Decree.  

1.2.        Support of the Project to the revision of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP

The Project’s support to the revision of the Decree include:

1)       Support the overall revision of the Decree: (with DLAI as the partner’s focal point)

• 01 policy consultant (Consultant 1, Team Leader): support the consolidation and preparation of the dossiers of the draft Decree. This Team Leader will take inputs from other consultants, concerned actors and conduct his/her own studies to support the Drafting Committee and the Editorial Team to review, revise and justify all contents of the Decree throughout the process of the Decree development.
  The Team Leader will also work with the consultant teams, who provide technical support to the revisions of policy issues 4 and 5 above to include their proposed revisions related to PFES, CPFES, Forest Protection and Development Funds in the Decree as a whole.
• 04 consultants (Consultant 2 – 5): conduct review, studies to propose revisions to the policy topics 1 – 3 mentioned above and support the preparation of the Decree dossier. These consultants will cooperate with the Team Leader and provide inputs for the formulation of regulations in the revised Decree and support justifying the revisions, conduct socio-economic impact assessment and assessment of administrative procedures.
• Consultation events: The project provides technical and financial support to the consultation process, which includes consultation with key stakeholders, field survey to provinces in 3 regions of Vietnam, regional workshops and national workshops.

2)      Support to the revision of regulations specifically on PFES, CPFES, Forest Protection and Development Funds (with VNFF as the partner’s focal point)

• 04 consultants: 01 policy consultant (sub-team leader), 01 forestry consultant, 01 economic consultant and 01 mapping consultant.
• Consultation events: The Project provides technical and financial support to the consultation process on the topics related to PFES, CPFES, Forest Protection and Development Funds. Similarly, these include consultation with key stakeholders, field survey to provinces, regional or provincial workshops and national workshops.

This SOW describes in detail the tasks of Consultant 1 (Team Leader).

2.          OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

2.1.        Overall Objective

Support VNForest (with DLAI as the focal point) to develop the drafts of the Decree that amends and supplement a number of Articles in Decree 156/2018/N?-CP dated 16 November 2018 of the Government on guiding in detail the implementation of some Articles of the Forestry Law.

2.2.        Specific Objectives

• Study, consolidate, make assessment of proposals and recommendations on amendments and supplements of the current provisions in Decree 156/2018/N?-CP and support the development of corresponding drafts regulations, provisions in the revised Decree;
• Support the development of the dossier associated with the drafts of the revised Decree to submit, together with the drafts of the Decree, to the authorized bodies for appraisal and approval as required by the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents[2].

3.          SCOPE OF WORK

• Lead the team of [other four] consultants (see details in 4.1. bellow), who support the overall revision of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP, to conduct required studies that provide inputs for the revision of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP.
• Review and make assessment of the study reports and proposals on amendment and supplement of provisions related to PFES, CPFES, functions of the Forest Protection and Development Fund (to be develop by the group of 04 consultants who support the revision of regulations on PFES, CPFES, Forest Protection and Development Funds).
• Consolidate and study related legal regulations and reports on related topics, especially those developed by the consultants mentioned in Point a and Point b above, to support the preparation of the dossier to submit to the authorized bodies (MARD, MoJ, Government).
• Prepare for and participate in the consultation events according to the Plan approved by DLAI and the Project to explore, collect, clarify additional information and opinions of concerned stakeholders to ensure the feasibility and applicability of the revised Decree. These consultation events include field trips to selected provinces, regional workshops, national workshops, and other consultation technical workshops and meetings.
• Carry out other related tasks as assigned by DLAI and the Project.

4.          SPECIFIC TASKS

Consultant 1 will discuss with DLAI and DAI at the beginning of the assignment to get common understanding and agreement on the objectives, scope of work and priority contents of the assignment. He/She will then work closely with DLAI and DAI throughout the implementation of this assignment.

4.1.        Lead the team of consultants, who support the overall revision of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP:

Consultant 1, as Team Leader, will review and provide comments to the Report Outlines and draft reports of the following four consultants to make sure that information and data sufficient to provide evidence to the revisions of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP are included in these Reports:

• Consultant 2: Evaluation of 3 years of implementation of Decree No. 156/2018/ND-CP and reviewing legal documents related to the Draft Decree
• Consultant 3: Regulation on forest management applied for special-use forests, protection forests, production forests
• Consultant 4: Forest allocation, forest lease, forest use purpose change, forest recall
• Consultant 5: Impact assessment of policies (economic, social); assessing the impact of administrative procedures in the draft Decree

4.2.        Review and make assessment of the study reports on PFES, CPFES, functions of the Forest Protection and Development Fund

Four consultants will be recruited to conduct in-depth studies and make proposals on the revisions, amendments and supplements to provisions related to PFES, CPFES, functions of the Forest Protection and Development Fund. One PFES Policy Consultant will act as a sub-team leader to lead this part of the assignment.

Consultant 1 will cooperate closely with the sub-team leaders to review and provide comments to the reports and proposed provisions provided by these consultants. He/she will then support DLAI and the Drafting Committee to incorporate these proposed provisions into the drafts of the Decree.

In addition, Consultant 1 will also incorporate the contents on clarification and acceptance, or rejection of comments related to PFES, CPFES, functions of the Forest Protection and Development Fund prepared by these consultants into:

• Submission letters to authorized bodies
• The dossier to be submitted to the authorized bodies (MARD, MoJ, Government).

4.3.        Support the development of the drafts of the Decree and associated documents

Consultant 1 will take lead in supporting DLAI and the Drafting Committee to develop:

• [Revised] drafts of the Decree
• Submission letters to authorized bodies (MARD, Government)
• Reports that consolidate, clarify and accept or reject the comments of concerned Ministries, Agencies, provinces and other actors; appraisal requests of MoJ; comments of the members of the Government to the drafts of the Decree.

4.4.        Support the organization of and attend the consultation events

4.4.1.  Consultation events (tentative):

• 03 field trips to 06 – 07 provinces: 2 in the North, 2 in the Coastal Region and Central Highland, and 2 -3 in the South.
• 01 – 03 Regional workshops, expected to be organized in selected field trip provinces at the end of each field trip.
• 01 National Workshop
• Other technical meetings (if required).

4.4.2.  Specific tasks related to the preparation and organization of the consultation events

• Develop and propose to DLAI for approval:
  
  • Schedule/agenda of field trips to provinces; list of policy issues to be explored, discussed and information to be collected during the field trips
  • Presentation(s) (PPT) and other workshop materials as required by DLAI
• Attend the consultation events and collect comments; discuss and clarify comments from participants and stakeholders.

5.          KEY DELIVERABLES / OUTPUTS OF CONSULTANT 1

• Group of Deliverable 1: i) Draft of the Decree (Draft 1); ii) Submission Letter to authorized body
• Group of Deliverable 2: i) Draft 2 of the Decree (Website version); ii) Draft of the Submission Letter to the Government and request comments from Ministries, Agencies, provinces and other stakeholders.
• Group of Deliverable 3: i) Draft 3 of the Decree; (ii) Draft of the Submission Letter; (iii) A Report that synthesizes, clarifies, accepts and rejects comments from Ministries, Agencies, provinces. The report will be submitted to MoJ for appraisal.
• Group of Deliverable 4: i) Draft 4 of the Decree; (ii) Draft of the Submission Letter to the Government; (iii) A Report that synthesizes, clarifies appraisal comments of MoJ. The report will be submitted to the Government.
• Group of Deliverable 5: i) Draft 5 of the Decree; ii) Draft of the Submission Letter to the Government; ; (iii) A Report that synthesizes, clarifies the comments of the Members of the Government.

6.          LOCATIONS

Hanoi and 06 - 07 provinces (to be identified later)

7.          CONSULTATION TIME (LOE) AND DELIVERABLES

Consultant submits in Vietnamese and English: D5, D6, D10, D11, D16, D17. Other deliverables are submitted in Vietnamese

Deliverables 1 – 15 are approved by DLAI and DAI. Deliverables 16 – 17 approved by DLAI, DAI and CPMU of VFBC Project.

D. QUALIFICATIONS

E. HOW TO APPLY AND REQUESTED DOCUMENTS

Individual interested candidates are requested to submit:

1. Updated CV in English and Vietnamese
2. Cover letter in English indicating why the applicant is suitable for this position along with current contact details of at least three referees in English or Vietnamese
3. Scanned copy of related degrees
4. Similar consultancy projects/reports completed before either in English or Vietnamese
5. Technical proposal in English or Vietnamese to carry out this consultancy assignment (approach and implementation plan)

via email to our recruitment email at [email protected]. Please quote the position title in the subject line: “Candidate’s full name _ Policy expert _ Team Leader _Decree 156”

Deadline for application: 5.00 p.m. (Hanoi time), April 11, 2022

Remark: If being recruited, the candidate will have to provide DAI with a release letter with authorized signature and stamp from current employer to certify that candidate will not receive salary from current employer during the implementation of this consultancy assignment. This release letter is required for candidate who are currently working for government agencies only.

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