Technical Oversight of Participatory Carbon Monitoring (PCM) for REDD+ in Vietnam

Country:          Vietnam
Organisation:    SNV – Netherlands Development Organisation
Program:          REDD+
Project:           Exploring mechanisms to promote High Biodiversity REDD: Piloting in Viet Nam
Abstract:         Consulting services to provide technical oversight of PCM methodology development in Cat Tien landscape
Duration:         Indicative 40 days over period: April to June 2012

1. Background:
Local communities have participated in the monitoring of forest resources, through national programmes and development co-operation, for decades.  REDD+ presents a new opportunity to capitalize on previous experiences whilst presenting new technical challenges in terms of forest carbon monitoring.  International commitment to REDD+ safeguards also demand monitoring systems to demonstrate social and environmental performance of REDD+; forest carbon supplier countries need to track both carbon and non-carbon forest values, such as biodiversity, livelihoods, and governance indicators.

SNV aims to add value to existing practices of participatory monitoring of forests in Vietnam through application of emerging best practice, together with contributing to methodological and operational innovation.  Recognition of local actor contributions to local and national REDD+ monitoring needs are key to securing forest carbon financing as a significant contribution to the livelihoods of rural poor communities, together with recurrent investments in the conservation of the biological diversity that underpins these livelihoods.   

A key area of intervention for SNV REDD+ programme is the developing and piloting of participatory forest monitoring (PFM) for improving land use planning and management at local (forest management unit) levels and national REDD+ applications, including forest carbon measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) and safeguard information system (SIS) purposes.  The SNV-VNFOREST Exploring mechanisms to promote high-biodiversity REDD+: piloting in Vietnam (HB-REDD+) project intends to pilot PFM at scale in the province of Lam Dong, within the Cat Tien landscape to demonstrate PFM potential in the Vietnamese context.  Consequently, the project is seeking a Local Capacity Builder (LCB) team, highly qualified in training local actors and experienced in PCM, to develop and apply technical manuals and other training/field materials through preliminary training-of-trainers exercises in the pilot province of Lam Dong.

2. Objective:
Based on the SNV global PCM protocols, technical manuals and other training/field materials produced and applied through preliminary training-of-trainers exercises in the pilot province of Lam Dong

3. Tasks:
PCM manuals and other training/field material development:
Developing a set of technical training manuals and field materials based on SNV global PCM protocols and drawing on existing manuals developed and applied in Vietnam (e.g. draft SNV and UN-REDD PCM manuals from 2010/11)
Contributing technical inputs, in terms of PCM methods and their practical application, to the development of PFM piloting proposal led by Lam Dong DARD, particularly modifications to the proposal based on training preparation and delivery experiences
Contributing technical perspectives to on-going national policy dialogue on PFM to ensure technical requirements of priority end users, such as the national REDD+ programme or national forest inventory, are included in the manuals and the provincial PFM piloting proposal

Training of trainers:
Developing a multi-day introductory training event for provincial-/district-level stakeholders as an initial contribution to PFM proposal development and training preparation
Identifying a core group of technical government officers, from provincial and district levels, as potential local trainers
Developing detailed training programmes for PCM data: a) collection; and b) management, adopting a training-of-trainers approach targeting government officers
Delivering intensive multi-day training courses in PCM data: a) collection; and b) management, for the teams who will carry out training for local forest owners and villagers at a later stage
Identifying areas of stakeholder capacity deficiencies under a revised PFM operational framework for four key functions data: collection, management, verification, and reporting
Determining criteria and process(es) for identifying villagers that will be involved in training for forest carbon measurements in the pilot communes/districts
Developing, with assistance from SNV monitoring and evaluation team, a simple training impact monitoring tool (e.g. before/after training questionnaire)

Field testing:
Supervising of local trainers transferring PCM protocols for data collection to forest owners and villagers
Accompanying monitoring teams to at least 25 % of monitoring plots to ensure proper application of protocols, generating reliable data, and to obtain firsthand experience of manual and material use in the field
Utilizing existing SNV data from plots sampled in the in Cat Tien landscape in 2010 to avoid duplication of efforts

4. Deliverables:
Initial work plan for the assignment that will need to be approved by the SNV-VNFOREST project management unit
Agenda for a multi-day introductory training event for provincial-/district-level stakeholders on PFM concepts and development in Vietnam to date
Set of training manuals, field guidelines and other materials for PCM application in Vietnam, to be revised and updated based on lessons gained from the training:
a)(emissions factor and activity) data collection by local forest owners and villagers
b)data management by provincial and district government authorities
c)basic (emissions factor and activity) data analysis by local forest owners/villagers
Detailed training-of-trainers programme identifying the scale and scope of the initial training exercises in quarter two, 2012
Comments, in terms of PCM methods and their practical application, on draft iterations of PFM piloting proposal for Lam Dong province
Training report documenting lessons learnt and recommendations for PFM/PCM development in Vietnam

Interested persons should submit his/her recent curriculum vitae by email to SNV at [email protected] by April 30, 2012. In the submission email, pleases indicate your preferred compensation rate.