Consultant to Improve Capacity and Skills on Forest Patrolling and Protecting in Community Forest Management (CFM) Models

Consultancy Announcement

Position:Independent consultant to improve capacity and skills on forest patrolling and protecting in community forest management (CFM) models in Lao Cai provinceunder the USAID “Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management” Project (The project), RECOFTC Viet Nam.

Sub-Activity Code: 1.2.8.2: Conduct trainings on participatory forest monitoring

Duration:24 person-days in the period from June 2022 to July 2022

Application deadline:5.00 p.m. Hanoi local time, June 03, 2022

At RECOFTC, we believe in a future where people live equitably and sustainably in and beside healthy, resilient forests. We take a long-term, landscape-based and inclusive approach to supporting local communities to secure their land and resource rights, stop deforestation, find alternative livelihoods and foster gender equity. We are the only non-profit organization of our kind in Asia and the Pacific. We have more than 30 years of experience working with people and forests, and have built trusting relationships with partners at all levels. Our influence and partnerships extend from multilateral institutions to governments, private sector and local communities. Our innovations, knowledge and initiatives enable countries to foster good forest governance, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The project works in seven provinces: Lao Cai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Tri and Quang Nam. It focuses on five main objectives:

1. Strengthening community forest management
2. Promoting conservation-friendly enterprises
3. Improving law enforcement to tackle environmental crimes
4. Enhancing the management of production forests
5. Mobilizing domestic resources

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.

RECOFTC is implementing Objective 1 by improving and expanding community forest management in the seven target provinces, in close coordination with other partners and Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

RECOFTC Viet Nam is now inviting applicants for an Independent consultant to improve capacity and skills on forest patrolling and protecting in community forest management (CFM) models in Lao Cai provincefor the USAID Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Project.

Background

Forest dependent communities’ participation is increasingly recognized as an important factor in effectively maintaining forests. Communities have been engaged into forest management and protection in various forms.

Under the SFM Project, the concept of community covers two forms of local people's participation in forest management. The first modality is community forest management (CFM) in which residential communities/villages manage their allocated forests. This also covers the modality where communities manage household’s allocated forests as a community group (community-based forest household groups). The second modality is community-based forest management (CBFM) in which village communities manage contracted forests with protection forest management boards.

With CBFM modality, communities have been actively participating in protecting forest under the forest protection contract signed with Protection Forest Management Boards. This is one of the most popular CBFM models in Lao Cai province. Under this modality, local communities are contracted by the Forest Management Boards to protect forest resources (mainly protection forests and/or special-use forests). Local people are paid based on forest protection contracts, mainly from the Government’s program on forest protection payments and PFES. Even so, local communities are facing potential problems in implementing the terms of the contract, especially patrolling, forest protection and communication skills for community members to participate in forest management and protection more effectively.

Objectives of the consultancy

The overall objective of this assignment is to improve capacity of communities in the forest patrolling activities through improved skills on arrangement, performance of forest patrolling activities and communications skills for more effective management and protection of community forests.

Expected outputs

• Trainees understand the roles, responsibilities, powers and interests of the Community Patrolling Team in patrolling and protecting the commune's forests and relate to local practical activities in forest patrolling.
• Trainees recognize the types of forest encroachment and identify signs of forest encroachment.
• Trainees can handle situations that often occur during patrolling, know how to take notes on patrol forms, and know how to prepare patrol reports.
• Trainees acquire knowledge and first aid skills for some accidents that often occur while patrolling the forest.
• Trainees can operate the basic functions of forest patrolling equipment.
• Trainees can practice well field activities such as: observing, detecting and handling violations related to hunting wild animals, illegally exploiting forest products and handling unexpected situations during forest patrolling.

Scope of work (SOW)

The consultants are requested to conduct the following tasks but not limited to:

1. Based on available training materials on forest patrolling for other provinces, adjust and update them with relevant regulations of Lao Cai province.
2. Prepare a training programs, including but not limited to the following:
   
   • Revise, update available training materials with regulations of Lao Cai province on management, patrol and protection of community forests;
   • Guidelines to establish and consolidate forest patrolling groups for communities participating in forest protection contracts, such as operating rules/regulations;
   • Professional technique and method of handling violations in forest management, patrol and protection;
   • Methods of making minutes the cases of forest encroachment, template for taking minutes (refer to the CFM manual and the guidelines/regulations of the Forest Protection Unit);
   • Introduction and evaluation of some software/applications to support forest protection patrols applied in Lao Cai province;
   • Skills for planning patrolling missions, assigning tasks among patrol team members; templates of quarterly and monthly patrol plans, patrol report template (refer to CFM manual and the guidelines/regulations of the Forest Protection Unit);
   • Appropriate communication forms, skills and methods for mobilizing and persuading, raising communities’ awareness on community forest protection.

   3.     Conduct 04 training courses at the selected communities, including:
   

   • Prepare pre and post training evaluation forms (based on available forms)
   • Deliver the participatory training courses (including methods and practices)
   • Prepare training reports (including process, findings, training photos, and recommendations for other similar training courses to ensure their effectiveness)

Level of Efforts (LOE), deadline, and deliverables:

Estimated LOE for this task is 24 man-days, scheduled to start from June 2022, and submit the final report on July 30, 2022, including field trips to the selected sites. The required products are listed in the table below. All final products are submitted in Vietnamese. Specific products and time frames are as follows.

Qualifications and experience:

Essential:

The successful candidate must meet the following requirements:

• Vietnamese national
• Bachelor’s degree in forestry, natural resources management or other related fields
• At least 10 years of experience in the fields of agriculture and forestry, particularly in forest law enforcement and conservation.
• Experienced in conducting trainings for adults, particular for ethnic people on knowledge and skills related to forest patrolling.
• Knowledge of forestry policies and legal framework and familiarity with current development in the forestry sector, especially in community forestry at central and local levels
• Practical skills or engagement on forest patrolling and handling forest law violation cases during the patrolling missions;
• Good spoken and writing skills in Vietnamese with working knowledge in English.

General:

At RECOFTC, our core values are the foundation of our culture and guide all our work. In addition to job specific skills and experience, the applicant should possess the following characteristics, attitudes and skills:

• Embrace innovation
• Adapt to, and learn from, challenges
• Collaborate with partners and stakeholders
• Nurture commitment, responsibility and ownership
• Prioritize sustainability
• Cultivate participation, social inclusion and gender equity

How to apply

Interested candidates are requested to submit their CV and a  cover letter indicating why they are suitable for this consultancy along with current contact details of three referees, including recent supervisors to [email protected] [1]. Please quote the consultancy title in the subject line of the email. Only short-listed candidates will be notified.

For any further information you may need about the consultancy, please contact [email protected] [1].

To learn more about RECOFTC, please visit our website www.recoftc.org [2]