Specialist to Develop Master Plan on the Development of Medicinal Plant in Quang Tri Province

INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT SCOPE OF WORK

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 implements 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

1.     Background

Under Objective 2 (Increase Conservation-Friendly Enterprises in Forest Dependent Communities), there are two main tasks as follow:

• Identify Target Value Chains, Barriers, and Opportunities
• Strengthen Conservation-Friendly Value Chains in sustainable forest management (SFM) Landscapes

In Quang Tri, the Project has collaborated with stakeholders to screen and select the medicinal plant value chain and enhance the conservation – friendly private sectors’ participation to contribute into the overall goal of the Project of reduce carbon emissions and foster carbon sequestration. Among core activities is supporting DARD to develop and finalize the Master Plan Development of medicinal plant in association with the OCOP program in Quang Tri in 2022 – 2025 with vision to 2030.

Quang Tri has abundance of diverse medicinal plants thanks to its advantages in geology, topography and harsh climate. Since centuries, local residents, especially forest – dependent ethnic minorities in mountainous areas, have intensively used indigenous medicinal plants for healthcare purposes. These days, with increasing demand and the current trend of eco-consumption, consumers tend to shift toward naturally - originated and environmental – friendly medicinal products, which constitutes economic opportunities for local people.

According to the baseline survey assessing the reservoir and potentials of medicinal plants in Quang Tri province conducted by the provincial Center for Agro-Forestry Planning and Investigation, more than 230 species of medicinal plants are found in Quang Tri. A total of 199 species among them are listed by the Ministry of Health in the Circular No. 48/2018/TT-BYT dated December 28, 2018. All those 199 species belong to 1 division (Ylang), 2 classes (class Onion and class Ylang-ylang), 36 ordo, 72 families of plants. There are two species in group IA, including Orchid Kim Tuyen found in nature and Ngoc Linh Ginseng cultivated. There are 6 species of group IIA, including: Dandelion (Dang sam), Cinnamomum balansae (Vu Huong), Stephaniaglabra (Binh Voi), Fibraurea ricesa, Hoang Dang, Bach H?p, Thach Hoc. Approximately 40 species of medicinal herbs have been researched and produced under the forest canopy or planted in the total area of 3,555.60 ha in the entire province, especially in mountainous districts Huong Hoa, Dakrong, and other districts such as Cam Lo, Gio Linh, Vinh Linh.

Province wide, 19 medicinal plant – based products are OCOP certified (4 products are rated 4 stars, 15 products are rated 5 stars) from which 12 establishments are OCOP certified. Several products are high volume (curcumin 1,234.2 tons, ming aralia – Dinh Lang 175.5 tons, ginger 413.1 tons, lemongrass 2,464 tons, kudzu (cat can) 350 tons, cajeput essential oil (tinh dau tram) 2,500 tons raw material. Economic value of medicinal plants are significant higher than other food produces, i.e. revenue from production of Jasminum subtriplinerve (che vang) 135 Mio/ha, net profit from 90 – 100 mio/ha/year; Solanum hainanense Hance (ca gai leo) offering 160 – 200 Mio/ha revenue, 100 – 130 Mio/ha net profit. As an example, the model of contracted production and consumption of Bo Chinh ginseng with Tue Lam Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. brings farmer net profit of 140 million VND/ha/year while the revenue of planting cassava is only 30-40 million VND/ha/year.

Despite its advantages and potentials, the development of medicinal herbs related industries in the province remains inadequately small scale and fragmented. Large – scale pharmaceutical production areas are missing and sustainable links in production, processing and consumption is blank. In order to foster the development of this sector in sustainable production, processing and consumption, ensuring environmental, economic and social benefits, especially for forest dependent communities contributing to the reduction of emissions and carbon sequestration, a throughout and long – term visioned Master Plan is required. Therefore, the Sustainable Forest Management Component implemented by DAI and its partners is recruiting a short-term consultant to assist the Quang Tri Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) to develop the medicinal plant aforementioned Master Plan. The latter will be approved by the Quang Tri province authorities and will be utilized as a legal basis for implementation and resources mobilization. This Project activity [under code 2.2.3.1] is included in the Plan for Fiscal Year 2022. This activity would directly contribute to four main indicators: ID1- Number of people trained; ID4 – Amount of investment mobilized; ID5 – Number of people receiving livelihood co-benefits; (in 11 indicators of the Project).

II.             Purposes of the activity

Develop the Master Plan to support the development of medicinal plants in association with the OCOP program in Quang Tri province in the period of 2022 - 2025, with a vision to 2030 (the Master Plan), contributing to income improvement for forest – dependent communities, limiting deforestation and forest degradation, reducing emissions and enhancing carbon sequestration.

III.           Purposes of the assignment

The purpose of this assignment is in coordination of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Plant protection sub-department, Agro-Forestry Planning and Investig Center, Rural development sub-department and other stakeholders to: i) Screen, study existing documents and data in terms of potentials of medicinal plants, especially in Quang Tri province. Develop the recommendation for policies, product positioning and development, market targeting, technical solutions to improve production sustainably, suggested mitigations to reduce environmental impact, vertical and horizonal linkage, traceability, trade to promote the entire value chain toward OCOP certification. Product development toward food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical industries and associate with community – based tourism; (ii) Propose detail action plan for the Master Plan.

The scope of the above consulting work can be adjusted accordingly upon the progress and agreement between the consultant and SFM staff and Quang Tri PMU.

IV.           Location

There will be activities conducted at the office of the Consultant and other activities, including online and offline consultation workshop in Quang Tri.

V.             Tasks

The Consultant is expected to conduct the following tasks:

1. Review, validate and analyze the Report “Baseline survey and assessment of current status and policies for medicinal plant development in Quang Tri province” (August 2021).
2. Collect and study secondary data, including reports on pharmaceutical processing technology, consumption trends, domestic and international market forecasts. Evaluation of potential advantages of medicinal plant sector in the province and screen the integration and alignment toward the Government's Green OCOP program in the period of 2021-2030.
3. Support Quang Tri DARD to directly address comments of line departments and agencies, to revise and finalize the Master Plan.
4. Research, revise and finalize the Master Plan, focusing on market forecast, domestic and international consumption trends of medicinal plant products, identifying potential markets and target markets, market positioning; Develop goals and approach of medicinal products development, improve production under sustainable principles, propose mitigations for reducing environmental impact, based on potentials and comparative advantages of the province. Propose and visualize tasks and solutions on mechanisms, policies, processing techniques, horizontal linkages, traceability, commercialization and trade, branding to promote the development of the pharmaceutical value chain in the alignment of OCOP product certification, with emphasis on medicinal plants production for food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries and side products for community tourisms and traditional medicine.
5. Participate in consultation workshops chaired by DARD (online or offline) to provide inputs, technical expertise for the Master plan finalization, to be submitted to the Provincial People Committee for approval. (In case of COVID-19 pandemic leading to travel and/or gathering participants in big group restriction, this activity can be implemented virtually).
6. Propose a detail action plan for Master plan implementation, specifying activities/interventions, resource mobilization, targets to be achieved and coordination of stakeholder participation.
7. Prepare consultancy final report.

VI.           Anticipated Level of Effort (LOE) and Deliverables

The estimated LOE for this assignment is 32 (thirty-two) person-days, from October 10, 2021, and ends up on December 31, 2021. The specific deliverables and timeframe are listed below in the following table:

VII.         Qualifications:

• Master or higher degree or in medicinal plant, horticulture, plant science economics, natural resource management, sustainable rural development, public policy or other relevant fields.
• Having at least 10 years of experience in planning and formulating projects in rural development, pharmaceuticals, forestry, natural resource management, and policy development to support production and agricultural sector development.
• Sound knowledge of the OCOP program and the medicinal plant industry, including knowledge of cultivation techniques, preliminary processing, processing, product development and market access.
• Good understanding of local context and medicinal plant development in Quang Tri province, practical experience working in Quang Tri province is an important advantage in the context of COVID-19.
• Have skills in analyzing statistical data; synthesizing and writing reports
• Have Vietnamese and English proficiency in speaking and writing
• Vietnamese National

VIII.       How to apply and requested documents

Interested candidates are requested to submit:

• A CV in English
• A cover letter in English
• Scanned copy of highest related degrees
• Short technical proposal in English (2 pages max) on approach to this assignment (methodology and work plan), and list of relevant completed assignments

via email to our recruitment email at [email protected] [1].

Please quote the position title in the subject line: “Candidate’s full name _ Specialist to develop the Master plan on the development of Medicinal plant in Quang Tri province”

Deadline for application: 5.00 p.m. (Hanoi time), October 04, 2021

To learn more about DAI, please visit our website www.dai.com [2].

DAI is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer with a commitment to diversity. DAI does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, parental status, veteran status, or other non-merit factor.