Opportunity

Environmental Incentives (EI) seeks to contract a senior biodiversity and climate change consultant to provide technical assistance to the USAID/Vietnam Environment Team through the Improving Design, Evidence, and Learning (IDEAL) activity. This consultancy is a great opportunity for someone who has demonstrated expertise in environment and climate issues in Vietnam, strategic planning for international development programs, and helping teams to learn, collaborate, and adapt throughout the USAID Program Cycle. The consultant will provide subject matter expertise on biodiversity conservation, climate change, and combating wildlife trafficking programming; technical assistance and facilitation of strategic planning processes, such as activity design and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan development; and capacity strengthening support for USAID staff in Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA). The consultant will be part of a larger team of IDEAL staff and consultants providing technical assistance to the USAID/Vietnam Mission.

Consultancy Description

This is a remote assignment for a Vietnam-based candidate in or near Hanoi. Candidates in other parts of Southeast Asia will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The expected level of effort is anticipated to be about 20 hrs a week for up to six months starting as soon as April 2024, but can fluctuate depending on the needs of the USAID/Vietnam environment team. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.

The Vietnam Environment and Climate consultant will provide technical support and advisory services to USAID. They will work across activity design, strategy development, monitoring, evaluation, and learning to help USAID/Vietnam advance cohesive, evidence-based programs and practice adaptive management. Specific tasks are subject to change, but it is anticipated that the consultant may:

• Provide support (in person and virtually) for Program Cycle needs within the USAID/Vietnam Environment Office (activity design, strategy design, activity start-up, pause and reflect processes, monitoring, evaluation, and learning) using multiple methods and approaches.
• Support process improvement engagement, including facilitating activity co-designs, organizational development facilitation services, and broad-based stakeholder engagement activities to inform programming.
• Advance USAID biodiversity and climate change goals by providing training and guidance on topics such as evidence use and generation and adaptive management to Agency staff and other stakeholders.
• Support other staff and consultants with CLA capacity building for Mission staff, developing knowledge management systems, and planning and facilitating internal and external learning events (meetings and workshops).
• Support other staff and consultants as they design and conduct multiple types of evaluations, such as rigorous performance and/or impact evaluations of biodiversity and climate change programs, to promote learning, test assumptions of key theories of change, or evaluate progress toward Agency goals.

Possible additional tasks may include:

• Providing technical assistance to USAID/Vietnam and implementing partners in developing monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans, as well as reporting on program indicators.
• Researching, synthesizing, and disseminating findings on selected climate change, combating wildlife trafficking, and biodiversity topics as directed, such as adaptation and mitigation topics, nature-based solutions or ecosystem services, and direct and indirect threats to biodiversity.
• Supporting other staff and consultants to produce outreach materials, including infographics, fact sheets, brochures, newsletters and/or videos.

Qualifications, and knowledge, skills, and abilities of a successful environment and climate consultant include the following.

• Bachelor's degree and 7+ years of relevant experience; Master's degree and 5+ years relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and experience in the fields of Environmental Science, Conservation Biology, Sustainable Development, or other related fields.
• 5+ years of experience in biodiversity conservation interventions in Vietnam, particularly in combating wildlife trafficking. Additional experience in one or more of the following topics is preferred: sustainable forest management, natural climate solutions and sustainable landscapes programming, land use management), and integrated environment programs.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the USAID Program Cycle, the Conservation Standards or other systems tools to improve program logic in activity design and implementation.
• 5+ years of experience supporting adult learning in USAID or other foreign assistance agencies (including NGOs, contractors, or international organizations) including facilitating communities of practice or designing and implementing collective learning agendas.
• Background in activity design, capacity building, monitoring, learning, and evaluation, research, organizational development, or adaptive management of climate, biodiversity, and integrated programs.
• Experience planning and facilitating groups, meetings, or events.
• Experience working in Vietnam, particularly working with Government of Vietnam entities and NGO stakeholders.

• Strong interpersonal and diplomatic skills.
• Demonstrated flexibility and capacity to adapt to and operate in environments of uncertainty.
• Strong understanding of current development issues in Vietnam and organizational effectiveness.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Vietnamese.
• Ability to be proactive in problem-solving with excellent listening skills.
• Demonstrated ability to advance equity and inclusion in leading the work of teams.
• Proficiency in Miradi would be beneficial.
• Proficiency in GIS would be beneficial.

• Legally authorized to work in Vietnam with no restrictions.
• Ability to travel to the USAID/Vietnam Mission in Hanoi during normal business hours.
• Ability to participate in online meetings with IDEAL staff in Washington, DC, potentially during evening hours.
• Access to reliable Internet service.

This position will be fully remote, with the expectation that the Consultant will be able to provide frequent in-person support to USAID/Vietnam (based in Hanoi) and implementing partners.

About IDEAL

In programming more than $750 million each year in biodiversity and climate change funds, USAID's decisions shape outcomes for irreplaceable ecosystems and the communities that depend on them worldwide. The Improving Design, Evidence, and Learning (IDEAL) contract provides support for all stages of the Program Cycle for USAID biodiversity and climate change programming at USAID and improves the Agency's ability to design, and monitor, evaluate, and learn from programs with sustainable and impactful results.

During this five-year activity, IDEAL supports USAID's programs to apply adaptive management decisions, generate and apply evidence, and apply learning to support better programming decisions. With expertise combining technical environment skills and organizational development and learning, IDEAL facilitates high-quality decision-making, increases evidence generation and use, and nurtures a culture of applied learning across the Agency.

About Environmental Incentives

At Environmental Incentives, our purpose is to create the conditions for human and natural communities to thrive. We do this by helping our partners improve the performance of conservation and development programs. Our clients trust us to design and support implementation of programs that (1) use evidence to develop effective strategies within complex systems, (2) center local stakeholder experiences and facilitate collective action, and (3) produce results that support learning about what works. Environmental Incentives is a certified B Corporation with offices located in Washington, DC, South Lake Tahoe, San Diego, Nairobi, and Lima (pending registration). Our remote staff and consultants are based in multiple states within the United States, and across five continents.