Senior Tourism Consultant

Location	Hanoi, with travel to Lao Cai and Son La as needed
Project duration	August - September 2022 (20 days)
Start date	1 August 2022

ABOUT US

With more than 35 years of experience, Cowater International is Canada’s global leader in management consulting services specialising in international development. We have managed the implementation of over 2500 projects in more than 95 countries around the globe for clients such as DFID, DFAT Australia, the European Union, the World Bank and Global Affairs Canada. We work with governments, partner organisations, communities and civil society to design and implement sustainable solutions that generate lasting social, economic and environmental impacts. Our adaptive approach to management has led to our award-winning work and recognition as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies from 2017 to 2021.

BACKGROUND

GREAT is a flagship initiative of the Australian aid program.  The Program promotes women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in the ethnically diverse north-west region of Vietnam, through the integration of a market systems development (MSD) approach.

The primary beneficiaries are women living in the provinces of Son La and Lao Cai, while an overarching emphasis is placed on the inclusion of women from ethnic minority communities as these provinces are home to twelve and twenty-six ethnic groups respectively.

The objectives of the Aus4Equality|GREAT Program are:

• Objective 1 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai, have improved economic benefits.
• Objective 2 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai, have increased confidence and social status, including more balanced workloads and greater decision making within the home, workplace, and community.      
• Objective 3 – Women, particularly ethnic minority women and household members living in Son La and Lao Cai benefit from more gender responsive, inclusive, and effective provincial and national policies, plans, strategies, and programs.

Our approach to women’s economic empowerment focuses on:

• Reach: Engaging women in all project activities and addressing barriers to participation.
• Benefit: Improve women’s access to assets, financial services and support services.
• Empower: Strengthen the ability of women to make strategic life choices and put these into action.

The Program is entering its second five-year phase and GREAT 2 will continue its focus on agriculture and tourism, identifying specific sectors that lend themselves to opportunities for women’s economic empowerment and work with multiple stakeholders to address constraints, generate opportunities, drive market growth and increase productive value of the sector. A limited number of agriculture sectors will be targeted, in addition to tourism. Cross-sector strategies such as women, access to finance, digital transformation, policy advocacy and behaviour change will complement the sector strategies.

To support the transition into the second phase, Cowater is seeing the services of an experienced Senior Tourism Consultant to help finalise the tourism sector strategy that will focis on three key elements:

• Inclusive and gender responsive destination management and governance
• Inclusive and gender responsive product development and marketing
• Inclusive and gender responsive skills development

SUMMARY OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Working with the Team Leader and other GREAT staff, the Senior Tourism Consultant will support the finalisation of the gender responsive and inclusive tourism sector strategy covering interventions on Lao Cai, Son La and at the national level.  The assignment will also identification of high potential tourism partners for GREAT second phase and preparing intervention budget estimates.   

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Conduct a scoping mission in in Lao Cai, together with GREAT team member/s, to identify key destinations, routes or experiences that have strong tourism potential and can create opportunities for ethnic minority women.  
• Identify potential partners for tourism sector interventions in Son La and Lao Cai.
• Provide inputs into the draft gender responsive and inclusive tourism sector strategy and results framework.
• Organise stakeholder consultation in Lao Cai and Son La to share strategy and to identify potential partners.
• Develop a draft budget for proposed interventions.

DELIVERABLES

• A short report in English detailing the proposed tourism intervention activities and locations in Lao Cai (7 days) by 19 August 2022
• An assessment report of potential partners and modalities specifying their capacity/expertise and potential roles (3 days) by 26 August 2022
• Written input into draft tourism strategy and results framework (3 days) by 2 September 2022
• Agenda, presentations and meeting minutes from consultation Lao Cai and Son La (5 days) by 10 September 2022
• Draft budget (2 days) by 15 September 2022

Total days:  20 days

WORKING APPROACH

The Consultant will work closely with the Team Leader, Deputy Team Leader and members from the Technical, MERL and Operations teams and Lao Cai and Son La Project Management Units to implement tasks. 

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• An excellent understanding of tourism and market-based approaches.
• A minimum 10 years relevant work experience in the tourism sector.
• Master’s Degree in tourism, business or another relevant field.
• Networks among public and private stakeholders in the tourism sector nationally and in the program target provinces.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills in Vietnamese and English.
• An understanding of women’s economic empowerment, experience working with ethnic minority communities and an understanding of inclusion principles and approaches of working with people with disabilities is preferred.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Candidates are encouraged to apply no later than 5 pm Hanoi Time (GMT+7), 29 July 2022 by sending an application to [email protected]. Please indicate in the subject “Application for Senior Tourism Consultant”.

Applications will be assessed as they are received. We thank all applicants, however, only those making the shortlist will be contacted.

Applications should include:

• A cover letter including a response to each of the selection criteria
• A Curriculum Vitae (maximum 2 pages)
• A daily rate that complies with UN/EU cost norms.  The budget for travel costs will be negotiated with the successful consultant

Cowater is an equal opportunity employer. Women, people with a disability, and people from minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply. We thank you for your interest in building a better tomorrow with Cowater International.

For more opportunities, please visit our website at https://equality.aus4vietnam.org/careers or facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Aus4EqualityGREAT

Organization: Aus4Equality|GREAT Program
Location: Hanoi
Application deadline: 2022-07-29
Send application to: [email protected]