JOB DESCRIPTION/SCOPE OF WORK 

Vietnam Action Against Plastic Pollution

Positions:  Inclusive Political Economy Analysis (IPEA) Consultant

Consultants: Project Office

Period of performance: February – May 2023

Level of Effort: 40 days

Background

The USAID funded "Vietnam Action Against Plastic Pollution" Activity (the Activity) is an innovative and ambitious program designed to reduce ocean plastic pollution at its source in Vietnam through strategic approaches such as convening stakeholders' power, promoting the creation and implementation of data-driven policies, enhancing knowledge and sharing learning, promoting appropriately scaled technology and solutions, and providing technical expertise and building capacity of local governments to manage waste at its source and prevent plastic pollution in our oceans. Three main objectives of the Activity are (i) supporting multi-stakeholder actions for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), (ii) supporting scalable, demonstrated Single Used- Plastics-Products (SUP) reduction measures and (iii) supporting the development and implementation of sub-national level Integrated Solid Waste Management Plans (ISWM). 

The Vietnam Action Against Plastic Pollution Activity is implemented by a consortium of Chemonics Int’l, Center for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), Centre for Supporting Green Development (GreenHub) and E-Policy from 2022 to 2027.

In the initial stage, the Activity will develop and apply an Inclusive Political Economy Analysis (IPEA) to help the project’s strategy, design and subsequent implementation. An IPEA is intended to be an interactive and living document throughout the Activity’s implementation to reflect the often changes in the operating environment, assumptions, theory of change, and the efficacy of the activity’s designs and technical approach. It also helps to inform the strategic collaborating, learning and adapting (CLA) process applied throughout the Activity’s implementation.

A Political Economy Analysis emphasizes the importance of context, power, institutions, actors, relationships, and processes. Understanding the interests and influence of different stakeholders and how their power is exercised within a particular institutional context are therefore important findings and help construct actionable recommendations for the Activity ’s design. Specific context that the IPEA will deep dive into are EPR, ISWM and plastic reduction of the waste sector at both national and sub-national level. It will provide an initial evidence based which further IPEA builds out as the Activity’s implementation progressed.

We seek a national consultant to help conduct the IPEA.

Scope of Work

The Inclusive Political Economy approach is designed to move from a broad understanding of relevant national political economy issues to the more in-depth PEA of the waste sector issues within these. This will provide an understanding of the interests and incentives operating at the sector, the history of the sector and policy reforms; what constraints influence the involved actors in this field; how collective actions might engage to facilitate policy dialogues; and specific barriers and opportunities within the sector. Given the recent organizational change at MONRE, the state agency on managing EPR, pollution control and waste management, how that would affect the Activity design and implementation at both national and sub-national level.  

This analysis will help understand implementation context of the National Action Plan for Management of Marine Plastic Litters, Strategy of Solid Waste Management at the locality, the practical realities, opportunities and constraints for the consortium partners while supporting the state agencies in implementing those policies. The analysis will build on the information from the previous analyses at national and, particularly, sectoral levels with the aims of

• Identifying the specific challenge, problem, opportunity, or vulnerability to be addressed.
• Mapping out the institutional and governance arrangements, weaknesses, and opportunities specific to this issue; and,
• Drilling down to the specific political economy drivers, both to identify obstacles to policy change or implementation and to understand where a positive change could emerge and how.

The analysis will be built around three main components: purpose, analysis and implications, answering the following key questions:

• What is the historical context of the sector, including previous policy reform, organization restructuring, development and implementation initiatives?
• Who are the key stakeholders, including informers in the sector? What are the formal/informal roles and mandates of different actors?
• How easy/difficult do local actors, including NGOs face when working on pollution issues?
• To what extent is power held by specific individuals/groups? What roles do different interest groups outside government (e.g. private sector, mass organizations, NGOs, donors, consumer groups, and the media) have, for example on solid waste value chain?
• How private sector has engaged in the sector (e.g. EPR, solid waste management)? How is the sector financed (e.g. public/private partnerships, user fees, taxes, donor support)? How does this influence space for stakeholder engagement in policy dialogue?
• Who are the primary beneficiaries of sector service provision? Are particular social groups included/excluded (informal sector, women, youth, migrants among others)? Are subsidies provided, and which groups benefit most from these?
• What is the balance between central/local authorities in the sector? How much delegation/authority does sub-national government have in planning and execution of their plans (plastics, solid waste management, contract with service providers…)? 
• How are decisions made within the sector? Who is involved in these decision-making processes? How are policy decisions implemented?
• Where are the key bottlenecks in sector policy processes? What factors support or constrain policy implementation?
• What potential political -economy risks are, how will those risks affect the Activity’s objectives and deliverables and how could we mitigate those?
• Where could be the most potential programming areas given the favorable conditions, including political willingness from the local leaderships?
• What are recommendations of potential interventions per the Activity’s sub-objectives/ per programming areas? Which programming approach could be recommended.   

Specific Tasks

The Consultants will work closely the Activity’s Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP) and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (CLA/MEL) Director. International support from Chemonics Home Office will be provided.

The activities include:

• Conduct a desk review of available literature, USAID’s and other donors’ IPEA framework, and existing PEA analysis relevant to the sector. 
• Review the Activity’s technical proposal, research questions, and adapt as needed (in collaboration with the Activity’s technical team).
• Identify potential key informants for interviews, meeting and set up meetings accordingly. The project will provide logistic support as needed.
• Participate in design meetings/sessions with the Activity’s team in order to ensure common understanding of the approach, research questions and methodologies.
• Conduct key informant interviews, focus group discussions (including policy makers, government, private sector, NGOs and local actors). Field visit might be needed.
• Update the team with the progress, initial findings, and the report.
• Synthesize findings and provide inputs and draft IPEA report.

Deliverables

It is expected that the consultants will provide the outputs according to the specific timeline as below:

Deliverable	Specific requirements	Deadline
Implementation Plan	English language, in Excel format	1 week after the contract signed
A presentation of preliminary findings and a summary note	English language, Powerpoint presentation; short note in Words	March
A draft report		March-April
A final IPEA report	Incorporated all comments from the project’s team and consortium members.	Mid -May

The IPEA and all IPEA-related deliverables and communications must only be provided to VAAPP Activity and not distributed to the outsiders. The Activity may, at its discretion, make versions of the IPEA available to stakeholders or the public.

Timeline

The analysis will be conducted in February – May 2023. Detailed timeline to be discussed with the team.  

Preparation, background research and desk review (5 days) during February

Interviews, field mission, research and analysis (20 days) during February – March

Report writing, updated meetings pre-workshop to present findings (15 days) during March – May

Qualifications

The consultants must possess the following technical qualifications:

• Master degree, MBA or equivalent in relevant areas of Political Economy, Political Science, Public Policy etc.
• Demonstrated experience in environmental issues (e.g. plastic pollution, solid waste management, pollution control).
• Proven understandings of waste management at national and local level and have good networks with relevant stakeholders (MONRE, local DoNRE, NGOs, Private sector)
• Experiences with Political Economic Analysis and Stakeholder Analysis
• Excellent research design and analytical skills
• Proficiency of English and Vietnamese

References

1. USAID, Thinking and Working Politically through Applied Political Economy Analysis. A Guide for Practitioners. (April, 2018)
2. DFID, The DFID Political Economy Analysis How to Note (2009). See: www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/PO58.pdf
3. Oxfam, Oxford Policy Management, The Vietnam Empowerment and Accountability Programme (VEAP) - Political Economy Analysis (2012)

Application Instructions 

Please send your CV/resume to [email protected] by February 26, 2023. Early applications are encouraged. Please include the title of the job in the email subject line. No telephone inquiries please. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted. We review applications on a rolling-basic. The protection of your personal data is important to Chemonics.  

Chemonics is an equal opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, age, or other legally protected characteristics. Military veterans, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, and other national service alumni are encouraged to apply.

Organization: Chemonics
Location:
Application deadline: 2023-02-26
Send application to: [email protected]