ASEAN-USAID Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade and E-commerce (IGNITE) - International Trade Centre (ITC) - 2022

Description of Project: 

WEAVE concluded in November 2021 and nearly one year later. IGNITE intends to evaluate the program to identify and understand the long-term changes, resulting, the impact, and sustained changes to women entrepreneurs’ (Wes) businesses, and highlighting recommendations for future inventions

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

The evaluation will include key informant interviews (KIIs) of beneficiaries who completed Her Venture and Road to Growth and who registered for but did not complete Road to Growth and focus group discussions (FGDs) of beneficiaries who completed Road to Growth and Mentoring.  

• Translate the FGD and KII questionnaire/ tool to Vietnamese

• Facilitate one-in person focus group discussion in Vietnamese in Hanoi;

• Provide note in English on the focus group discussion;

• Facilitate two in-person key informant interviews KIIs in Vietnamese;

• Facilitate 9 virtual KIIs in Vietnamese via virtual call;

• Provide notes in English for all KII’s and join discussion about the findings.

Client: International Trade Centre

Location: Vietnam

Pulse Check Survey - Development Intelligence Lab Pty Ltd - 2024

Description of Project: 

A Pulse Check is a survey that is both policy-oriented in its results and whose methodology challenges those participating to make some of the tough choices facing policymakers. The Pulse Check x Southeast Asia project seeks the views experts of up to 40 experts in each of the nine ODA-eligible countries across Southeast Asia, on Australia’s development cooperation in their country.

The Lab is focused on analysing the findings of the surveys and communicating the key findings through publication, policymakers’ briefs, and dialogues to work with policymakers to understand the findings and ensure their application to live challenges.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment: 

The primary purpose of the consultant role is to support the successful delivery and impact of the Lab’s Pulse Check x Southeast Asia project. This role is specifically focussed on supporting data collection for the Pulse Check x Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand.

The consultant will work closely with the Lab Analyst, providing intensive support building a long list of potential survey respondents, refining survey collection methods (mainly online or by phone), conducting data collection, and data clean up. The most critical components of this role include: 

1. Induction on Pulse Check purpose, structure.

1. Working with the Lab Analyst, the consultant will attend remote briefings, read documentation, and maintain regular communication with the Lab Analyst in order to understand the purpose, structure, methodology and intended outcomes of the Pulse Check survey. 

2. Production of participant long list.

1. Drawing on existing networks and working with the Lab Analyst, the consultant will produce a ‘long list’ of target survey participants that meets the criteria of the Pulse Check survey. (Criteria to be shared by the Lab.) Once agreed with the Lab, this will become the list from which the consultant will work to collect responses.

3. Refining and rehearsing of data collection approach. 

1. Working alongside the Lab Analyst, the consultant will refine and rehearse the approach to data collection (via online form and via phone survey), including ensuring that all necessary information regarding the purpose, independence and confidentiality of the survey will be accurately conveyed to prospective participants. 

2. Where reasonable, the consultant may advise on possible amendments to the method of data collection that are responsive to the unique context of the country in which data collection is taking place, and where they believe such amendments will contribute to an increase in the response rate. Any amendments must be agreed by the Lab Analyst. 

4. Data collection.

1. The consultant will use the agreed target participant long list to conduct data collection. This will include initiating contact with participants, providing them with agreed options for their method of survey completion, and providing the appropriate support necessary to enable their completion of the survey, in line with agreed methodological approaches. 

2. Where unforeseen barriers to data collection by the consultant, or survey completion by the participants arises, the consultant will alert the Lab Analyst and may make further recommendations for potential amendments in order to find a way forwards. Any amendments must be agreed with the Lab Analyst before proceeding. 

5. Communication and ways of working. 

The consultant will maintain regular communication with the Lab Analyst. This may include joining weekly or daily short ‘check-in’ meetings via email, phone or video calls.

Location: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar

Client: Development Intelligence Lab Pty Ltd.

Outcome Evaluation of LABS Program in India, Vietnam, and Cambodia - IDH - 2024

Description of Project:

Life And Building Safety Initiative (LABS) is a collaborative program by a group of brands focused on shared assessments and a shared standard for Life and Building Safety. LABS Initiative is an industry-driven program, in which multiple brands and retailers are joining forces with public organizations to operate a scalable program to mitigate preventable fire, electrical, and structural safety risks in key apparel, footwear, and accessories producing countries in a targeted way. The LABS program currently operates in Vietnam, India, Cambodia, and Indonesia.

The evaluation aimed to:

• determine progress being made toward the achievement of planned targets.

• identify strengths of and pitfalls in project design and implementation, as well as any challenges that the project may be encountering, good practices, or how external factors favour or hinder project/program activities.

• issue recommendations for corrective action.

• assess the LABS program’s performance against the key research questions of Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability and Lesson learned

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

MKE implemented the following tasks:

• Developed methodology, evaluation tools, sampling and field plans in 3 countries;

• Conducted in-person visits to 30 factories (10 factories per country) to facilitate key informant interviews (KIIs) with factory managers and focus group discussions with technicians and workers, as well as 23 online KIIs with key stakeholders, including government/associations representatives, outsourced firms, and brands;

• Conducted data cleaning and analysis;

• Prepared Inception Report, Final Report.

Location: Cambodia, India and Vietnam

Client: IDH (The Sustainable Trade)

Aus4ASEAN Future Initiative - Tetra Tech - 2024

Description of Project: 

The Australia for ASEAN Futures Initiative (Aus4ASEAN Futures) – Economic and Connectivity (ECON), the successor programme to AADCP II, was signed by ASEAN and Australia on 20 June 2022. Aus4ASEAN Futures is the flagship initiative to advance the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) between ASEAN and Australia, which was established in the First Annual ASEAN-Australia Summit on 27 October 2021. 

The Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative supports jointly agreed projects that address complex regional challenges and support implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). The Futures Initiative responds to ASEAN priorities and provides practical assistance through ASEAN systems. Since commencing operations, the Futures Initiative has supported projects focused on ASEAN's transition to a green economy, strengthening ASEAN's digital economy and advancing regional economic integration.

The Futures Initiative will take forward projects jointly agreed between ASEAN and Australia that address complex challenges like climate change, health security, transnational crime, healthy oceans, the circular economy and energy transition. It will provide a flexible mechanism that supports all three ASEAN community pillars – economic, socio-cultural and political-security – as well as crosscutting issues including connectivity.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment: 

Mekong Economics is on a “panel” that will source experts and directly deliver technical assistance across the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand). The Contractor will support implementation of the Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative for DFAT. Services required will include the provision of a Panel of Experts and advisers, managing travel and events, policy research and advocacy projects, as well as grants and other ad hoc requests.

Client: Tetra Tech

Funding Source: DFAT

Ex-post evaluation of the impact of EU FTAs on key environmental aspects, including climate - ECORYS Nederland B.V. - 2023-4

Description of Project:

The EU is the world's largest trading block. It provides the biggest export market for around 80 countries; and EU Member States account for 16% of world imports and exports. Consequently, the EU has a considerable impact on third countries through trade, including the way in which international trade is conducted and how global environmental and wider sustainability related aspects are addressed.

The EU has developed wide-ranging provisions on environment and climate in the Trade and Sustainable Chapters of its trade agreements, with commitments to effectively implement

Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) as well as specific provisions on e.g. timber, fisheries and biodiversity. The study1, commissioned by the Commission to the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and published in February 2022, provides from page 44 an overview of the specific environmental issues in the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) provisions in the EU agreements.

The Commission announced in its 2021 Communication “Trade Policy Review – An Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy”2 that it would “carry out an ex-post evaluation of the impact of the EU’s agreements on key environmental aspects, including the climate”. This commitment was made under the section ”Supporting an informed discussion on trade policy”, with a view to addressing perceived public concerns about the interplay between EU trade policy and its environmental ambitions set out in the Green Deal3. The evaluation will feed into the public debate and provide recommendations as to where the negotiation and implementation of commitments related to TSD will be most impactful.

This ex-post evaluation project will study the nexus between EU trade agreements and key environmental aspects, including the climate, analysing the effects of EU trade agreements and reflecting the dedicated effort the EU makes to contribute to environmental protection through a mix of joint disciplines and cooperation commitments.

The objective of the evaluation is to present a factual and balanced assessment of EU trade agreements as regards their relationship with environment and climate. Impacts should be put into context of the pre-trade agreement baseline of the environmental and climate situation of EU trade partners.

The over analytical work will consist of two complementary workstreams:

1. A quantitative Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model analysis, which will quantify the overall cumulative impact of EU bilateral trade agreements on greenhouse gas emissions and, where possible, other key environmental aspects, such as deforestation (conducted in-house and thus not part of the tender);

2. A qualitative ex-post evaluation of the impact of the environmental provisions of representative EU trade agreements on key environmental and climate aspects (the tender is feeding into this evaluation).

Only the second workstream, focussing on qualitative evaluation, is subject to the present call.

The overall objective of the qualitative analysis is to evaluate how environmental and climate considerations are addressed in the implementation of bilateral EU trade agreements.

A specific objective will be to identify the contribution of environmental provisions in trade agreements and assess that contribution in a qualitative manner. Showcasing particularly impactful stories can also have an important value in terms of communication about EU trade policy. The tender should therefore also provide for 20 short case studies where the provisions of EU trade agreements did have an impact on the climate and key environmental aspects.

The study performed by the external contractor will subsequently constitute an input for the ex-post evaluation Staff Working Document that will be prepared by Commission services.

The study should provide the Commission with a more in-depth analysis of the potential environmental and climate impacts of the provisions in EU trade agreements; and should facilitate a wider outreach to stakeholders in the EU.

Furthermore, the study shall make recommendations to maximise the expected benefits of the environmental and climate provisions of the agreements, in line with the EU’s new approach to trade and sustainability and prevent or minimise potential negative impacts.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

The scope of the services for the position of Regional Expert is summarised below. 

• Conduct stakeholders’ consultation activities under the guidance of the Ecorys Representative, by identifying relevant stakeholders and carrying out a maximum of 15 interviews and one focus group discussion (FGD), covering a total of minimum 25 stakeholders. 

• Participate to the reporting activities by sending short interview reports summarising the findings from each interview to the Ecorys representatives. The summary will be validated by the Ecorys research team.

• Coordinate with the lead author for the provision of information relevant for the purposes of the finalisation of the Vietnam case studies (3) foreseen in the context of the ex-post evaluation. 

• Geographical scope of the consultation: Vietnam

• Duration: The Services shall be performed during the period commencing after November 1st, 2023 and shall be completed by July 31, 2024, unless a later date is agreed upon with the Client. Should a later date be agreed upon with the Client, the aforementioned date shall become the new end date for this contract. 

• Location(s): The work shall be performed largely at the expert’s premises.

• Reporting procedure: report directly to the Ecorys representative in the Netherlands or the replacement. Reports shall be presented to the Ecorys representative in conformity with the Client’s guidelines. 

Location: Vietnam

Client: ECORYS Nederland B.V. 

Transboundary Water Cooperation in the Lower Mekong Basin II - GIZ - 2022

Description of Project: The Technical Cooperation (TC) module Transboundary water cooperation in the Lower Mekong Basin II aims at increasing the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Mekong River Commission (MRC). To achieve these aims, the TC supports ongoing efforts to strengthen the MRC basin management and monitoring activities. GIZ has commissioned the project for the MRC Core River Monitoring Network (CRMN) to support the TC by strengthening the technical and organizational competences of personnel at MRC in collecting relevant and reliable data on the developments in the Lower Mekong Basin. This project is delivered by Oxford Policy Management (OPM), its consortium partner Mekong Economics (MKE), and the subcontractor UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH), covering the period from October 2022 to November 2024.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

Mekong Economics’ input was to build technical and organisational competencies at MRC for collecting relevant and reliable data on developments in the Lower Mekong Basin. To accomplish this, the team shall draft and implement a capacity development strategy that builds on and feeds into two key processes: the implementation of the above-described redesign of the MRC CRMN and the integration of the Joint Environmental Monitoring (JEM) into the CRMN, using the outcomes of the piloting of the JEM. Some key services to be provided are as follows:

• Carry out an inception phase including the development of an inception report. 

• Carry out a national and regional needs assessment on capacity gaps for the successful implementation of a CRMN.

• Develop a long-term and sustainable CDS for the implementation of the CRMN at the institutional, organizational, and individual level to be implementable at regional, national, and local levels, including at community level.

• Provide proposals on innovative and/or digital tools for the design and implementation of the CDS and propose state of the art principles and pragmatic approaches for future implementation.

• Provide clear and detailed approaches and methods to ensure the CDS is gender transformative, targeting promotion of women and diversity in the water sector and builds on the opportunities that can be found when drawing on knowledge of all genders and classes.

• Ensure that the CDS is adapted to the capacities of local and national practitioners in the field, aiming at improving current capacity gaps and differentiating the needs among MRC Member Countries and within the line agencies and draws on the Leave No one Behind Principle

• Define and include methods and tools to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the CDS at different levels (regional, national, and local level)

Client: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Locations: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam

End-of-project evaluation of the intervention: “Drifting Sand" in the Mekong Delta - WWF - 2024

Description of Project:

The project "Drifting Sand – Mitigating the Impacts of Climate Change in the Mekong Delta through Private and Public Sector Engagement in the Sand Industry" is sponsored by the International Climate Initiative from the Government of Germany. It is led by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Germany in association with WWF Viet Nam and WWF Greater Mekong.

The project aims to help maintain key ecological functions and reduce socio-economic vulnerability to climate change in the Mekong Delta. In this area, sand extraction for the construction sector is causing riverbank erosion, groundwater salinisation, and land subsidence. To address these issues, the project, in close consultation with key stakeholders, establishes a basin-wide sediment budget to create a shared understanding of the scope and impact of unsustainable extraction rates. It works with key actors in the public sector to propose improved policies and practices in relation to sand mining and management. Additionally, the project runs a public outreach campaign to raise awareness about the impacts of unsustainable sediment exploitation in the Mekong Delta. Furthermore, the project encourages dialogue among key actors in the Vietnamese construction sector on the risks associated with sand mining and opportunities for more sustainable aggregate sourcing.

The key stakeholder groups of the intervention include:

i) Government ministries responsible for regulating natural resources, sustainable development, disaster control, and construction.

ii) Relevant provincial departments in charge of enforcing national regulations on sand management.

iii) Local communities affected by sand mining in the delta.

iv) Actors in the sand value chain, such as businesses and sector associations.

v) Civil society organizations and journalists with a relevant mandate.

As the intervention comes to a close, the project partners would like to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of all project activities from the beginning to the present. This evaluation aims to assess achievements, identify any gaps or shortcomings according to key stakeholders, and explore potential areas for improvement as the project prepares for continuation. The assessment and recommendations should consider the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam in the initial years, as well as relevant political, economic, and administrative developments at both national and local levels. The primary audience for this evaluation will include the project partners, the donor, and any other stakeholders with an interest in the project.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

MKE leads the following responsibilities:

Desk research  

• Briefing call(s) with project partners

• Initial document collection and analysis

• Research on changes in country & project context

• Review of the stakeholder analysis and Intervention Logic/ Theory of Change

• Identification of information gaps and hypotheses to be tested

• Conceptual development (eval. questions, methods and tools for primary data collection and analysis, interview lists, etc)

• Writing/submission of the inception report

Field Phase

• Primary data collection (interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc.) engaging government partners, construction sector actors, community representatives, WWF, and CSOs in Hanoi, HCMC, and provinces in Vietnam Mekong Delta

• Data analysis, development of findings

• Presenting the evaluation findings to the project partners (virtually)

• Presenting the evaluation findings to stakeholders in an in-person or hybrid workshop (organised by WWF Viet Nam)

• Drafting of the final evaluation report, incl. conclusions and recommendations

• Integration of feedback received from the project partners and submission of final report

Client : World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Germany

Location: Vietnam - 13 Mekong Delta provinces, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi

Final evaluation of projects VIE/433 – Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Thua Thien Hue Province and VIE/401 – Energy Efficient Lighting NAMA Pilot in Hue City - 2022

Description of Project:

The evaluation aimed to provide a summative and formative appraisal of the results achieved within the framework of the projects VIE/401 and VIE/433 and identify findings and lessons learned that fed into the subsequent phases of the projects and/or complement existing studies or initiatives. Specifically:

• Analysing the results and the specific objectives reached at the time of the evaluation;

• Analysing the implementation modalities deployed by the projects;

• Analysing the results achieved in terms of capacity strengthening;

• Analysing the programmes’ management and monitoring;

• Analysing the programmes using OECD DAC evaluation criteria, considering cross-cutting aspects;

• Establishing lessons learned and provide recommendations for the continuation of the project/programme

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

MKE implemented the following tasks:

• Conducted desk review of project documents to understand the status and design of the projects;

• Developed data collection tools including key informant interview (KII) and focus group discussion (FGD) guide & templates;

• Developed an Inception Report which presented a detailed methodology, evaluation framework, and implementation plan;

• Conducted KIIs, FGDs in Thua Thien Hue province;

• Conducted data cleaning and analysis;

• Prepared two reports on the two projects and presented the findings with stakeholders.

Client: Lux-Development

Location: Thua THien Hue province, Vietnam

Gender-Smart Climate Diagnostic Vietnam - Ergon Associates - 2024

Description of Project:

Ergon Associates is seeking a local partner to support the delivery of the project ‘Gender-Smart Climate Diagnostic for the Private Sector in Vietnam’, which is being conducted on behalf of IFC. The diagnostic seeks to create critical linkages between Vietnam’s private sector priorities, its climate ambitions, and its gender priorities.

This survey forms part of the project “Gender-Smart Climate Diagnostic in Vietnam”, which aims to analyse the participation of women in employment and entrepreneurship in ‘climate priority’ economic sectors in Vietnam. The focus sectors and value chains for this research are: the rice value chain; solar energy, and plastics recycling. Research for the project is being carried out by Ergon Associates and our local partner Mekong Economics on behalf of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

We are very interested in collecting good practices that different companies have adopted to promote gender equality and women’s participation in employment and/or entrepreneurship. This might include innovative company policies or programs and/or participation in wider industry initiatives related to non-discrimination, equal opportunities, and women’s economic participation.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

MKE implemented the following tasks:

• Contributed to the development of survey protocols and tools, including mapping existing data sources, sample size / sampling strategy / dissemination.

• Developed survey questions and set-up of data collection tools.

• Led on survey dissemination and subsequent follow up.

• Cleaned and compiled survey data and contribute to analysis.

• Participated in regular project meetings and check-ins

Client: Ergon Associates

Location: Vietnam

Technical Assistance Mission for the Coordination, Communication and Visibility of the Water and Natural Resources Management (WARM) Facility - 2021-25

Description of Project:

The WARM Facility aims at improving the resilience of populations and economic activities to water related hazards through more resilient cities and territories to climate change and natural hazards, improved and integrated water management and/or integrated coastal zone management. It will support local authorities in the preparation (Component 1), implementation (Component 2), and financing (Component 3) of more efficient projects in the fields, and support policy and strategic dialogue through capitalization and policy dialogue (Component 4).

Under Component 4, the consultant is mobilised to assist AFD in administering the Facility. The Consultant will be in charge of the overall coordination, monitoring and accountability of the WARM Facility towards both AFD and the EU. The Consultant shall manage and carry out tasks and obligations related to administration, finance and contracts supervision associated with the financing agreement of the WARM Facility. The consultant will also be in charge of the implementation of the Communication and Visibility Action Plan.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment:

The Facility Coordinator is in charge of the overall supervision and coordination of the WARM Facility. Exclusively for the activities under AFD direct contracting and implementation, the Facility Coordinator shall manage and supervise all the contracting and administrative aspects of WARM facility implementation.

The Facility coordinator is in charge of the overall supervision and coordination of the WARM Facility. Exclusively for the activities under AFD direct contracting and implementation, the Facility coordinator manages and supervises all the contracting and administrative aspects of WARM facility implementation. Tasks include but not limited to (i) Supervision, monitoring and evaluation and reporting; (ii) contract and financial administration; and (iii) Procurement support for WARM Facility activities under AFD direct implementation;

The Communication Officer designs and implements the external communication strategy of WARM Facility under the supervision of the Facility coordinator and AFD Regional office in Bangkok. Communication and visibility activities are in line with the contractual obligations of AFD in the framework of the EU Delegation Agreement, as well as AFD’s requirements. Tasks include but not limited to (i) Elaborate and execute an effective Communication Outreach and Visibility Strategy and Action plan; (ii) Create, disseminate and edit communications content and ensure Visibility of the WARM Facility Programme; (iii) Design, supervise and assist in the organisation of WARM Facility-related events; (iv) Establish and maintain relationships with the press and the public; (v) Elaborate and monitor communications budget for the overall Action; and (v) Reporting on Visibility & Communication.

Client: Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Location: Vietnam - Bac Kan, Dien Bien, Son La, Ha Nam, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Hau Giang, Ca Mau