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.

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. Under GREAT, inclusive market development is identified as the primary vehicle for achieving women’s economic empowerment.

The objectives of the 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.

The program is in its second phase and focuses on agriculture and tourism, identifying specific sectors that lend themselves to opportunities for women’s economic empowerment. GREAT works with multiple stakeholders to address constraints, generate opportunities, drive market growth and increase productive value in these sectors. Cross-sector strategies of women’s leadership and entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, digital inclusion, policy improvement complement the sector strategies.

GREAT supports selected government partners as they implement a number of policy initiatives to ensure that “Government policies, including National Target Programs (NTPs) for period 2021 – 2025 and its implementation at central and provincial levels (particularly in Lao Cai and Son La) create a more conducive enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment”, including:

1. Inclusive and Gender-Responsive Production Support under NTPs 2021-2025 and new Programming for 2026-2030 at national level and Son La province
2. Strategic Appraisal and Supervision of the NTP-SEDEMA implementation with National Assembly
3. TA support to build capacity for the local economic governance and inclusion of private sector in Son La and Lao Cai

Cowater is recruiting a Policy Manager as outlined in this TOR to lead and implement these initiatives.

SUMMARY OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Reporting to the Deputy Team Leader and working closely with other GREAT staff, the Policy Manager will oversee and quality assure the work of a team of policy advisors and technical partners, provide strategic steering and technical support to partners to maximise outcome and document and share best practices on policy support at national and provincial level, updating of GREAT policy strategy and contribute to organisation-wide objectives as a member of the Strategy Team.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Development:

• Lead and deliver the GREAT Policy Dialogue Strategy and annual policy dialogue plans, together with the GREAT management team, DFAT and selected partners.
• Identify opportunities to upscale GREAT successful approaches and models through government plans and policies at the province and national levels.
• Support the program’s Monitoring Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) objectives including identifying, measuring and reporting on policy changes and their impacts on women, their families and local communities, in conjunction with the MERL Manager.
• Prepare/review policy briefs as required.
• Provide ongoing advice to the Team Leader, Deputy Team Leader, DFAT and other program stakeholders as needed.

Project Management

• Lead policy support work under GREAT 2, including staff assigned including provide inputs for GREAT program level annual policy workplans and progress reports.
• Manage 3 projects with policy partners:
  • Oversee partner project implementation and progress, providing quality assurance, guidance and support to achieve policy support objectives and to ensure projects are compliant with GREAT project management requirements.
  • Provide technical assistance for selected assignments with national partners.
  • Support institutional partners to quality assure technical assistance received.
  • Support institutional partners in preparing and updating annual workplans and quarterly progress reports.
  • Prepare quarterly reports.
  • Conduct annual partner performance assessments.
  • Work closely with the MERL team in implementing and embedding measurement and learning to support partners to adapt.
• Develop relationships and coordinate with other relevant partners for policy engagement and enhancement.

Stakeholder Communication

• Maintain a strong communication flow on policy support with national policy partners, the Project Management Units, target district governments and other stakeholders.
• Build and maintain effective communications and information flows on the policy environment, support activities and lessons learned with DFAT.
• Sharing GREAT-related experiences at relevant external events to promote learning and upscaling
• Represent/support GREAT and DFAT at relevant policy dialogue meetings.
• Provide input into GREAT program-level communications.

KEY REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s Degree in business, economics, agriculture, social studies, international development or another relevant field.
• Strong program management skills
• Critical thinking skills and conceptualisation.
• Good teamwork and facilitation skills.
• A minimum 3 years work experience in policy advocacy with a proven track record of successful policy engagement and support.
• Excellent communication, inter-personal and diplomacy skills
• An excellent understanding of the Vietnamese government context at national level.
• Good understanding or experience in providing technical assistance for design and implementation of National Target Programs is an advantage.
• A strong network with central government ministries.
• Strong written and spoken communication skills in Vietnamese and English.
• Familiarity with international donor-funded projects, systems and requirements.
• An understanding of the tourism and agricultural sectors and women’s economic empowerment.
• Experience working with ethnic minority communities is an advantage.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply by sending applications to recruitment@aus4equalityvn.org no later than 5 pm Hanoi Time (GMT+7) Friday 6th December 2024. Please indicate in the subject “Application for Policy Manager”.

Applications shall 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 responding to the selection criteria.
• A Curriculum Vitae.
• Contact details of three referees.

Cowater International is an equal opportunity employer, basing employment on merit and qualifications as they relate to professional experience and position expectations. Cowater does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender identity, disability, age, or any other basis protected by law.