LOCATION
Hanoi, Lao Cai, Son La – Vietnam
ASSIGNMENT DURATION
To be finalised upon contract signing (Estimated 4–5 months)
MAXIMUM BUDGET
AUD 20,000
DEADLINE TO APPLY
13 November 2026
ABOUT COWATER INTERNATIONAL
Cowater International is a leading global development consulting company and has successfully delivered a portfolio of over 2,500 projects and assignments in more than 95 countries. We work with governments, private sector actors, and communities implementing projects that support socio-economic development, institutional strengthening, environmental improvements, and advance equal opportunities for all. We are a diverse and experienced team committed to building a better tomorrow for the people we serve.
ABOUT THE GREAT PROGRAM
GREAT (Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism), a 10-year flagship initiative of the Australian Government managed by Cowater International since 2016, focuses on women's economic empowerment in Vietnam's ethnically diverse north-west region. Using a market systems development approach, GREAT works with partners to sustainably grow the agricultural and tourism sectors in Lao Cai and Son La provinces. The area's fertile land, natural beauty, and cultural diversity present significant economic opportunities for local ethnic minority women, including persons with disabilities.
The End of Program Outcomes for the GREAT Program are:
- EOPO 1: Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai provinces, have improved economic benefits.
- EOPO 2: Women, particularly ethnic minority women living in Son La and Lao Cai provinces, have increased confidence and social status, including more balanced workloads and greater decision-making within the home, workplace, and community.
- EOPO 3: Women, particularly ethnic minority women and household members living in Son La and Lao Cai provinces, benefit from more gender-responsive, inclusive, and effective provincial and national policies, plans, strategies, and programs.
Further information on the GREAT program and its Sector Briefs can be found on our website: https://equality.aus4vietnam.org/
BACKGROUND
Climate change threatens the productive assets, natural resources, and market access on which ethnic minority livelihoods depend in Son La and Lao Cai provinces. At the same time, existing gender, disability, poverty, and geographic inequalities determine who has the resources and ability to adapt. Effective climate adaptation and mitigation measures must therefore strengthen both climate resilience and equitable access to productive assets, finance, information, technology, skills, markets, and decision-making.
Within GREAT's portfolio, investments across agriculture, tourism, policy, and business/financial support are exposed to distinct climate risks while simultaneously holding potential for market-led adaptation and low-carbon transition:
- Agricultural Portfolio: Focuses on key market value chains including Bamboo, Cinnamon, Panax Ginseng, and Medicinal Plants.
- Tourism Portfolio: Focuses on Tourism Destination Management and Hospitality Training (covering adventure tourism, community-based tourism in ethnic minority locations, and cultural tourism).
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Policy Portfolio: Encompasses Departmental Competitiveness and Capacity Index (DCCI) and National Target Programs (NTP) Support.
Financial and Business Support Portfolio: Includes Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership (WEL), Financial Literacy (Access to Finance), Digital Transformation (DT), Digital Inclusion (DI), and Inclusive Supply Chains.
GREAT had been designed without an explicit climate change response agenda, and subsequently our monitoring and evaluation systems have not explicitly targeted recording climate change results. The principle program goal has been on building economically viable market systems and making them inclusive of ethnic minority women, including those with disabilities. Nonetheless, GREAT’s project investments have responded to the need to climate impacts and a wide range of adaptation and mitigation measures have been adopted across the investment portfolio. Consequently, there is a need to capture the story of climate change and programming for climate action within GREAT.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this assignment is therefore to produce a knowledge product that can fill the gap of GREAT’s climate change story of change to contribute to a holistic picture on sustainable and inclusive market systems development. As the GREAT program comes to an end in June 2027, we would like to maximise the impacts of our achievements by documenting and sharing lessons learnt that can inform future development programming and investment choices for donor governments in sustainable and inclusive livelihoods accessible for marginalised populations. A key part of the sustainability picture is ensuring programs are responsive to climate change, particularly in adopting viable mitigation and adaptation strategies and measures. To ensure investments remain viable and inclusive, GREAT needs a comprehensive summary assessment evaluating:
- why climate change is critical for agricultural and tourism sector investments in Lao Cai and Son La,
- what kinds of adaptation and mitigation measures the sub projects have taken to address climate action,
- what impacts are they having on EMW/D beneficiaries and the sustainability of the market they participate in.
This assessment must examine climate risks, market implications, and systemic impacts on ethnic minority women, persons with disabilities (PwD), and ethnic minority communities (EMP).
OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The primary objectives of this assignment are to:
- To provide a stocktake of key climate change adaptation and mitigation measures delivered through GREAT’s subprojects across agricultural, tourism, and cross-cutting portfolios.
- To assess how the contributions of these measures have impacted GREAT target beneficiaries - women particularly ethnic minority women, ethnic minority communities and people with disabilities.
- To present practical and actional recommendations that could inform policy development and future program design in building sustainable livelihoods
TASKING REQUIREMENTS & SCOPE OF WORK
The selected consultant/service provider will be required to execute the following core research tasks:
1. Mapping of climate risk & impacts, and policy enabling environment
Undertake rapid literature review to map out
- Agricultural Sector: identify climate and climate-adjacent (environmental sustainability) risks for Bamboo, Cinnamon, Panax Ginseng, and Medicinal Plants.
- Tourism Sector: identify climate and environmental risks for Community-Based Tourism in ethnic minority locations, Adventure/Nature-Based Tourism, and Cultural Tourism.
- Map the provincial climate change policy landscape for Lao Cai and Son La, specifically relevant to the agricultural and tourism sectors.
2. Document adaptation and mitigation measures and assess impacts on GREAT beneficiaries
- What have been the mitigation and adaptation measures taken in GREAT sub projects? Document the adaptation and mitigation measures and actions that sub projects have taken. These can include (but not limited to) the measures responding to: rising temperatures, rainfall intensity/variability, drought, landslides, extreme weather events, pest infestations, deforestation, forest degradation, soil erosion/degradation, environmental pollution, land and property transformation for tourism, air pollution and how they have impacted agricultural and tourism sectors in Son La and Lao Cai.
- Key questions for assessment would be:
- How have the adaptation and mitigation measures impacted GREAT’s target beneficiaries? Assess the extent to which target groups have been affected. How have the climate change measures benefitted beneficiaries? And what have been the gaps? Is there evidence of climate responsive practices being sustained?
- Are there any trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation measures of the sub projects, determining the optimal balance for sustainable market solutions. This involves, evaluating trade-offs (e.g. Expanded irrigation vs. energy usage and emissions, fast-growing trees for carbon sequestration vs. biodiversity loss and water competition, Plastic shade or concrete structures withstanding severe weather vs. material waste and embodied emissions, etc) .
3. Draft summary of what has been successful and where the gaps are, with tangible actionable recommendations for future programming design decisions including policy implications for provincial governments Lao Cai and Son La to ensure strong climate responsiveness in livelihoods building programs.
PROCESS AND DELIVERABLES
The assignment will be executed through the following key deliverables:
| Deliverable |
Key Activities |
Output(s) |
Timing
(Months or weeks of implementation)
|
| Inception Plan |
Review key GREAT documents and available evidence; confirm priority subprojects and stakeholders; refine assessment questions, methodology, data sources, fieldwork plan, and schedule; establish an integrated GEDSI lens. |
Inception report and work plan, including methodology, assessment framework, document list, stakeholder/sample selection, data-collection tools, and delivery schedule. |
1 month |
| Assessment (data collection and consultations) |
Identify direct and indirect adaptation and mitigation measures across selected agriculture, tourism, policy, and business-support interventions; examine available evidence of results including from 6mthly and quarterly reports, selected reviews and reports on climate response progress, and selected interviews (approx. 10); assess implications for EM communities, EMW, PWD, and others where relevant. |
Climate action and results matrix documenting measures, evidence, achievements, limitations, GEDSI implications, and illustrative case examples. |
2 months |
| Portfolio-Level Analysis |
Analyse key climate risks affecting GREAT-supported sectors and value chains; assess how relevant and effective GREAT’s responses have been; identify practical lessons on integrating inclusive climate resilience into women’s economic empowerment and market systems programming. |
Draft report/findings to presenting principal findings, supporting evidence, portfolio-level lessons, gaps, and conclusions. Provincial differences would be addressed within the report rather than through two separate comprehensive reports. |
1 month |
| Final Report and Recommendations |
Validate findings with GREAT and selected provincial stakeholders; incorporate consolidated feedback; develop focused recommendations for GREAT close-out, reporting, provincial stakeholders, and DFAT (if relevant). |
Final assessment report (EN and VN), including a concise recommendations matrix, and presentation of key findings. |
1 month |
BUDGET
The maximum budget available for this assignment is AUD 20,000. This amount must cover all consultancy fees, travel, field research costs, translation, and administrative expenses.
ELIGIBILITY & REQUIRED EXPERTISE
This opportunity is open to individual technical experts or consultancy organizations with the following qualifications:
- Technical Expertise: Advanced degree and demonstrated experience in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Environmental Studies, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Tourism, or International Development.
- Research & Analytical Capability: Proven track record in conducting research, policy mapping, and drafting analytical reports and assessment papers.
- GEDSI & Social Inclusion: Strong understanding and practical experience in Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) within market systems development and ethnic minority contexts in North-West Vietnam.
- Market Systems Development (MSD): Familiarity with MSD approaches market dynamics, and the Adopt-Adapt-Expand-Respond (AAER) framework.
- Language & Regional Experience: Excellent oral and written command of English and Vietnamese, with direct experience working in Lao Cai and/or Son La provinces preferred.
EVALUATION PROCESS
Proposals will be evaluated out of a maximum score of 100 points, structured as follows:
- Technical Proposal & Methodology: 60 points
- Organisational/Individual Experience & Team Qualifications: 40 points
A final budget will be negotiated with the preferred applicant. The successful applicant will sign a contract compliant with Cowater International’s Head Contract with the Australian Government, including full copyright ownership of all deliverables.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
Interested applicants must submit their application to recruitment@aus4equalityvn.org before 5:00 PM (Hanoi time) on 13th November 2026 with the subject line: "Application for GREAT Inclusive Climate Change Assessment". Late applications will not be considered.
Applications must include:
- Cover Letter
- Business Registration (for organizational applicants)
- Relevant Experience & CV(s) of proposed team members (maximum 4 pages)
- Proposed Technical Concept & Approach (detailing methodology, research design, and work plan)
- Financial Proposal / Quotation detailing costs for proposed activities
