Tender Opportunity - Consultancy: Assessment of SMART competencies, training & resource needs across the BLF Lower Mekong landscape

Background

Fauna & Flora is implementing a seven-year biodiversity conservation landscape project entitled the BLF Lower Mekong (LM) Landscape Project. The project aims to conserve and enhance biodiversity in an area covering more than one million hectares of the Annamite Mountains, and incorporating three large forest complexes in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The programme is funded by the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund (BLF; a UK government grant managed by the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs – DEFRA) and is being implemented through a consortium of highly experienced INGOs, led by Fauna & Flora, and including SNV, and IUCN, working in close collaboration with local partners and Indigenous peoples & local communities (IP&LCs), to ensure activities respond to locally identified and prioritised needs.

The overall impact of the program is to reduce poverty and create sustainable economic development for communities living in, and dependent upon, environmentally critical landscapes. Its outputs have been designed using an integrated approach focusing on people, nature, and climate, and are being delivered through six distinct but inter-related components; five of these are output-focused and align to their corresponding output, while the sixth component, MEL and Programme Management, enables delivery of the others through excellent monitoring, evaluation, learning and programme management mechanisms, maintaining a firm focus on future up-scaling across the region.

The defined areas of intervention are in one of the world's most biodiverse landscapes that contains important but threatened protected areas (PAs) and community protected areas (CPAs). The people living in and adjacent to these PAs and associated forest corridors are mainly IP&LCs that are typically isolated from broader society and excluded from economic processes, often dependent on natural resources, with a correlated impact on PAs.

Component 5 of the programme, Protected Area Management, aims to enable IP&LCs to participate in improved PA governance, zonation and management, ensuring sustainable access to forest resources whilst incentivising them to become active in its protection. Capacity building of government and community rangers will reduce threats to critical habitat, natural carbon stocks and globally threatened species, impacting wildlife trade and green-house gas emissions from land-use change, at source.

The key barriers to effective management in the landscape have been identified as: (1) lack of baseline data and monitoring systems to inform management; (2) low capacity of PA management units; (3) no legal access for IP&LCs to manage natural resources sustainably; (4) no co-management systems to involve local stakeholders in zonation, planning and management; (5) lack of effective patrolling and law enforcement, (6) gaps in PA gazettement for forest connectivity.

To help address barriers 1, 2, & 5, the programme intends to set up SMART data collection, monitoring and reporting patrol management systems, ensuring harmonization across sites and centralizing data at the provincial/national level. Training will be provided for data managers, PA rangers, and IP&LC patrol/conservation teams in PAs/CPAs. Monthly PA/CPA committee meetings and PF Management Board meetings will support adaptive management in all sites. High level data analysis will include mapping of snares, patrol effort, and snare occupancy assessments as well as locations facilitating poaching (known hotspots, forest access points, equipment suppliers, storage & selling sites, etc) to determine threat trends and to support adaptive management.

Over the six years of the project, and externally to this consultancy, more generalised training and mentorship will be provided to both government and community protected area personnel to improve their capacity to manage protected areas and to monitor the efficacy of that management. This could include, but not be limited to adherence to patrol and incident response standard operating procedures (SOPs), supporting subsequent legal processes, implementing and maintaining biodiversity assessment and monitoring, and community engagement skills.

Fauna & Flora is looking for a competent individual/organization for the procurement of consultancy services for a Spatial Monitoring & Reporting Tool (SMART) competencies assessment and draft framework design, as a first step in developing and implementing a collaborative SMART system to enhance PA/CPA management and to help facilitate snare removal and poaching prevention activities.

Purpose & Objective

The objective of this Terms of Reference (ToR) is to invite proposals from qualified individuals or organisations able to carry out a thorough and comprehensive assessment of key elements of the BLF landscape in using the SMART system for effective Protected Area (PA) and Community Protected Areas (CPA) management.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Advanced degree in conservation biology, environmental science, natural resource management, geography, ecology, or a related field. A focus on biodiversity conservation and/or protected area management would be particularly relevant.
• Demonstrated experience in SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool) implementation, particularly in protected area management, law enforcement monitoring, and biodiversity conservation.
• Expertise in GIS mapping, spatial analysis, and threat monitoring for biodiversity conservation.
• Familiarity with the International Ranger Federation Global Rangers' Competencies Framework and the SMART Competency Register.
• At least 5 years of experience working in or with protected areas or community protected areas, with a focus on management, monitoring, and capacity building.
• Experience conducting competency assessments, training needs assessments, and capacity-building initiatives for rangers, government agencies, and community groups.
• Proven experience in wildlife conservation, particularly related to threat reduction (e.g., poaching, snare removal, etc.) in tropical forests or similar ecosystems.
• Expertise in designing and delivering training programs for biodiversity monitoring, community engagement, and law enforcement in conservation contexts would be an asset.
• Experience working in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam, with a focus on biodiversity hotspots such as the Annamite Mountains.
• Strong knowledge of local cultural contexts, particularly working with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LCs).
• Experience working with government departments, INGOs, civil society organizations, and local communities on conservation projects.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with proven experience in preparing high-quality technical reports, frameworks, and recommendations for large-scale biodiversity or conservation projects.

For full details please see the attached Terms of Reference.