Viet Nam is celebrated for its remarkable biodiversity, ranking 16th among the world’s most biologically diverse countries. The nation’s diverse topography, which includes lush forests, expansive wetlands, and rugged mountainous regions, supports a rich array of ecosystems. Home to approximately 16,000 species of plants and 276 species of mammals, Viet Nam’s biodiversity is a global treasure. However, it faces significant threats from habitat loss due to inappropriate land conversion, illegal wildlife trade, urbanization, pollution, and climate change.

Conserving Viet Nam’s biodiversity is crucial to achieving the nation’s sustainable development and socio-economic goals. Viet Nam has been a member of the Convention on Biological Diversity since 1994, and it has continually updated its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) to align with the 2022 Global Biodiversity Framework. Significant legislative advancements, such as the Revised Law on Environmental Protection (2020), Law on Biodiversity (2008), and Law on Forestry (2017), reflect Viet Nam’s commitment to biodiversity conservation.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been instrumental in supporting Viet Nam’s biodiversity conservation efforts. UNDP’s strategy focuses on several key areas:

i. Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Socio Economic Development

Mainstreaming biodiversity into socio-economic development is a key priority for UNDP in Viet Nam. This involves integrating biodiversity considerations into national and local development policies, plans, and programs. UNDP works with the government to ensure that economic growth strategies do not come at the expense of the country’s rich biodiversity. This includes incorporating biodiversity objectives into sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and tourism. Through policy advice, capacity building, and pilot projects, UNDP helps to align Viet Nam’s development goals with the conservation of its natural heritage, ensuring that economic progress contributes to rather than depletes biodiversity.

ii. Biodiversity Finance

A primary focus of UNDP’s efforts is to quantify and address the biodiversity finance gap across all levels of governance, ensuring that financial resources are effectively allocated to conservation efforts. This includes enhancing cost-effectiveness and integrating biodiversity considerations into national development plans. Particularly, guidelines for biodiversity monitoring, financial mechanisms for community-based resource management, payments for marine and wetland ecosystem services and tourism and user fee systems for marine and coral protection are catalyzing sustainability and scalability of conservation efforts.

iii. Community-based Conservation

UNDP Viet Nam focuses on promoting sustainable livelihoods to balance economic growth with environmental preservation. We support initiatives that provide communities, particularly those in rural and marginalized areas, with sustainable income-generating opportunities. These initiatives involve capacity building in sustainable agricultural practices, eco-tourism, and small-scale aquaculture. By empowering communities to adopt environmentally friendly practices, UNDP helps reduce poverty, enhance food security, and build resilience against environmental and economic shocks, fostering a more sustainable and inclusive economy.

iv. Nature-based Solutions

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are central to UNDP Viet Nam’s approach to addressing environmental challenges and promoting sustainable development. NbS leverages natural processes and ecosystems to tackle issues such as climate change, disaster risk, and biodiversity loss. UNDP supports the implementation of NbS projects that restore degraded landscapes, protect coastal areas, and enhance urban green spaces. These solutions not only provide environmental benefits but also improve human well-being and resilience. By promoting NbS, UNDP helps Viet Nam harness the power of nature to achieve sustainable development goals, protect biodiversity, and build resilient communities.

v. Gender and Social Inclusion

UNDP Viet Nam is committed to gender mainstreaming and social inclusion in all its initiatives, ensuring that women and marginalized groups have equal opportunities to benefit from development projects. The organization promotes gender equality by integrating gender perspectives into policymaking and development planning. It supports programs that empower women, enhance their participation in decision-making processes, and improve their access to resources and services. By addressing social inequalities, UNDP aims to create an inclusive society where everyone can contribute to and benefit from sustainable development, ensuring that no one is left behind.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to its work, allowing for flexibility and leveraging linkages across various interventions to achieve strategic goals. This approach requires personnel to work across units, functions, and projects in multidisciplinary teams, enhancing horizontal collaboration and ensuring comprehensive implementation and communications support for biodiversity initiatives.

UNDP is seeking to recruit a Biodiversity Project Clerk. This role will provide comprehensive implementation and communications support for biodiversity projects, ensuring effective project execution, stakeholder engagement, and the promotion of biodiversity conservation through strategic communications and knowledge management. The Biodiversity Project Clerk will work across units, functions, and projects in multidisciplinary teams, enhancing horizontal collaboration and contributing to UNDP’s strategic goals.

1. Provide project planning and implementation support to on-going and future interventions;
2. Support in initiating and delivering comprehensive communications and knowledge management activities; and
3. Assist with additional responsibilities for all projects under the Biodiversity Portfolio.

In summary, expected tasks are detailed as follows:

Task 1: Provide project planning and implementation support to on-going and future interventions

• Assist in the execution of biodiversity-related projects and activities under the UNDP CCEU portfolio.
• Support overseeing progress and quality of work delivered by consultants and partners.
• Support monitoring and reporting on overall project progress, ensuring adherence to timelines and budgets.
• Support maintaining effective communications and engagement with project counterparts, stakeholders, and consultants.
• Contribute to the development and execution of project plans, ensuring alignment with national and international biodiversity strategies.
• Contribute to and support data collection for gender analysis and gender mainstreaming at the project level.

Task 2: Support in initiating and delivering comprehensive communications and knowledge management activities

• Support the development of a comprehensive communications and knowledge management (KM) plan for biodiversity projects, in consultation with UNDP Program Analyst and Communications Analyst.
• Support the documentation and production of human interest stories, impact articles, short videos, and photo essays that highlight the success and challenges of biodiversity projects.
• Support in ensuring quality for all communications products before submitting them to the Program Analyst
• Support in managing and maintaining UNDP’s social media channels to promote biodiversity and natural resource management.
• Support the facilitation of the dissemination of knowledge products to relevant stakeholders.
• Support the coordination with the corresponding global communications team and comms/KM focal persons from other countries for peer-learning and support.
• Support maintaining organized records of project data, field activities, case studies, human-interest stories, photographs, and other relevant documents that can be drawn upon in support of knowledge sharing and advocacy.

Task 3: Assist with additional responsibilities for all projects under the Biodiversity Portfolio

• Support the preparation of project proposals, TORs, presentations, and reports.
• Assist in organizing events, workshops, and meetings related to biodiversity projects.
• Perform other tasks as reasonably requested by the UNDP Program Analyst to support the biodiversity portfolio.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.