Vacancy title:
National Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) Review Consultant

Jobs at:
National Forestry Authority ( NFA )

Deadline of this Job:
Monday, 5th March 2018

Duty Station:
Kampala, Uganda

Job details:
The National Forestry Authority ( NFA ) is a Government agency established under the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act, 2003 as a corporate body responsible for the sustainable development and management of Central Forest Reserves (CFRs) and the provision of technical support to stakeholders in the forest sub-sector. The Vision of NFA is ‘A sufficiently forested, ecologically stable and economically prosperous Uganda’, while its Mission is ‘To manage Central Forest Reserves on a sustainable basis and to supply high quality forestry related products and services to Government, local communities and the private sector. The Forestry Policy 2001, the National Forest and Tree Planting Act of 2003 and the Tree Planting Regulations of 2016 provide that a responsible body may enter into a Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) arrangement with a forest user group for the purpose of managing part or all of a central or local forest reserve. This therefore gives the NFA the mandate to initiate and implement CFM processes with communities living adjacent to the Central Forest Reserves (CFRs), while local governments are mandated to enter into similar arrangements with communities adjacent to Local Forest Reserves (LFRs). However, since the new law was promulgated in 2003, only NFA has initiated CFM processes with the participation of the local district(s) in which each CFR is administratively located. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), development partners and the private sector have played an important role in supporting the CFM process on the ground. Whereas CFM has been on-going for a while, the degree of success around different CFRs in the country varies. In this regard, there has been no formal review of the CFM process since first field initiatives began in 1998. The National Forestry Authority is therefore seeking the services of an experienced local consultant to carry out a national review of Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) in Uganda guided by a cross-stakeholder Steering Committee to be convened and chaired by the Forest Sector Support Department.

Experience and qualifications
The consultant, shall have a minimum of a masters’ qualification in a social science discipline, social or community forestry and with extensive experience (at least 10 years) in community forest partnerships, community conservation, institutional development, small enterprise and value chain development in Eastern Africa, preferably with the ability to draw on experience in and/or knowledge of community forestry in other parts Africa, Latin America, and/or Asia. They must have excellent interpersonal, listening and communication skills, be able to demonstrate original and incisive thinking, and have strong analytical and report writing skills. They must be able to demonstrate a track record of having successfully carried out consulting assignments in a timely manner and to a high standard.

Job application procedure
Interested candidates, who meet the above requirements, should submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) of no more than 3 pages setting out what they consider to be the most important issues pertaining to CFM, the future of community forestry in Uganda and what the review should focus on, together with a curriculum vitae and the names of three referees. EOIs should be submitted to NFA by Monday, 5th March 2018 via email to procurement.nfa.ug@gmail.com . All EOIs received will be acknowledged. National Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) Review Consultant

NFA is an equal opportunity organisation and women are encouraged to apply.