Training Needs Assessment for Sustainable Forest Management in Vietnam

The GTZ funded Programme for the Promotion of Sustainable Utilization and Management of Natural Forest and Marketing of Important Forest Products was embedded into the Vietnamese-German Development Cooperation in the area of environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources. It supported the Government of Vietnam in implementing its Forestry Strategy.
An important activity of the Programme was to analyse and build human resource capacity for Sustainable Forest Management of the country’s natural forests in order to enable the forest sector of Vietnam to make an increased contribution to the national economy, reduce poverty and inequality, to reach environmental sustainability and cultural development.
The overall objectives of the consultancy were therefore to:
• Assess current formal forestry education and training (curricula and syllabi on vocational technical and university levels) on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) based on the criteria and principles for forest management certification of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Analyse Competence Gaps of staff at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on central and provincial levels-by job category-related to Sustainable Forest Management duties
• Produce recommendations on upgrading of forestry curricula and competence of MARD staff to perform work duties on Sustainable Forest Management