NOFO: Local Solutions to Counter Wildlife Trafficking Activity in Vietnam

Deadline: 5-Jul-23

USAID/Vietnam is making a special call to local actors for the submission of concept papers focused on enhancing countering wildlife trafficking law enforcement; increasing political will and securing commitments from the Government of Vietnam (GVN) to address wildlife trafficking; and reducing consumer demand for illegal wildlife products at provincial level.

The goal of this activity is to support the GVN in reducing wildlife trafficking and illegal wildlife consumption and in strengthening partnerships between local organizations and the GVN at provincial level to counter wildlife trafficking. The activity is also intended to contribute to the following higher-level outcomes: increased arrests and prosecutions for illegal wildlife trafficking and reduced consumer demand for illegal wildlife products.

Objectives

• The goal of this activity is to support Vietnam in reducing wildlife trafficking and illegal wildlife consumption and in strengthening partnerships between local organizations and the GVN at provincial level to counter wildlife trafficking. This activity includes the following three objectives:
  • Enhance countering wildlife trafficking law enforcement at provincial level;
    • Stakeholder consultations with environmental NGOs, development partners, and relevant GVN agencies indicate that Vietnam has a strong legal framework in place to address wildlife crimes, but it has yet to be effectively implemented on the ground. By supporting activities to strengthen law enforcement in hotspot areas where wildlife is sourced, transited, and consumed and with the partnership of key stakeholders namely local communities, social organizations, and government agencies, the activities should significantly reduce wildlife trafficking efforts. This will be done by increasing the risk for those who commit wildlife crime, in particular trafficking of wildlife into, through, and out of Vietnam. Together with a supportive legal and regulatory environment and efforts to change behaviors, increasing the capacity of and coordination between law enforcement agencies over time will result in increased arrests, prosecutions, convictions, and sentencing of those committing wildlife crime.
  • Increase political will and secure commitments from the GVN at the provincial level to address wildlife trafficking; and
    • While enjoying rapid economic growth, Vietnam has faced many environmental issues such as climate change, water pollution as evidence of many dying rivers, severe air pollution in some big cities, solid and plastic waste, biodiversity loss, and illegal wildlife trade and consumption. Among them, biodiversity conservation and tackling illegal wildlife trade and consumption receive the least attention from the government. In order to raise the importance of wildlife issues on the national agenda, this Objective should engage both traditional and non-traditional actors and approaches to address countering wildlife trafficking.
  • Reduce consumer demand for illegal wildlife products at provincial level.
    • There is significant consumer demand for wildlife and wildlife products in Vietnam, and the high demand for using wild animals as traditional medicine, pets, high status food, gifting, and other consumer products has triggered illegal hunting inside the country. This has also increased illegal imports of wildlife and wildlife products from other countries, including but not limited to tiger body, tiger bone, pangolin scale, pangolin body, rhino horn and elephant ivory.

Funding Information

• Award Ceiling: $1,500,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• USAID welcomes concepts from a wide variety of local actors who bring an understanding of the development challenges facing their communities, countries, or regions or who demonstrate a way to determine local priorities in their approach. Eligible applicants:
  • Must be local entities in Vietnam. When determining if an entity is a “local entity” for the purposes of this APS, USAID will consider:
    • Whether the entity is legally organized under the laws of Vietnam;
    • Whether the entity has its principal place of business or operations in Vietnam;
    • Whether the entity is majority owned and controlled by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Vietnam; and
    • Whether the entity is managed by a governing body, the majority of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of Vietnam.
    • Cannot have received more than $5 million in direct funding (as a prime awardee) from USAID in the previous five fiscal years.
    • Cannot be a U.S.-based organization. U.S.-based organizations are not eligible as prime awardees under this APS.
• Note: For purposes of this definition, “majority-owned’ and “-managed by” include, without limitation, beneficiary interests and the power, either directly or indirectly, whether exercised or exercisable, to control the election, appointment, or tenure of the organization’s managers or a majority of the organization’s governing body by any means.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.