L-R: Dr. Nguyen Xuan Dung, Head of Division of Ecology and Landscape of the National Biodiversity and Conservation Agency (NBCA), Ms. Clarissa Arida, Programmes Department Director of the ACB, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Vinh, Head of Division of Natural Resources Heritage under the NBCA and Director of the PMU, and Ms. Iris Harder, Principal Portfolio Manager of the KfW show the signed Minutes of the Meeting that contains several recommendations and agreements to enhance the project delivery of 25 small and micro-grant projects in the four ASEAN Heritage Parks supported by the SGP II in Viet Nam.

VIET NAM -- This October, a mission team composed of representatives from the Small Grants Programme II by the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (SGP II), the technical consulting group GITEC-IGIP GmbH, and the KfW Development Bank visited Viet Nam to monitor the progress of the 25 small and micro-grant projects in and around the Hoang Lien National Park (HLNP) and three other ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHPs) supported by the programme. 

“We fully appreciate the conduct of monitoring missions like this because we would like to see what interventions of the programme are worth continuing and what can be re-calibrated for better impact,” says Ms. Corazon De Jesus, Jr., Sustainable Use and ABS Division Director of the ACB.

The mission team met with the representatives from the SGP II Project Management Unit (PMU) and the HLNP Park Management to exchange updates and check whether the projects are contributing to the conservation of the park and the development of environmentally sustainable livelihoods of the people living inside and within the buffer zones of the AHPs.  

The meetings were followed by visitations to some project implementation sites, grantees, and local communities assisted by the SGP II Service Provider Center for Environment and Community Assets Development or CECAD in Ban Ho and Ta Van Communes in Sa Pa Town. 

Amounting to a total of EUR 88,662 for micro-grants and EUR 1,143,438 for small grants, some of the SGP II-supported projects in these areas include the commercialisation of sweet bamboo shoots, composting of manure and organic waste for bio-fertilizers, conservation of local flora and fauna, and improving the ecotourism services of a women’s group through a language training. 

The mission culminated in the signing of the Minutes of the Meeting (MoM) by Ms. Clarissa C. Arida, Programmes Department Director of the ACB, Ms. Iris Harder, Principal Portfolio Manager of the KfW, and Dr. Nguyen Thanh Vinh, Head of Division of Natural Resources Heritage under the NBCA and Director of the PMU.

The MoM contains concrete recommendations to enhance the programme delivery and sustainability and foster stronger collaboration with the major stakeholders through more frequent and closer coordination. 

“We commend the programme and the efforts of our partner institutions in making sure that the resources are well-spent in projects that will protect the AHPs and at the same time, bring sustainable livelihoods to the local people,” said Ms. Harder.

From time to time, the KfW coordinates mission trips to the areas and grantees of the SGP and SGP II to review the projects’ implementation and ensure that they contribute to supporting biodiversity conservation and livelihood development in and around selected AHPs in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Viet Nam.

The SGP and SGP II are joint initiatives of the Federal Government of Germany, through the KfW, and the ACB aims to support biodiversity protection and natural resource management in the ASEAN region by assisting the ACB in its role of promoting biodiversity conservation in select ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHPs) and surrounding areas. The Programme entails the creation and application of a variety of suitable financial and technical solutions and interventions for local partners, as well as the enhancement of the target groups' implementation capacities and the improvement of their living conditions. To know more about the programme log on to www.aseanbiodiversity.org. (ACB)