Vietnam is a key player in the timber sector in South-East Asia. Being primarily a processing country, Vietnam imports its timber from a large number of countries in the region, including Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and China. Vietnam´s timber exports mainly target high-end, environmentally conscious markets such as the EU, the US and Japan. Vietnam exports timber products to more than 100 countries. In terms of export value, Vietnam sends 30% of its timber products to the European Union

1. Background
Vietnam is a key player in the timber sector in South-East
Asia. Being primarily a processing country, Vietnam imports
its timber from a large number of countries in the region,
including Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and China.
Vietnam´s timber exports mainly target high-end,
environmentally conscious markets such as the EU, the US
and Japan. Vietnam exports timber products to more than
100 countries. In terms of export value, Vietnam sends 30%
of its timber products to the European Union.
Signing and implementing the Forest Law Enforcement,
Governance and Trade - Voluntary Partnership Agreement
(FLEGT-VPA) initiative will help Vietnam to improve its
timber trade sector. The FLEGT-VPA will enable the Vietnam
timber trade to be more transparent, legal, will encourage
more sustainable forest management and promote good
forest and enterprise governance.
Project Description
CED will also partner with 5 selected organisations; VCCI,
Binh Duong Furniture Association (BIFA), Vietnam Rubber
Association (VRA), Forest Production Association of Binh
Dinh (FPA), and Vietnam Timber and Forest Products
Association (VIFORES).
1.1. Project Launching and Participatory Planning Meeting
CED will convene a one-day launching workshop as well as
develop a long term plan to engage businesses and
business associations for VPA implementation. CED will
invite trainers from the project ‘Increasing capacity of CSOs
and SMEs to implement FLEGT requirements’ by Nepcon
and SFMI. Using these tools, there will be training and
support to give practical assistance to SMEs in the timber
industry to trade in legal timber. There will be discussions
with selected associations on how to expand the training to
their business members and what additional assistance is
needed.
1.2. Revision of training agenda and materials for
businesses (in partnership with VNFOREST)
Using the toolkit developed by Nepcon, CED’s team will
work with five selected business associations and their
trainers to decide what materials for SMEs should look like.
CED will support a network of 12 Nepcon trainers to enable
them to update training materials and deliver relevant
training in the future for SMEs. CED will also involve
VNFOREST in this activity to ensure that the training is in
line with what has been included in the VPA annexes. Based
on these tools, CED will design an appropriate training
agenda and plan for these associations; the training will
provide a step-by-step process in an effective, easy-to-
understand format for timber processing businesses. CED
will work closely with other actors working on the same
issues to leverage existing efforts that will raise the level of
law enforcement in Vietnam.
2.1. Conduct training for SMEs in the North, Central and
Southern Areas
CED will support five one-day trainings for five selected
associations. Each training day will have about 30
participants drawn from the association business members.
A business survey will be conducted on legality verification
and compliance, and the potential impacts of applying
FLEGT. Additional information on gender and youth will
also be collected which will then inform the design of the
project approaches.
2.2. Regional and national dialogues
The project will support the organization of a regional
dialogue between government officials and businesses on
the enforcement of current laws and regulations related to
TL. Business representatives and forest protection officers
will discuss how to improve the traceability of products and
provide recommendations for amendments to irrelevant
policies and regulations. This forum and additional
feedback from the businesses throughout activity 1, will
culminate in a national forum on efforts to strengthen
forestry law enforcement and advance the VPA process.
3. Monitoring, evaluation and visibility framework
developed (Summary of activites 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 &
3.4)
For output 3 in the second year of the project, CED
will carry out a thorough project evaluation.
Organizing visits with the European Union Delegation
and FAO representatives will be covered by activity
3.1. Activity 3.2 includes a comprehensive evaluation
report with results and reviews. CED and VCCI will also
hold a meeting with 40 key stakeholders to discuss the
evalutation and future actions. Activities 3.3 and 3.4
involve further awareness raising, visibility activities
and evaluation of all project events.
PROMOTING PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT IN THE VPA
PROCESS
For more information, please contact:
Center for Education and Development
Tel: +84 4 35627494
Email: cedhanoi@ced.edu.vn
Address: Room1502, 3A building, RESCO, #74 Pham Van
Dong Street, Tu Liem District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Website: http://ced.edu.vn/
Website project: http://flegtvpa.com/