Selection notice published “Programme Officer – Expert in the Emergency, Disaster Risk Reduction and Peace Building Sector”

The Hanoi Regional Headquarters is pleased to announce that it has published the selection notice for a position of “Programme Officer – Expert in the Emergency, Disaster Risk Reduction and Peace Building Sector” (deadline 23 November 2022 at 23:59, Hanoi time).

The selected candidate will be based in Hanoi (Vietnam) with possible travels to the countries within the remit of the Hanoi Office, particularly Myanmar.

For more information, please refer to the “Work with us” section, accessible under the “Opportunities” menu or at the following link:

https://hanoi.aics.gov.it/home-ita/opportunita/lavora-con-noi/

Building Capacity: International Advanced Application Course on GIAHS

The AICS-funded project intends to promote awareness on agricultural landscape systems and traditional landscapes through courses and research activities especially in Italian cooperation priority countries.

The initiative “Building Capacity: an international advanced applied course on GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) for assessment and resilience in three different socio-environmental and bio-cultural contexts: Africa, Asia and Latin America” supports the FAO GIAHS programme, aimed at promoting traditional agricultural systems conceived as intangible heritages that combine the conservation of biodiversity, respect for traditional social structures, and support for economic development with a focus on local farming communities. Similar to what UNESCO has done in terms of cultural heritage, FAO GIAHS envisages the creation of specific sites for the active conservation of traditional agricultural systems (http://www.fao.org/giahs/en/).

The executing agency of the initiative is the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems of the University of Florence which main objective is disseminating the defense of traditional agricultural systems through the creation of an academic pole aimed at training managers dedicated to FAO GIAHS sites and the dissemination of the topic at a global level.

In this context, it is particularly necessary to create professionals capable of identifying and managing GIHAS sites. These experts must possess the capacity to dynamically preserve traditional agricultural knowledge, values of local cultures, biocultural diversity and landscape characteristics.

For this reason, the IACS promotes participation in the master course for students from countries where the IACS is active through the implementation of projects providing 10 scholarships.

To apply follow the link https://www.agriculturalheritage.com/applications2022_2023/

Deadline is 16 October 2022 and the final ranking will be published by 31 October 2022.

Selected students will start attending the master course from February 2023.

Italy participates to the technical seminar “Innovative data for policy making”, part of the initiative “Data for now”

On September 6th, a technical workshop “Data innovation initiatives for policy making” was held, at the premises of the General Statistical Office (GSO), the national Vietnamese Statistical Agency, in the framework of the initiative “Data for now”, co-financed by Italy and executed by UNSD, Statistical Division of the United Nations Department for Social and Economic Affairs (UNDESA).

In the last years cascading crisis such as COVID pandemic and natural disasters caused by climate change force governments to adopt and implement responsive policies which require a multi-dimensional analysis of inclusive, accurate, disaggregated and timely data. In order to do so, traditional methodologies of collecting data, such as surveys and census are accompanied with “innovative data”, big data, such as satellite imagines and geolocation data.

The initiative Data for Now, launched by the UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed at the UN General Assembly, in September 2019, was created in order to assist in partner countries National Statistical Institutes, Line Ministries and governmental agencies working in statistics, in their activities of analysis and production of timely and reliable data to monitor and track results in the achievements of SDGs. In October 2021 Italy approved a contribution of 1,275 MEUR to the initiative in 8 African and Asian countries: Etiopia, Morocco, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, Jordan, Pakistan and Vietnam. During the workshop GSO, UNSD and main donors active in Vietnam in the statistical capacity building sector: Italy, World Bank and Germany, discussed about the main areas where the Vietnamese Government needs technical assistance for the identification of innovative indicators in order to adopt effective policies for the achievement of SDGs and leave no ne behind.

Italy is active since many years in the statistical capacity building sector in Vietnam; the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) signed in 2014 a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the cooperation with GSO, providing technical assistance and sharing statistical methodologies and best practices. In 2018 the project “Improving Statistics” was launched with the aim of strenghtening GSO for the production of data in energy and climate change sectors, for the dissemination of statistical data and for enhancing ICT system. Thanks to this contribution, highly appreciated by GSO, remarkable results have been achieved, among them it is worth to mention that in August 2021 the first Energy Country report was edited and published according to UN and Oslo Group standards, filling the gap for Vietnam.

AICS Deputy Director Giuseppe Cerasoli visit to Vietnam

from July 9th to July 15th took place the mission to Vietnam of the Deputy Administrative Director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Mr. Giuseppe Cerasoli, following the reopening as a regional hub for the Far East of the AICS Hanoi Office from April 1st and the closure of the Yangon Office from June 30th.

During the visit, the Deputy Director, accompanied by the Ambassador of Italy, H.E. Antonio Alessandro, and the newly appointed Head of the Hanoi office, Ms. Tiziana Fusco, met with AICS main Vietnamese counterparts, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who expressed their heartfelt appreciation for the interventions implemented over the years and the strong partnership with Italy. Honored to host the regional office of the Agency, they also expressed a keen interest in facilitating dialogue with other ASEAN Member States and invited new opportunities for discussion and exchange for future regional and sub-regional interventions in the Mekong area.

The new office regional configuration was also formally presented to the European Union Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Giorgio Aliberti, with whom potential synergies with this delegation and Member States under the Team Europe Initiatives were discussed.

Visits were made to the central regions of Vietnam, to Hue and Quang Nam, to monitor progress and achievements under two major initiatives in the health sector “Improvement of health services to selected areas of the Central Region of Vietnam and the Hue University College of Medicine and Pharmacy” and in the WASH (Water and Sanitation) sector “Urban Sanitation of Nui Thanh in Quang Nam Province”. During the meetings with the respective Project Management Units, partners in the initiatives, some difficulties encountered in the implementation of project activities were also discussed, with joint efforts being made to simplify various administrative and authorization procedures related to the bidding processes.

Looking forward to reviewing and revitalizing the activities of the office with a regional perspective, several solutions for the location of the new office based in Hanoi were evaluated, and it is hoped in the coming weeks to finalize the lease deed.

Emphasis was given to the regional perspective, to the importance of the strategic partnership with ASEAN and to the initiatives recently included in the planning exercise for 2022, approved by the Joint Committee last June, in the areas of sustainable agriculture; fisheries and aquaculture; and training in the area of artistic and cultural heritage protection.

The regional headquarter of AICS Hanoi at the Workshop aimed to start the works for the amendment of the law on water resources

28_06_22 hanoi

On June 28th 2022, AICS Hanoi was honored to participate at the Kick-off Workshop on Developing the Law on Water Resources (amended) opened by MONRE Vice-Minister H.E. Le Cong Thanh and co-chaired by the World Bank.

The event has seen a great participation from key stakeholders at national and international level and laid out the first step towards a comprehensive law that maximizes sustainable management, conservation and protection of water resources.

During the Workshop, Italy was recognized as a valuable partner for its expertise on weather forecasting, effective disaster risk reduction models and technologies especially in the hydro-meteorology sector and flood prevention. AICS Hanoi reminded the great efforts of the Italian system on Disaster Risk Reduction solutions in face of climate change in particular those developed and adopted by the Central Functional Centre of the Italian Civil Protection Department and of the River Basins District Authorities and the relevance of having a strong coherence between institutional, operational, and legislative frameworks bringing as an example the Italian Legislative Decree 49/2010.

Emerging legislation and experience trends on water quality, weather forecasting, monitoring and surveillance of weather related hydrogeological and hydraulic risks including flood management for a water secure Viet Nam have been some of the topics touched by AICS Hanoi and on which the Agency is now configuring a Technical Assistance to support MONRE in this relevant milestone.