2.  CARD’s Goal and Purpose

The Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program is a component of the Vietnam-Australia Development Cooperation Program, administered by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

Program Goal:

To increase the productivity and competitiveness of Vietnamese smallholder agriculture and related rural enterprises.

Program Purpose

To develop and apply agricultural knowledge and technologies that address constraints to productivity and competitiveness.

The outcome expected from CARD is:

Agriculture and rural development through the application of research, technology, skills and management practices

Agriculture is defined to include agriculture, livestock, fisheries and forestry.  Agricultural knowledge refers to knowledge about the scientific, technical and economic aspects of production in these sectors while technologies refer to identifiable technical or management opportunities to change existing production methods.  Related rural enterprises are defined as including activities of government, private sector or non-government organisations or institutions involving the provision of inputs to or dealing with the products of agriculture, livestock, fisheries or forestry.

3.   Program Coordination and Governance

Program coordination and governance in Vietnam will be through a CARD Program Coordinating Committee (PCC). 

Technical advice relating to the relevance, quality and value for money will be provided by a Technical Advisory Panel consisting of 4 Vietnamese and 4 Australian members with a broad range of technical expertise.

The role of the PCC is to provide direction to the Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) through review/endorsement of the Strategic Framework for CARD; review/approval of the annual report and budget; and the oversight of project implementation and outcomes.

The TAP will meet twice a year to evaluate and shortlist Expressions of Interest (EOI) and to evaluate and select from amongst full project proposal prepared by short-listed institutions.

Project selection is supported by an integrated set of:

• Comprehensive guidelines;

• Templates for Proforma for EOIs and Full Project Proposals

• Selection Criteria; and

• Project Assessment Grids.

 These can be viewed and downloaded from the CARD Website.

4.   Program Management

The CARD Program is managed for the Government of Vietnam (GoV) by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and for AusAID by Hassall & Associates International as Australian Managing Contractor (AMC) based in Australia.  The AMC contacts are: 

Mailing Address:          Hassall & Associates International.

GPO Box 1877

Canberra ACT 2601Australia

Street Address:            10 -12 Brisbane Avenue

Barton, ACT 2600Australia

Primary Contact           Juan Zhang – CARD Program Administration Officer

Telephone                    (61 2) 6270 0200 (Office)

Facsimile                      (61 2) 6273 1936

Email                            JZhang@hassall.com.au  

The CARD Technical Coordinator is Keith Milligan

Telephones                   (64 3) 3229402 (Office)

                                    (0903) 294613 (Mobile in Vietnam)

Email                            keith@card.com.vn

 Local Management:

In Vietnam a CARD Program Management Unit (PMU) will operate from within the International Cooperation Department (ICD) of MARD in Hanoi.  PMU contacts are:

The CARD PMU Office.

                        Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

                        Room 207 – 208, Building A9

                        2 Ngoc Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi

Primary Contact           Nguyen Thi Khoa - CARD Program Coordinator

Telephone/Fax             (84 4) 7336539 (Office)

                                     (0906) 272427 (Mobile)

Email                             khoa@card.com.vn

5.   Project Contracting and Management

CARD projects will be implemented under a sub-contract for project services between the lead Australian institution and the AMC in respect of the project. 

CARD funds will be paid as a mix of scheduled milestone payments and reimbursable payments for equipment and training.  All funds will be payable to the lead Australian institution which will be held fully accountable for all project funds, and will be subject to audit.  Where CARD funds are transferred by the lead Australian institution to the Vietnamese collaborating institution, there will need to be a written agreement between the institutions specifying accounting/acquittal procedures and making provision for audit if deemed necessary by the lead Australian Institution or by the AMC or AusAID. 

Milestones will be negotiated between the AMC and the Australian Institution.  In most cases they will include:

Output Milestones

·         Inception Report – (maximum 2 pages) to be submitted within one month of commencement. 

·         Six-monthly Reports

·         Annual Reports

·         Project Completion Reports

Outcome Milestones

·         Training Manuals

·         Project Baselines

·         Assessment of competency gains in Vietnamese institutions

·         Validation of project impacts

Acquittal Reports for reimbursables is not required.  Each six-monthly report contains a Statutory Declaration, to be signed by appropriate authorities in both Vietnamese and Australian institutions, detailing personnel and equipment inputs and transfer of equipment to Vietnamese institutions.  Australian institutions will need to establish and maintain sound financial and activity management systems as the AMC will reserve the right of audit.

Forty percent of the first year budget will be paid to the contracted institution on signing of the project contract to facilitate a positive cashflow environment for implementing partners.  Forty percent of the final year budget will be held until the Project Completion Report has been accepted and routine field monitoring completed by the AMC.  All other payments will be for delivery of agreed milestones.

6.   Key Dates for 2004 and 2005

The key dates for each funding round will be displayed on the CARD Website. (http://www.card.com.vn)