RTB International Consultancy - Setting Breeding Objectives and Priorities paper

GENDER AND BREEDING INNOVATION WORKSHOP

International Consultancy for cross program review paper on Setting Breeding Objectives and Priorities

Terms of Reference

Vers 30-Jan-17

Background

An Innovation Workshop to develop actionable recommendations for crop or animalbreeding programsseekingtoundertakeplant or animal breedingthatis gender-relevant and responsive is planned for mid-2017. The Workshop Organizing Committee (WOC) plays a key guiding role, with facilitation by the InternationalPotatoCenter(CIP).TheWorkshopispartofaseriesofactionsand events to share and synthesize knowledge and recommendations toward achieving impactful, gender-responsive breeding in CGIAR, with support from CGIAR System Management Office’s Gender Action Plan. The Innovation Workshop will bring together experts from a variety of different disciplines to systematize and build on ideas generated at an earlier workshop on Gender, Breeding and Genomics, held in October last year. Several commissioned background papers, of which this is one, provide foundational inputs for the Innovation Workshop.

Scope of Work

The WOC seeks a senior international Consultant to write a paper Setting Breeding Priorities and Objectives that will systematically review and analyze how selected public and private sector breeding programs set breeding objectives and priorities with different actors and disciplines along the breeding cycle. The consultant will write a paper, prepare a slide presentation synthesizing the main findings and attend the “Innovation Workshop” (in June 2017 or thereafter) to present and discuss the paper with participants. Historically,plantbreedingprogramshavegenerallydevelopedfromfarmerand agronomy initiatives, and were thus usually embedded in a rather local agricultural research and development effort, and thus shared knowledge, understanding and insights about the target production systems, target users GENDER AND BREEDING INNOVATION WORKSHOP and their uses. However, recent developments of genetic and bioinformatics tools have led to situations where decision making for genetic enhancement of specific crops, traits and germplasm involves personnel and disciplines that are not rooted in agriculture and agricultural research, i.e. do not share a common tacit knowledge about the context for which improvements are being sought.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss and illustrate how the priority setting process in breeding requires more explicit analysis and communication to be effective for guiding decision making of scientific/ management teams working towards such targets. This is especially pertinent for programs that have an international, broad outlook and wide stakeholder group and are held accountable for meeting explicit equity objectives.

Objectives of the paper

1. To review and analyze in a case-study approach, how a selected numberof public and private sector breeding programs set breeding objectives and priorities with different actors and disciplines, at different points in the breeding and delivery cycle
2. To compare and contrast the selected programs on critical aspects of practice, including methodologies and management approaches used at different points in the breeding cycle
3. To identify from the preceding analysis, promising approaches, methods and management strategies that should be considered in the Innovation Workshop as foundational inputs for formulating recommendations

Selection of breeding programs for the review

A premise of the paper is that plant breeding and variety development programs are long-term investments that yield best results if they are well targeted, and these targets are well understood and utilized by all team members. The Consultant will therefore, select and review the processes and components of priority setting of 3-4 public or NGO and 2-3 private sector breeding programs with approaches to targeting that exemplify or illustrate important good practices, including methodological and team management approaches.

A set of candidate programs for inclusion in the review paper will be proposed by the consultant and agreed with the member of the WOC who is overseeing the paper. The paper -- and therefore the candidate programs selected for analysis -- will focus on programs that not only systematically target different edaphoclimatic regions but that also customarily differentiate users of their products (e.g. consumers with different socio-economic levels and tastes; producers supplying distinct markets; agroindustry versus domestic users etc.), and use a range of approaches to set priorities. The paper will examine how these programs handle the intersection of different criteria for defining their target regions, markets and users to inform their priority setting.

These programs should be international in scope. Preferably, they should be successfully delivering benefits in a gender-responsive way but we are interested in learning from examples that successfully target user groups whose primary identity may not be based on gender.

Structure and content of the paper

I. Introduction, objectives, questions for the analysis including the definition of the breeding cycle that will be used for the analysis

II. Criteriaforselectionanddescriptionofbreedingprogramsselectedfor the paper’s analysis

III. Analysis of priority setting on a case by case basis, at different scales orlevelsofspecificitytakingthefollowingconsiderationsintoaccount:

Priority setting for breeding objectives for a specific crop variety development program need to be set with a thorough understanding of the:

• target production region, production ecology and system
• target users and their needs and uses of product from the crop
• the options for dissemination of the new varieties (variety release procedures, seed laws, seed system)
• possibleimpacts of tradeoffsbetweentheinterestsof differentusesand user groups overall goals and opportunities (biodiversity conservation, skill building, integrating sustainability, health and nutrition concerns, market share, etc. GENDER AND BREEDING INNOVATION WORKSHOP

Within this first level of priority setting in terms of target users, ecologies and development goals, the paper should analyze how the selected plant breeding programs set priorities and targets for traits of relevance, types of varieties (lines,OPVs,hybrids,mixtures),typeofgermplasmused,typeoftoolsused,and type of partnership, to achieve genetic gains that will be realizable by farmers.

IV. Insights drawn from comparison of how the breeding programs set prioritiesandobjectives:e.g.common“musthave”practices;prosand cons of different approaches; crucial success factors; important “do’s” and “don’ts”

V. Summary and conclusions. The paper should supply a synopsis of its main conclusions and recommendations that can be used as input to the workshop and as a briefing tool.

Deliverables and time frame

1. Outline of paper and criteria for selection of breeding programs incorporatingfeedbackfromInnovationWorkshopOrganizingCommittee member managing the paper

2. Approved proposal of candidate programs for study

3. First draft input paper (30-40 pages) covering overview of methods, tools and approaches that selected programs are pursuing to take decisions to prioritize breeding targets, traits, trait combinations, product type, etc.

4. Final draft of input paper incorporating WOC comments (May 24)

5. PowerPoint presentation and participation in high level planning workshop (approx. June 2017)

6. Final version ready for Web publication of paper or article post workshop (Sep 30)

Technical oversight of deliverables will be provided by a member of the WOC. GENDER AND BREEDING INNOVATION WORKSHOP Remuneration

$US 20,000 in two instalments

50% on approval of deliverables (1) and (2)

50% on approval of deliverables (3) thru (6)

Requirements

The submission of interest by the consultant should be clear about how different disciplinary inputs will be ensured. The paper may require work of more than one consultant such as a lead consultant who can bring in other sources of expertise for certain sections to be written.

The consultant(s) should have

• Experience in planning and managing plant breeding research for developing countries or international markets
• Worked as a leader or member of multidisciplinary team(s) and have an appreciation of different disciplinary inputs to planning
• Practical experience of supporting a program that involves plant breeding outputs

Applications

Applicants should apply online through CIP’s Job Opportunities website (http://cipotato.org/open-vacancies/) or through the direct link: https://goo.gl/NlR1gD including a letter of motivation and a full C.V.