RTI Consultant (Best Practices)

FAO Subregional office for the Gulf states and Yemen is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed strategies for transforming food, agriculture and rural development priorities. It also develops and maintains relations with Subregional wide institutions. The subregional office is a subsidiary of FAO Regional Office for Near East and North Africa region. The governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have jointly requested technical assistance from FAO to formulate an agenda, implementation roadmap and monitoring mechanism for Research, Technology and Innovation (RTI). The Saudi Food Security Strategy and Implementation Plan 2030 and the UAE National Food Security Strategy 2051 have recently been formulated and endorsed, with the vision to ensure sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all in KSA and UAE in a stable and sustainable manner at all times. Successful implementation of these strategies requires development and use of research, technology and innovation (RTI) on all dimensions of food security and across the food system.

The 10-month process to develop the RTI agenda and roadmap involves a series of background studies\: 1) Analysis and assessment of a) current situation and emerging trends regarding food security, and b) analysis of the RTI system status; 2) Review and benchmarking of best practices on RTI for food security, and; 3) Development of alternative foresight scenarios. The outputs of these studies will be used to identify and prioritise key RTI challenges and opportunities, and guide the vision and objectives of an RTI agenda and roadmap for UAE and KSA.

The consultant will have duty travels to Abu Dhabi, UAE and Riyadh, KSA.

The incumbent will work under the overall supervision of SNG coordinator and technical supervision of the Lead Technical Officer (LTO) and the Team Leader (Lead RTI and Food Security Consultant), and in liaison with technical staff of FAO and counterparts in UAE and KSA.

The the RTI consultant will\: i) Conduct a review and synthesis of best practices on RTI for food security relevant to KSA and UAE, ii) Benchmark RTI for food security with reference countries and draw lessons from experiences, and iii) Provide technical expertise during foresight scenario development.

• Conduct a comprehensive review of best practices on RTI for food security relevant to KSA and UAE, to include but not be limited to\:
• value chain and food systems approaches from production to consumption.
• both existing and emerging technologies covering both conventional technologies as well as digital agriculture in all its forms
• innovation regarding processes and forms of organization, and governance systems.
• Design an effective, participatory methodology for the review, which may include consultations, workshops, various working groups/focus groups to identify and prioritize the best practices, etc.
• Assess the current use of best-practice technologies and processes in KSA and UAE, their barriers for adoption and opportunities to integrate best practices of RTI into actions to improve food security.
• Benchmark best practices with relevant reference countries (e.g. Singapore and Australia) and draw out lessons learned.
• Provide insights, advise and guidance on technical options/alternative technologies for foresight scenarios, and lead technical session during foresight scenario workshop
• Liaise with other consultants under the project, including the RTI Expert, assessments and analysis, and the RTI foresight scenario expert
• Prepare reports and presentations, to be used in later stages of the RTI agenda and roadmap development
• Undertake other tasks as requested by FAO.

• Advanced university degree in agricultural sciences, agricultural economics, technology or related field.
• 10 years of relevant experience in research, technology and innovation of relevance to food security, including at international level.
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other FAO languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian), preferably Arabic. Working knowledge of English for PSA.SBS.

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location.
• Extent and relevance of experience in agricultural research, technology and innovation in general, and in the UAE and KSA in particular.
• Extent and relevance of experience in new, emerging technologies for the agriculture sector including digital agriculture, IOT, artificial intelligence, or similar.
• Extent and relevance of experience of leading and/or conducting studies on RTI systems.
• Demonstrated communication skills, including the ability to convey and present sensitive issues/positions.
• Analytical skills and ability to write clear and concise reports is considered a strong asset.