Deadline: 31 December2020

The Crop Trust invites qualified individuals, including existing consultants, to submit their expression of interest (EOI) to be considered for future short-or long-term consultancy assignments at the Crop Trust for work in the framework of the Crop Trust’s project “Breathing New Life into Global Crop Conservation Strategies” on developing Global Conservation Strategies for a number of crops.

In particular, the Crop Trust would like to identify expertise for the following groups of the crops:

1.Temperate for agespecies

2.Potato

3.Yams(Dioscorea)

4.Groundnut/peanut

5.Pea

6.Peppers & chillies

7.Cropsin the genus Brassica

8.Millets

9.Sunflower

10.Eggplant

11.Sorghum

12.Crop in the genus Citrus

13.Crop in the genus Vigna

1. Duties and Responsibilities

Under the leadership of the Crop Trust’s Head of Global Initiatives, a consultant selected to work on a global conservation strategy for one of the above crops will typically:

• Contribute with her/his crop specific expertise to the development of crop diversity trees(https://www.genebanks.org/resources/diversity-trees/).
• Carry out surveys to assess currents coverage and status of ex situ and in situ conservation of the relevant crop.
•  Liaise with stakeholders to access data about existing ex situ collections of relevant crops (including visits to certain collections, if required).
• Conduct background research of relevant scientific literature.
• Analyze data about existing ex situcollections of the relevant crop and data obtained through surveys.
• Contribute to the organization and participate in meetings of crop stakeholder communities for the relevant crop.
• Liaise with other experts to get input and feedback on crop diversity tree(s).
• Write and update crop strategies for the crop of his expertise.

2. Outputs:

• Expert surveys and other types of consultation results
• Literature survey
• Draft of a Global Conservation Strategy for a specific crop or group of crops (see here for examples)

3. Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• In-depth knowledge and recognized expertise on plant genetic resources and its diversity of one of the following crops or crop groups: Temperate forage crop species, potatoes, yams (Dioscoreaspecies), groundnut/peanut, pea, peppers & chillies, crops in the genus Brassica, millets, sunflower, eggplant, sorghum, crop species in the genus Citrus, crop species in the genus Vigna;
• Ability to lead the development and publication of documents co-authored by a group of experts;
• Minimum of 5 years relevant work experience, preferably in an international environment;
• Strong computer skills including good knowledge of database, MS Office applications;
• Excellent English written and spoken required; knowledge of other languages will be an advantage;
• Demonstrated initiative, judgement, creativity and analytical abilities;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to interact effectively with a wide range of collaborators from different cultural backgrounds.

4. How to apply?

• Interested candidates are asked to send a recent CV and a detailed cover letter outlining your qualifications to [email protected] with the subject line“Consultant Roster-Global Crop Conservation Strategies”.
• The cover letter should indicate the main area of crop expertise (from the list above), suggested daily fees in EUR, as well as a description of previous relevant experience.

For more information please visit Crop Trust webpage