Mainstreaming International Trade into National Development Strategy

Problem(s) to which the project is addressed

The major problems vis-à-vis the issues, which this project will address, are because:
• Grassroots groups (civil society and community-based organisations) are not much aware about the implications of globalisation and international trade on their livelihoods (i.e. that they are unaware of the causes while facing the effects – the political economy of globalisation) and therefore, not empowered enough to demand pro-poor changes.
• Policy-makers (particularly at the local level) are not much aware about the impact of increasing openness (through globalisation and international trade) on people’s livelihoods and since they do not have much interest on such issues (in part due to lack of awareness) they are not in a position to feed inputs to the top (national policy-making process and level)
• Parliamentarians/legislatures are more concerned about short-term political gains/loses rather than being interested to generate long-term political capital through pro-poor policy reforms and therefore, there is not much political debate on mainstreaming of international trade into national development strategies in a pro-poor manner.

Objectives

The overall objective is to mainstream international trade into national development strategy of Bangladesh and India so as to strengthen the impact of trade openness on poverty reduction of these countries.

The project objectives are to:

• ensure and enhance positive linkages between trade and human development;
• foster equity and accountability of the national trade policy; and
• enhance a more coherent civil society voice in the formulation and implementation of national trade policy and in its linkages with national development strategy.

Project beneficiaries

Project beneficiaries in Bangladesh and in India will include:

• grassroots civil society organisations,
• non-governmental organisations,
• trade policy-makers (government officials), and
• parliamentarians/legislatures.

Activities in this project will include research, advocacy and networking to:
• Analyse stakeholder perceptions on why and how to mainstream social and political considerations in national trade policy – analysis of legal, political, social and institutional barriers to pro-poor reforms in national trade policy
• Map human development aspects of international trade in order to understand the importance and functioning of complementary policies (including institutions) in order for trade to help the poor to achieve better livelihoods – mapping and analysis of human development aspects of international trade to articulate the importance and functioning of complementary policies (including institutions) for international trade to help the poor to achieve better livelihoods
• Conduct public education and understand conditions necessary for an environment for public action vis-à-vis trade policymaking and its implementation by advocating with policy-makers and lawmakers for mainstreaming social and political considerations in national trade policy – outlining the contour and elements of pro-poor reforms in national trade policy of Bangladesh and India.
• Inception
• Advocacy
• Networking

Expected results will be to:

• Present inputs (positive linkages between trade and human development) to the trade policy-making community and civil society organisations in national capitals and at the local level on specific issues of mainstreaming international trade into national development strategy;
• Seek changes at national (through trade ministry) and local (through civil society organisations) level, which are necessary to foster equity and accountability of the national trade policy; and
• Connect civil society organisations with trade policy-makers in government (mainly the trade ministry) and with parliamentarians/legislatures for enhancing a more coherent civil society voice in the formulation and implementation of national trade policy and in its linkages with national development strategy.

Role of Advisory Committee
• We have formed Advisory Committee for this project. Their role would include:
• Provide input and comments in regard to the direction of this project Reviewing and providing advice on research outputs (including case studies) to be produced under this project
• Taking part in national and regional events to be organised as part of this project

Members of the Advisory Committee will be kept regularly informed about the progress of the project and formal meetings will be held on the sides of regional events to be organised as part of this project. Advisory Committee comprises of:

Chairman	S. N. Menon Former Commerce Secretary
Members
Manab Majumdar	Director & Team Leader WTO Division Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
Manzur Ahmed	Adviser The Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FBCCI)
Shirin Akhter	Chairperson Karmojibi Nari
Gitika Kapoor	Director R.A. Poddar Institute of Management

The activities will be carried out by the following organisations:
• Bangladesh: Unnayan Shamannay, Dhaka
• Centre for Studies in Social Science, Kolkata, West Bengal
• India: CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment, Jaipur and CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre, West Bengal

These organisations are actively pursuing action-oriented research, advocacy and networking activities in their respective countries/states. Thus, they have developed a network of grassroots groups, which will be utilised in implementing this project. Besides the grassroots groups, two other targeted groups of beneficiaries are policymakers (at local and national level) and parliamentarians.

Bangladesh

Unnayan Shamannay denotes coordination of developmental activities, not in the narrow sense, but in the wider context of all the aspects of a living society and human race – reckoning with all the quantifiable and qualitative actions a society carries out. The members of Unnayan Shamannay have been striving to invigorate and further strengthen private sector initiatives for socioeconomic and cultural development of Bangladesh through a concerted grassroots approach.

It is an innovative non-profit research organization of resourceful professionals working in the arena of research and development. It is engaged in quantitative and qualitative research work, training, communication and advocacy, cultural learning and developmental activities. The organization was incorporated in July 1994 under the Companies Act, 1913 (section 26) with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies under the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh (The Registration number is C-345 (02)/94).

Under this project draft papers will be prepared with the analysis of quantitative survey and literature review. These draft papers will be peer reviewed by a select set of experts from the project countries and will be finalised and published as a research volume after incorporating comments and suggestions from the peer review process and national consultations.

From the research papers to be produced in the first year of the project, particular policies will be selected for doing case studies in order to understand the impact of pro-development outcomes of international trade on the ground and in terms of whether there is a robust and sustainable link between pro-development outcomes and pro-poor growth and development at the local level. These case studies will be done in the second year of the project. Project partners will be conducting these case studies and they will be published as part of the research volume.

Some articles will be written in national and local newspapers, advocating the need for taking into account social and political considerations in order for international trade to benefit the poor.

• Briefing papers
• Research Papers
• Case Studies
• Reports
• Media

Call for Expression of Interest
CUTS Centre for International Trade; Economics & Environment (CUTS CITEE) invites suitable individual/agency to apply for conducting a project evaluation between 10th January 2009 and 10th March 2009.

CUTS CITEE is undertaking a project titled, “Mainstreaming International Trade into the National Development Strategy: A Pilot project in Bangladesh and India”. The project analyses the economic and political economic conditions necessary for mainstreaming international trade in the national developmental strategies in India and Bangladesh to positively affect the livelihoods of the poor. This project addressed the major problem of trade policy-making and its implementation in developing countries, i.e. the problem of social exclusion, through a two-pronged research strategy.

The evaluating agency will have to write a succinct, high-quality, critical and forward-looking report on the basis of the evaluation and tasks specified and share the results and impact created at national and international levels through the active involvement of relevant stakeholders, highlighting the problems that hinder mainstreaming international trade into their national development strategies in the participating countries.

The evaluating agency should have:

• Extensive experience in evaluation and in writing of evaluation reports
• Good knowledge and understanding on globalisation and the multilateral trading system and their linkages with development and poverty reduction
• Ability to work with deadlines (timely delivery of a quality output)
• Excellent analytical and writing skills for a non-technical readership and without losing the depth of technical work

Please send your proposal cum intended methodological approach (hard and soft copy) with a detailed overview of your organisational experience to:

CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS-CITEE)
ATTN: Mr. Bipul Chatterjee, Deputy Executive Director
D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park
Jaipur 302 016
Email: bc@cuts.org

Your proposal should not be more than 4 (four) A4 size, single-space pages.

Shortlisted candidates will be called for a detailed presentation of their evaluation proposal.

For further details and the Terms of Reference please read <>