A Presentation on
CUTS Centre for International Trade,
Economics & Environment
January 2013
Content
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A Brief History of CUTS
An Overview of CUTS
A Brief History of CUTS CITEE
Some Major Achievements of CUTS CITEE
Vision & Mission
Goals
Objectives
SLOT Analysis
Milestones
Future Programme
Future Strategy
Human Resource Development/Management
Financial Resources
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A Brief History of CUTS
 In 1983, CUTS began its journey with a
rural development communication
initiative – a wall newspaper
Gram Gadar (Village Revolution)
 A non-profit, non-governmental organisation with its headquarters
in Jaipur, India, resource centres in Calcutta, Chittorgarh and New
Delhi in India and four overseas centres: Geneva (Switzerland),
Hanoi (Vietnam), Nairobi (Kenya) and Lusaka (Zambia)
 Evolved from litigation work on consumer protection to an
internationally reputed policy action- and think-tank on interrelated areas of Governance, Trade & Development and
Regulation
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An Overview of CUTS
 CUTS Centre for Competition, Investment & Economic
Regulation: To be a Centre of excellence on regulatory issues
 CUTS Centre for Consumer Action, Research & Training:
To enable people, in particular women, to achieve their rights to
basic needs and sustainable development through a strong
consumer movement
 CUTS Centre for Human Development: To be an innovative
Centre for strategic interventions to raise the living
standards of people
 CUTS Safety Watch: To achieve for the citizens the right to be
protected against unsafe goods, services and environment
 CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition: Enhancing
Knowledge, Strengthening Capacity
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An Overview of CUTS
 Transparency and accountability – Value for People and Value
for Money
 Marrying the cold of research with the hot of advocacy by
extensive networking
 Emphasising on outcomes and not just outputs
 Fostering partnership for development: network-based policy
research and advocacy in more than 30 countries in Asia and
Africa, and in Geneva
 Linking grassroots with policy-makers and vice-versa
 A centrist approach and advocating for “Liberalisation Yes but
with Safety Nets”
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A Brief History of CUTS CITEE
 1993: Involvement with trade and regulatory
issues since early 90s when the Uruguay
Round was at its peak – published a booklet
titled “All About GATT – a consumers’
perspective”
 1994: Compelling reason – not many consumer groups and other
civil society organisations from the South were engaged in the UR
debate – Co-convenor of Consumer International’s Global Policy and
Campaigns Committee on Economic Issues
 1995: Launched a civil society network: South Asia
Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment –
a demand-driven initiative
 One of the five founding members of Geneva-based
International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
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A Brief History of CUTS CITEE
1995-99
 Emerging international trade regime under the aegis of the World
Trade Organisation and bilateral/regional free trade agreements
2000-05
 Developmental aspects of multilateral/bilateral/regional trade
negotiations and their implementation
2006-12
 Regional economic cooperation, linkages between trade,
development and poverty and trade, climate change and food
security, and larger issues of development cooperation – SouthSouth Cooperation (BRICS), South-North Cooperation (G-20),
Trilateral Development Cooperation
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Some Major Achievements of CUTS CITEE
 Working closely with several governments in Asia and Africa and in
Geneva on trade and trade-related developmental issues
 Developed a vibrant network of civil society organisations and other
stakeholders working on trade and development issues
 Served on various trade and trade-related committees of the
Government of India and represented at the WTO Director-General’s
Informal NGO Advisory Body and Stakeholders Panel on the Future of
Trade
 Accredited to many inter-governmental and multilateral bodies such
as WTO, UNCTAD, UNESCAP, UNDP, UNEP
 Received regular support from development cooperation partners and
inter-governmental/multilateral bodies working on trade and
development issues
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Vision & Mission
CUTS’ Vision
 Consumer sovereignty in the framework of
social justice and economic equality, within
and across borders
CUTS CITEE’s Mission
 Pursuing economic equity and social justice
within and across borders by persuading
governments and empowering people
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Goals of CUTS CITEE
 Enable and empower representatives of the civil society and
governments, from developing countries in particular, to articulate
and advocate on relevant and contemporary issues of trade and
development at appropriate fora
 Create a questioning society through empowerment of civil society
representatives to promote transparency and accountability in the
system of trade governance
 Promote equity between and among the developed and developing
countries through well-argued policy research and advocacy on
emerging and relevant issues of trade and development
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Applied/Action Research Objectives
 Present an independent political economic viewpoint on trade and
trade-related economic, social and environmental issues from the
perspective of Southern countries
 Sensitise policy-makers about trade and development issues
confronted by the people at the grassroots
 Empower civil society and government representatives to understand
issues of priority for better welfare of Southern countries
 Juxtapose counterfactuals in debates on trade and trade-related
developmental issues on a scientific basis
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Applied/Action Research Objectives
 Strengthen the capacity of developing country representatives in
international trade negotiations and implementation of trade
agreements
 Raise awareness in developed countries on trade and trade-related
developmental issues for a better understanding of the concerns
of Southern countries
 Assist representatives of inter-governmental/multilateral
organisations to better understand trade and trade-related
developmental issues from Southern perspectives
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Advocacy, Networking & Capacity Building Objectives
 Convert policy research outputs to policy outcomes through
evidence-based advocacy
 In partnership with research institutions and civil society
organisations conduct action research on trade and trade-related
economic, social and environmental issues, especially highlighting
their Southern perspectives
 Exchange on regular basis information on programmes, activities and
projects of mutual interest with a view to ensuring coordination,
complementarity and mutually supportive cooperation and, where
appropriate, joint action
 Cooperate and coordinate with like-minded organisations in
conducting training and exchange programmes to enhance capacities
and understanding of relevant actors on trade and trade-related
developmental issues
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Strengths
 Equal emphasis on ‘content’ as well as ‘process’ aspects of
research, advocacy, networking and capacity building
 Timely delivery of quality outputs – a large number of research and
advocacy outputs have been published and appreciated by a wide
range of stakeholders
 Niche areas where a vacuum exists are identified and acted upon
on a dynamic basis
 Wide networking and effective outreach: more than 60 network
partners all over the world and targeted outreach to diverse
stakeholders through two electronic platforms – CUTS Trade Forum
and CUTS South Asia E-Group
 Targeted communication with trade policy-makers, trade
negotiators and other stakeholder groups through publications and
advocacy/networking efforts
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Limitations
 Limited access to core support from development cooperation
partners
 Organisational assessment by external agencies
 Evidence-based advocacy to achieve more and better policy
outcomes
 Recruitment and retaining of good quality staff
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Opportunities
 Expected emphasis on new and emerging issues coming under
the ambit of multilateral/bilateral trade negotiations
 Enhanced scope of work on regional economic
cooperation/integration in South and South East Asia and in
Eastern and Southern Africa, and India’s deeper engagement with
preferential trade agreements
 Increasing recognition of the role of trade in addressing
developmental concerns such as linkages between trade, climate
change and food security; trade, debt and finance; trade and
technology transfer
 Increasing role of emerging economies in global economic
governance – South-South cooperation, South-North cooperation,
Trilateral Development Cooperation
 Scope to develop a multi-disciplinary human resource base
located in different places
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Threats
 Irregularities in continued support from development cooperation
partners
 Effectiveness of policy advocacy efforts – co-option by stakeholder
groups
 Continuation of senior level project managers
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Milestones
 To become a core partner of development cooperation
organisations in each programme area
 Recognition at national, regional and international level:
 representation at governmental, inter-governmental and non-
governmental bodies
 presentation of outputs and results at major conferences
 to be approached by reputed organisations for partnership on
specific projects
 Bridging macro-micro gaps in trade policy-making: to have at
least 100 civil society organisations from South and South East
Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa within its network and
linking them with trade policy-makers and other stakeholders
 Implement at least 10 major, multi-year, multi-stakeholder, multi-
country projects in next five years
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Future Programme
WTO Issues
 New and emerging issues in multilateral trade negotiations;
development dimensions of the Doha Round of agreements to
understand their implications in developing and least developed
countries
Regional Economic Cooperation
 Preferential trade agreements negotiated/implemented by India and
regional economic cooperation/integration in South and South East
Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa
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Future Programme
Developmental Issues
 Specific aspects of development such as linkages between trade,
climate change and food security, trade, debt and finance, trade and
technology transfer, trade-related aspects of gender, environmental
and other socio-economic indicators, trade and other public policy
objectives such as trade adjustment programmes, inclusive trade
policy-making for balancing producer and consumer interests
Cross-Cutting Issues including Capacity Building
 Enhancing the capacity of consumer and other groups in South and
South East Asia and in Eastern and Southern Africa to better
understand developmental implications of trade and trade-related
issues, and enhancing the capacity of government officials and
other relevant stakeholders on intricacies of commercial and
economic diplomacy
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Future Strategy
 Focused activities in South and South East Asia and in Eastern and
Southern Africa in partnership with overseas centres of CUTS
International
 Identification of new areas on trade and development issues where a
vacuum exists by analysing their Political, Economic, Social and
Technological implications
 More emphasis on network- and fieldwork-based action research so
as to collect and analyse ground level evidence on trade and traderelated developmental issues
 Evidence-based advocacy targeting policy and practice changes –
political-economic analyses of subject- and issue-specific policy
environment to identify policy gaps and policy tasks and advocate
for how policies are to be treated in future by strengthening the
process of doing stakeholder and institutional mapping
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Future Strategy
 Dynamic outreach to multiple stakeholder groups by organising
discussions and debates on emerging and contemporary issues
on trade and development – the subscriber base of CUTS Trade
Forum and CUTS South Asia E-Group
 Reconstitution of the International Advisory Board with more
emphasis on dynamically engaging them with the Centre’s
activities
 Organisational assessment – at least one assessment during the
next five years and in-house annual appraisal
 Project assessment – development cooperation partners to
assess all major, long-term projects in respect to their Relevance,
Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, and Sustainability, and in terms
of their Value for Money
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Future Strategy
 More emphasis on human resource development/management
through in-house capacity building, especially on policy advocacy
and networking and by team-building and retaining good quality
staff, particularly at the managerial level, through monetary and
non-monetary incentives
 Efforts to receive regular and long-term support from development
cooperation partners including programme area wise core support
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Human Resource Development/Management
Objectives
 Accomplish delegation of work in a scientific manner and on the
basis of motivating human resources to act as agents of change
 Build capacity through internal and external training
 Focus on team building and retention of good quality staff,
particularly at managerial level
At present, the composition of human resource capacity is as follows:
 Senior: 5
 Middle: 6
 Junior: 5
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Human Resource Development/Management
 More emphasis on programme area wise team-building and their
development, and gender and other dimensions of diversity in
human resources
 A separate team for policy advocacy, networking and outreach,
and capacity building
 Programme area wise consolidation of human resources and
future staff composition:
 WTO Issues: 3 (Senior: 1, Middle: 1, Junior: 1)
 Regional Economic Cooperation: 25 (Senior: 6, Middle: 9, Junior:
10)
 Developmental Issues: 20 (Senior: 5, Middle: 7, Junior: 8)
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Turnover (Rs. Million)
Financial Resources
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