Making Trade Policy: From Community Organisation to World Trade Organisation

Evidence-based policy making requires not only sound research, but also complex processes of consultation, negotiation and strategising across diverse stakeholder groups.  Trade research and policy development brings additional challenges due to the technicality of policy debates, and the closed nature of trade negotiations.  Development organisations must manage the tensions between achieving clarity and focus in their policy proposals, on the one hand, and the diversity of views and objectives among their partners and allies.  Keeping issues such as gender equality on the agenda becomes more difficult as trade-offs are being made along the path to policy development.  The research process itself can help to diminish the tensions and risks by working at the earliest stages with partners and allies in formulating common questions, integrating gender analysis from the outset, and developing joint strategies for how the research will be used for both local campaigning and global policy development.  In this session Oxfam staff will share their experiences with the 2002 launch of the Make Trade Fair Campaign and consecutive work on labour rights and coffee to explore these issues. 

Panelists:

Becky Buell (Coordinator), Head of Programme Policy.  Introduction to issues around trade policy development, with reference to key lessons from study by Karen Brock at IDS.  How our approach to research can help diminish tensions and risks.

Thalia Kidder, Global Advisor, Labour and Gendered Economics.  Lessons on research for “Trading Away Our Rights: Women working in global supply chains”.  Challenges of working across diverse contexts, and keeping gender on the agenda. Making research relevant to local/national as well as global campaigns.

Dereje Wordofa, Head of Regional Policy.  Lessons from work on coffee.  Managing consultation, the tensions and challenges of working across a diversity of alliances.

Page last updated: 12 October, 2004