SAWTEE was registered with the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, Nepal to operate as a non-profit, NGO in 1999. Due to its research capacity, policy outreach and developmental impacts, the organization has been growingly recognized as a think tank at local, national, regional and global levels. SAWTEE is also recognized in the capacity of a secretariat of a national network of Nepal-based national and international NGOs called National Alliance for Food Security in Nepal (NAFOS); a global network of civil society organizations (CSOs) working on biodiversity management and farmers rights issues called Farmers Rights Advocacy Network (FRANK); and a global network of least-developed countries (LDCs) established for the economic transformation of LDCs, called Least Developed Countries Network for Economic Transformation (LDC-NET). Its members and staff have served/been serving on the board of various international and national agencies working on trade, development, farmers rights and food security issues.