Realizing the capacity and resource constraints faced by South Asian NGOs to conduct research on various policy issues; come out with policy recommendations; and prepare well-argued advocacy strategy, SAWTEE, together with its member institutions and academics of the region, conducts policy research on issues such as World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, regional cooperation, intellectual property rights (IPRs), competition policy, farmers’ rights, climate change and development dimension of trade liberalization. The research findings are widely disseminated among South Asian as well as international audiences comprising, inter alia, trade negotiators, NGOs, the media, the academia, research institutions, international and regional inter-governmental organizations and the donor community, in English as well as various South Asian vernaculars.
Policy research conducted by SAWTEE includes:
- Mechanism for pruning the sensitive list under SAFTA
- Trade and climate change in the context of South Asia
- Traditional health services in South Asia
- Liberalization of services trade in South Asia
- Mechanisms for protecting farmers’ rights to livelihood in the Hindu-Kush Himalayan Region
- Positive trade agenda for South Asian LDCs
- Agricultural liberalization in South Asia
- Gender implications of Nepal’s accession to the WTO