Publications

Leveraging Business Diplomacy

Lichia Yiu & Raymond Saner ; (2022), “Leveraging Business Diplomacy”, in The Role of Multinational Enterprises Supporting the United Nations’ SDGs, edited by John McIntyre, Silvester Ivanaj and Vera Ivanaj, Edward Elgard,pp 190-215)

This book chapter suggests that MNEs should take into consideration the use of business diplomacy in order to successfully manage the growing number of standards of required good business practice as well as to identify opportunities for business investment and participation in the SDGs. MNEs need the knowledge and competence of business diplomats to avoid failures and loss of reputational capital, such as Nestlé and its baby milk formula or Shell Company’s misguided oil and gas exploration in Nigeria (Saner and Yiu, 2000).

Private Financing in Global Health Partnerships: Influences and Choices

Yiu, Lichia; Zeiss, Sarah & Saner, Raymond “Private Financing in Global Health Partnerships: Influences and Choices”; (CSEND Working Paper); CSEND Policy Brief No. 11, ISSN 2235-8048, September 2013

The objective of this study and its consequent report was to trace the influence of the inclusion of private finance in the global health development context through its involvement in current public private partnerships throughout the 21st century. It highlights the impact of private financing, mainly through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on the subsequent goals and indicators of the partnerships it funds, as well as the ability of those goals to address global health goals set by the MDGs and monitored by the WHO.

WTO PUBLIC FORUM 2012

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SESSION 29: PLURILATERALISM AGAINST MULTILATERALISM?: A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE*

Tuesday, 25 September 2012, 18:15 — 20:15, Room S3

This session aimed to discuss the concepts of multilateralism and plurilateralism and to assess the potential impact of plurilateral agreements within the WTO multilateral trading system. Plurilateral agreements can be concluded by three or more WTO members and cover trade issues labelled WTO plus, extra or minus. They can be adopted both within and outside the WTO framework. They can be "preferential" agreements or agreements based on the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principles. Future plurilateral trade agreements negotiated within the WTO could bring more transparency, and third parties' rights would be better protected under the WTO dispute settlement procedure.

If a plurilateral agreement is adopted outside the WTO framework, other WTO members need not be included, and negotiations would not include other WTO members not party to the agreement. It would then lead to the creation of a "soft law", since a plurilateral agreement outside the WTO would not have the same legal and political weight and could not aspire to an "international standard". A plurilateral trade agreement within the WTO that extends MFN benefits to non-treaty WTO members would avoid trade distortions. Conversely, if a WTO-based plurilateral trade agreement is kept as a preferential agreement (non-MFN), it would avoid free-riding by non-members and provide an incentive for others to join.

UNEP, science and the environment –a necessary partnership to save the planet

Raymond Saner & Lichia Yiu

The five legacy papers, Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future (2022), The People’s Environ-ment Narrative. pp 647-685, Utrecht, the Netherlands

This chapter provides an assessment of the current relation, interaction and importance of Science for the UN Environment Programme, UNEP, as a key enabler of its mandate to catalyze environmental policies, strategies and actions for the benefit of world citizens and the planet.

This review is based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with renowned international experts about their views on UNEP’s role and contributions to the international multilateral environmental system and on the emerging challenges and needs of knowledge production through science. Highlights will be given to exemplify the impact of proposed policy choices, the monitoring mechanisms created to track scientific knowledge - how it got translated and popularized - since UNEP’s inception in 1972. Observations made by these experts on UNEP’s challenges and shortfalls will also be reported. The authors conclude with recommendations on how UNEP could strengthen its science-policy-society interface and strengthen its role as key international advocate and custodian of sustained environmental development through effective science-policy-society dialogue and mutual learning.

COULD COOPERATIVES IMPROVE THE LIVELIHOOD OF SINGLE MOTHER HOUSEHOLDS IN ETHIOPIA?

Raymond Saner, Lichia Yiu and Nathan Eyasu, CSEND, 28th May 2024

The objective of this paper is to understand the poverty of Single-Mother households around the world and the factors contributing to their existence and struggles.

Using the sustainable livelihood framework, the paper analyzes the benefits cooperatives can bring to Single Mothers in addressing their poverty in developing countries in general and in Ethiopia in particular.

In Conclusion, the paper proposes additional data collection and studies to determine the impact that cooperatives can have on poverty alleviation for women and Single Mothers in Ethiopia.