Topics on Sustainable Development

Hello, this time I thought I would share with you something related to my Master's programme. I hope that more students will become more interested in this field and in the new societal arrangements that characterize our time.
In recent years intersectoral partnerships between two or more parties from different societal domains – state, market and civil society – have emerged as a powerful tool for stimulating sustainable development. These new forms of collaborative arrangements have attracted the attention of researchers and professionals alike. Such partnerships exist in different kinds of sectors and on different kinds of issues, one of them being global commodity chains. Most agro-commodity chains are characterized by Southern production and Northern consumption, which explains the unequal power balance along the chain. While producers are usually smallholders, international traders and retailers are the powerful agents in the chain. The call for improved corporate social responsibility (CSR) is inducing businesses to seek a blance between their profit generating activities and their potentially broader role in society. The response of many of multinational companies has been to participate in partnerships with producters and/or the NGOs representing the interests, and with national governments with objectives usually related to social development and environmental conservation. Example of this can be observed in the coffee, cotton, tea, fruits and vegetables global commodity chains.