By Professor Andre Nijhof and Nika Salvetti (PhD candidate). In February 2016 a new index was launched: The Access to Seeds index. It is another example of a movement that started in 2004 with the development of the Access to Medicine Index. Instead of just “naming and shaming” an index creates a platform for collective dialogue surrounding issues in a certain sector and independently ranks the performance of the main players. This proves to be an effective way to counter a race to the bottom that is apparent in so many international value chains and transforms it into a competition towards good practices. The first Access to Medicine Index was published in 2008 and ranks the world’s 20 largest research-based pharmaceutical companies according to their efforts to improve access to medicine in 107 low- to middle-income countries. Every two years a new index is published and this has become very influential in the pharmaceutical industry. Can the Access to Seeds index do the same for the agro food sector in developing countries? The future will unwrap the answer, but we are convinced that these indices are signs of a new phase in the area of sustainable development that has important implications for international diplomacy. Over the past 10 years more and more organizations – both public and private – developed sustainability ambitions and implement this in their way of working. That’s an important step to be able to contribute to the Global Goals set by the United Nations. However, the next step is how to create sustainable markets. This next step is crucial because, at present, many markets still drive unsustainable practices. As long as that is the status quo, corporate social responsibility initiatives can result in some good practices but will never grow from the margins to the mainstream. This will require the development of sustainable markets. What is needed to transform our current markets into markets that stimulate and reward sustainable products and services? Based on economic theory we know that markets can function if two conditions are met: Freedom of Choice and Full Transparency. But whose choice are we referring to? Economic theory refers to the customer of projects and services. But what about products for beneficiaries without purchasing power? And what about costs for society without a price tag attached to it? In the sustainability era, ‘the customer is king’ can no longer prevail in sustainable markets. And how can we create Transparency so that other stakeholders – next to and sometimes together with engaged customers – can stand up for these effects on society? That’s where more and more mechanisms are initiated to stimulate sustainable markets. Transparency International, the National Contact Points of the OECD, True Value and True Price measurements and the initiation of indices like the Access to Seeds index seem to be first line answers. This development has important implications for international diplomacy. How can international it ensure freedom of choice and transparency? For example by making local information available so it can be used in these indexes and adequately informing all parties about these issues. But most of all, by understanding these issues do not only relate to national interests. They are first of all embedded in a common interest to protect our planet and create fair living conditions for all its citizens. The more international diplomats voice this common interest, the more chance we have on reaching the Sustainable Global Goals. ———————————– About the authors: Prof Dr André Nijhof is full professor in Sustainable Business and Stewardship and is visiting professor at Chang Gung University in Taiwan and the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Nika Salvetti is a PhD candidate and practitioner in the field of CSR, Sustainability, Social Responsibility where she worked on in different developing countries such as Bangladesh, Uganda, Guatemala, as well as in Costa Rica, the overall Balkans and Middle East.   About Nyenrode Business Universiteit Nyenrode Business Universiteit is the only private university in the Netherlands, founded for and by business. Nyenrode pillars of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Stewardship are reflected in all of their programs which include undergraduate and graduate degrees in management, business, finance and accounting. Nyenrode is a proud partner of Diplomat Magazine. Together, we have developed the Nyenrode – Diplomat Magazine Award which recognizes the talents from the diplomat network in the Netherlands and worldwide by providing them with exclusive scholarships for the programs Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Master (MSc) in Management, full-time International MBA and part-time Executive MBA. For more information visit www.nyenrodemasters.nl/diplomat and sign up for a personal consultation.  

  By Prof. Sanmaya Rath. After the successful implementation of Digital India and Make in India campaigns, Government of India has made a nationwide launching parade of multiple skills programme called “Skill India Mission”, a saga in the academic world for all Indians by blood and taste. Now let’s analyse the nuts and bolts of Skill Development Mission by GoI which is illustrated below: About It? The primary aim is to create a framework of training, skill upliftment &employment opportunities for more than 500 million youth of India by 2020. Many schemes like PMKVY, DDU-GKY are also supposed to attain this objective. These training programmes would not only fulfil the domestic labour demand but also the global manpower requirements of countries like Japan ,the USA, China, Germany, Russia and rest of West Asia. Initially companies like IL&FS, CCD, and Centurion University have come forward to channelize the naxalites into main stream of society which is a notable success in the history of skill development. In the ages to come India will be witnessing many corporate biggies taking up skills as a CSR initiative in the industry. Key Features The whole focus is to create the employment avenues and scope of entrepreneurship in various trades like gems & jewellery, automobile, banking, retail sales, tailoring, sewing machine operation and so on. Rural India Skill is another milestone of this programme which emphasizes on domain & non domain training Rewind It has now become a priority of the nation & is quite different from the past ones. It is in fact a three tier system where the central & state governments and PIAs, SSCs, NCVT, NSDC etc. have joined hands for stability and better jobs than traditional jobs. Skill India as Trend The main concept is to enhance confidence, improve productivityof the youth through up skilling, new skilling and reskilling so that they get blue-collar jobs in order to get a better life& respect in the society. To Sum Up But the main challenges of its 2.0 version are as follows: It is quite pathetic that 2.3% of the Indian workers haveavailed the skill benefits, in comparison to 68% in UK and 52% in the US. Hence more dropped out candidates need to be channelized &mobilized. Skilling is deemed to be the final destination for those dropped outs that couldn’t succeed in traditional academics. Hence we need to create jobs across the universe instead sticking too local requirements only. The hardest task is sourcing & creating a pool of competent, knowledgeable and certified- Trainers who are ahead of time and know the sentiments of the policy, people & press .Again the target group to whom training is to be imparted is unaware about the SWOT analysis of the industry as well as future growth prospects. Photograhpy by Rinkan Das ————————— About the author: Prof. Sanmaya Rath, Training Head, Black Panther Guards & Services Pvt.Ltd, Bhubaneswar