India's FTA Strategy: Rethinking Dispute Resolution beyond ISDS

Each year ArbitralWomen provides support to a number of Teams who participate in dispute resolution competitions, such as the Vis or Vis East International Arbitration Moot by covering their registration fee.

Following are the conditions for the funding:

1. Any qualified team requesting financial assistance must complete an application form providing details of the teams, resources, and the reason for the requested assistance. The application form is available on the website, and may be amended from time to time as the Board deems appropriate.
2. The Board, through its Moot Bursary Committee, shall consider all applications received and decide which team(s) shall be supported through payment of its(their) registration fee to compete. In general, teams selected will be from different countries. Applications filed after the deadline will be disregarded.
3. Criteria of selection:
   • The team must reflect ArbitralWomen's mission of promoting the participation of women in dispute resolution, i.e. at least half of the members of a team must be women.
   • The team must demonstrate the need for financial assistance.
   • Priority will be given to teams:
     • who have not previously participated, and whose school has not previously participated;
     • who have no support from their universities or no coach;
     • who come from developing countries or jurisdictions which, in the sole discretion of the Board, are in the greatest need of support for the advancement of women in dispute resolution;
     • of smaller number of students composing the team (for example 4 students as opposed to 8).
4. An all-female team may be awarded the ArbitralWomen President’s Bursary if the other requirements are met.
5. Nothing in this Policy prevents a team, which has already received funding in one year, from applying in future years. The Board shall treat each application on its merits and in relation to other applications received for that particular year.
6. The Board shall effect payment to the final payee rather than directly to the team. In the event the team for any reason cannot participate, the Board at its sole option may request a refund from the organising authority, may request the organising authority to apply the funds to assist another team in that year, or may request that the funds be used to pay for another team in the following year.
7. Funding will, in the first instance, be sought from external sponsors, who shall be identified and introduced to the sponsored team(s). Further funding by ArbitralWomen itself in any given year will be contingent upon the existence and maintenance of sufficient funds in the account of ArbitralWomen. Each year, the Board will decide the number of awards to be given in that year. Nothing in this Policy obliges the Board to provide funding in any given year.
8. Although the ArbitralWomen Moot Bursaries are limited to payment of the registration fee, as mentioned above, there is nothing to prevent the chosen sponsors from providing additional assistance to the teams assigned as their "fundee", but any such arrangement will be made directly between the sponsor and the applicable team.