The former president Ms Mary Robinson is leading a new human rights body based in New York.
The Ethical Globalisation Initiative (EGI) was set up as Ms Robinson ended her term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in September.
It is funded through partnership with a number of bodies, including the Aspen Institute, the State of the World Forum and the International Council on Human Rights Policy.
According to its senior adviser, Mr Allan Taylor, the initiative is a short-term project, designed to last 15 months, at the end of which it aims to have drawn up various strategies for the long-term sustainability of the project's work.
Its aims, set out on its website, are to address ways of creating dialogue between human rights advocates, economists and political analysts, and to build more coherence between economic and social policy at international level.
It also aims to consider how those who have been unable to enjoy the benefits of the global economy can obtain the full range of human rights norms; and to examine how poor people, especially those in Africa, can have a voice in the social and economic life of their communities and nations.
Referring to the leadership of the initiative by Ms Robinson, its introductory statement says:
"The initiative will draw on her experience and leadership in the field of human rights, her extensive network of contacts among world leaders, especially in developing countries, and in the respect accorded to her by governments and human rights activists."
The initiative will have two "tracks": the first aimed at surmounting the divide between different professional perspectives in relation to globalisation, and the second focused on supporting local and national human rights bodies. In this it will use as a case study the New Partnership for Africa's Development.
This is a project by a number of African government leaders who, according to the EGI, "have committed themselves to delivering pluralistic states, with transparent administrations, effective institutions and sound regulatory frameworks.
"Too often international assistance to developing countries has been approached from a technical, one-size-fits-all, minimalist point of view designed to ensure the success of economic development and investment rather than entrenching a culture that is rights-based with human rights objectives."
In relation to the first "track", a multi-disciplinary "human rights policy action group" will be set up.
This will comprise academics, activists and private-sector leaders, and will develop recommendations for the three-year strategic plan aimed at integrating human rights norms into plans for economic development.
This "track" will also involve the publication of policy papers and articles, as well as participation in conferences and academic institutions.
In the weeks immediately following the end of her term as UN High Commissioner, Ms Robinson gave lectures on the theme of globalisation and human rights at Harvard, Yale and Columbia universities.