Social Development and Citizen’s Initiative, INCIDE Social, A.C., is a non-profit civil association made up of a group of people with experience in the academic arena, in research, and in civil activism, who decided to organise in order to promote a series of values and principles that included respect for democracy; justice; state social responsibility; and citizen participation. The organisation works in research, training and coordination and participates in the promotion of advocacy in public policy and in making civil society agendas more visible.

It is made up of an assembly of approximately 40 members in which policy is defined and decisions about the life and activities of the organisation are made. The assembly has a Executive Committee. It also has an Executive Office and a small operative structure that is in charge of monitoring the assembly’s agreements, administering the organisation’s resources, supporting and participating in the diverse work projects, and of representing the organisation before varied institutions. It also has a Government Council. It is located in Mexico City and deals with national and regional issues as well as those associated with Mexico City.

Its work is carried out within the following areas: research and training in policy and social development and human rights; promoting dialogue, coordination and advocacy in public policy within Civil Society Organisations (CSO); and promoting democracy.

Since its creation in 2003, INCIDE Social has: worked as a consultant towards the formulation of social and human rights diagnoses and agendas; given workshops on policy and social development; instigated debates on inequality, discrimination and poverty and the development of methodologies for deepening our knowledge of the factors that influence peoples’ and families’ development. In the area of human rights it has contributed to the incorporation of a human rights focus within public social policies through research activities, development of methodology and indicators, monitoring, follow-up and evaluation of public policy and training with an emphasis on economic, social, and cultural rights and on the rights of women.

In the area of social dialogue, INCIDE Social works towards the strengthening of the advocacy capacities of civil society organisations through research, training, coordination and systematisation of agendas. In terms of democracy it promotes the presence of impartial citizens within the autonomous organs of the state; proposes legislative norms and changes that expand the spaces for citizen participation and the protection of political rights; and coordinates federal electoral process observation with new and innovative approaches.