| INSTITUTIONAL CV |
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SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE In 2003 members of the association participated in the development of the report: ‘Diagnosis of the Human Rights Situation in Mexico’, presented by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Mexican President. INCIDE Social’s contribution centred on the chapters relating to economic, social and cultural rights and to the human rights of women. The same year, and following a call for citizen projects announced by the Mexican Radio Institute, we broadcast the programme ‘Sharing Experiences’ on the AM frequency 660. The aim of this programme, which changed its name this year to ‘Citizens’ Agenda’, is to make visible the work of INCIDE Social, as well as that of other civil society organisations, in their given fields of interest. Parallel to this, with the objective of placing the issue of economic and social inequality on the public agenda, INCIDE Social worked together with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the Mexican Senate and fellow civil society organisations to create discussion forums which were then broadcast on the Congress television channel. We took part in the organisation of the three forums: ‘Urban Poverty’; ‘Inequality’; ‘State Reform and Inequality in Latin America: the Reforms Needed’. In 2004 the project ‘Inquiry into the Development of a Coordinated Social Action Plan for Ciudad Juarez’, took place at the request of that city’s Citizens’ Council for Social Development. This project received funds from the National Institute for Social Development’s (INDESOL) research programme, the Chihuahua Business Sector Foundation (FECHAC) and the Ford Foundation. The collaboration with the Council has been maintained through continued consultation with them on the development of social agendas for specific population groups, in particular work undertaken in the interests of children. One year later another research project was carried out under the heading ‘Work and Family Relations’. In November 2008 ‘The Social Reality in Ciudad Juarez’ was presented, a book containing the results of the initial diagnosis of the prevailing situation in the city, with indicators and statistics on health, education, security, housing and social and industrial relations. This publication was elaborated by members of INCIDE Social, the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Citizens’ Council for Social Development. In 2005, together with the Sustainable Rural Development Network, INCIDE Social developed the project ‘Liaison and Coordination of Public Policy Advocacy Organisations in the Area of Social Development’. The purpose of this project was to secure the coordination and training of 25 public policy advocacy organisations. INCIDE Social trained and directed the dialogue between the participants which came from across the country. Between 2005 and 2006, in collaboration with the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM), the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the Mexican Philanthropy Centre (Cemefi), INCIDE Social instigated a discussion through forums and workshops in various cities whose end result was the publication of ‘Definition of a Fiscal Agenda for the Development of Civil Society Organisations in Mexico’. Since then we have been advocates of the public discussion on fiscal reform, through which a current of opinion has been generated against the Federal Executive’s initiative which tends to vanish donations to CSOs, in favour of a fiscal regime that facilitates our work as an organised civil society. Since December 2005 we have been part of the National Human Rights Programme Follow-Up and Evaluation Coordinating Committee, a permanent body made up of members from the three tiers of government, defense agencies, academia and civil society. This committee is charged with revising, proposing and evaluating internal public policy in the area of human rights. INCIDE Social also participated in the Women’s Parliament as well as in the coordination of said organisations in respect making visible the murders and disappearances of women in Ciudad Juarez. Since 2004 we have collaborated on the ‘Diploma in Professionalisation for CSOs’ sponsored by INDESOL, the 2007 course being made available in 21 cities across the country, through the academic coordination and imparting of the ‘Advanced Module in Introduction to Social and Political Development in Mexico’. This module has also been adapted and imparted to other audiences such as the supporters of the ‘National Institute for Senior Adults’ (INAPAM), in 2004, and for the ‘Female Journalists in the Printed Media from the Social Development Source in Mexico City’, in 2006. In 2006 we participated in two electoral observation projects. The first of these was in response to the call for submissions to the programme ‘2005-2006 Electoral Observation Support Fund’, administered by the UNDP. Our project was titled ‘For a Candid Congress - What do Those Who Wish to Represent Us Actually Represent?’, and was carried out with the participation of eight other civil society organisations. The project evaluated the political parties’ adherence to democratic and equitable forms of candidate selection to the Mexican Congress and investigated the biographies of the member of parliament candidates with a relative majority in 113 districts of nine states. A publication was generated with the results of this work. The second project, financed by INDESOL and named ‘Citizen Monitoring of the Organisation of the Electoral Process’, sought to detect weak points in the organisation of the electoral process and to divulge this information by means of the Citizens’ Committee on Electoral Process Follow-Up which then passed on this information to the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) General Council and to public opinion in the form of warning calls about possible risks of misuse of the electoral process. With the material from this project we prepared informative documents and a manual on citizen participation and electoral observation. We also developed proposals for changes to the electoral legislation in relation to the processes and structures that determine the organisation of the process. Through INCIDE Social the Ford Foundation provided funds for the development of ‘Citizen Agendas 2006’, around four central themes: public security; migration; human rights; and strengthening of civil society. The aim was that for each of these areas a public policy agenda would be defined, a group of supporters would be consolidated and an advocacy strategy would be established. INCIDE Social acted as general coordinator of the project and in particular, was responsible for the preparation of the human rights and civil society strengthening agendas. The ‘Citizens’ Agenda for Public Policies on the Strengthening of Civil Society’ systematises, develops and promotes the proposals directed towards the creation of an environment favourable to the development of civil society organisations, in areas such as: types and institutions of citizen participation; normative legal framework; financing; professional training and certification; development of public institution functionality; labour protection; and information, research and documentation. In turn, the human rights agenda deals with the formation of indicators directed towards the establishment of an integral system for the monitoring and evaluation of human rights in Mexico. Since 2004 INCIDE Social has promoted the ‘Families and Democracy Seminar’, currently titled ‘Families and Public Policies Observatory’. This is a discussion space wherein academics and members of civil society organisations come together to exchange information and studies in the area, as well as to issue opinions on related public policy with a view to inserting human rights and to the construction of democracy within these. The members of this seminar have organised and promoted various events among which stand out: ‘Against Violence, Democracy within Families’ (December 2008), during which was presented a position paper for the VI World Meeting of the Families. INCIDE Social also participated as facilitator in the seminar ‘Families in the 21st Century: Diverse Realities and Public Policies’ (January 2009), out of which arose the ‘Mexico City Declaration: Families in the 21st Century’. The theme of the family is one with which INCIDE Social has worked constantly. In 2007 the organisation participated in an appeal from the Mexican Federal District Government Social Development Secretariat, the result of which is the document titled ‘Towards a Public Policy Proposal for Families in Mexico City’. Again, in 2008, we took part in the above appeal and worked on the project titled ‘Public Policies for Families: Successful Experiences from Other Countries Applicable in Mexico City’. The aim of this project was to identify and analyse public policy experiences applicable in Mexico City that seek to democratise families in other countries so as that government and civil society can advance them from a human rights and gender perspective. In 2007, with the support of the Ford Foundation, the ‘Social Policy and Human Rights Observatory’ began work. This project obtains, systematises, analyses and makes available information and indicators that in turn make it possible to learn about and to monitor the state of the country’s social policies and human rights situation and to evaluate the work of the Mexican state in the area. To date it has produced diverse informative notes, studies, and reports on the Federal Government’s implementation of social policy and on its social programmes, as well as actions advanced by the Mexican Congress and Supreme Court. In 2008 several members of the INCIDE Social team took part in the preparation of the ‘Human Rights Diagnosis in the state of Guerrero’, on the chapter relating to economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, under the coordination of the association’s Honorary President. Work was also done on the ‘Consultancy for the Federal District Government’s Expenditure Sub-secretariat’ in relation to the formation of public budgets with a gender perspective. This was achieved through the development of proposals for application in the activities of 10 local government dependencies. Other research projects are close to completion. ‘Attention Models for Undocumented Women Migrants on the Tijuana – San Diego Border in Accordance with Human Rights Principles and a Gender Focus’ allowed us to become acquainted with the attention plan employed by the members of the ‘Mother Asunta Centre’ (Casa Madre Asunta), to reinforce it in terms of human rights with a gender focus and to make this attention plan available among organisations working in the area of attention to women migrants. Another work soon to be published is the report: ‘Research and Monitoring of the Consultative Citizen’s Councils Linked to the Federal Social Policy Sector’. This investigation made it possible to analyse the functioning and activities of the citizen’s councils as well as to identify the obstacles and practices which restrict and/or guarantee effective citizen participation in the construction, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public policies through these bodies and to generate proposals for their strengthening. In addition to the above-mentioned projects INCIDE Social has participated in diverse arenas in order to advocate on public policy, such as is the case with the: Coordination Committee on Follow-up and Evaluation of the National Human Rights Programme; the follow-up work and the elaboration of proposals for the devising of the National Development Plan and the National Citizen Participation Programme; and follow-up on the work carried out in the subcommittees attached to the Secretary of Government’s (SEGOB) Government Policy on Human Rights Committee. In relation to this, from November 2007 to April 2008 several members of INCIDE Social took part in three of six working groups on the elaboration of the ‘Preliminary Draft of the 2008-2012 National Human Rights Programme’. Another noteworthy event was the organisation’s recent incorporation into the External Evaluators Directory as part of the Federal District Government’s Social Development Evaluation Committee’s General Directorate. This year, with financing from the European Union, INCIDE Social A. C. carried out/began/developed the project ‘Promotion of Public Policies in Favour of the Human Rights of Women Migrants and the Elimination of Discriminatory Practices and Violence’. This will take place in the Socunusco region, Chiapas, and will consist of six phases among which stand out: the research on the human rights situation of women migrants and the distinct forms of discrimination and violence in the region; the analysis and follow-up of public policies in the areas of migration and gender in the three levels of government; and the training and awareness raising that will involve all those who participate in the migratory process. At the same time, we began the training of Federal District Government social campaigners through the ‘Introduction to Policy and Social Development Workshop’, the objective of which is that the participants analyse the diverse fields of state social policy through the contents of four modules: social policy; human rights; citizen participation in social policy; and social programmes. Recently the United Nations Development Programme through the 2009 Electoral Observation Fund approved the financing of two projects: the first destined to the observation of electoral institutions and the second with the objective of monitoring the protection of social programmes within the electoral context.
National International Funding Sources 2009
National sources: ROSTROS Y VOCES A.C. (Faces and Voices); the Federal District Government’s Social Development Secretariat’s Social Co-investment Programme; National Womens’ Institute (INMUJERES); and member contributions.
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