Dear friends,

We would like to begin Fundar's first bulletin of 2008 by wishing you that this year be filled with satisfactions and overcome challenges.

During this year, Fundar will continue working in order to provide useful information for Mexico's democratic transformation. Thereby, it is a priority for our team to continue strengthening the relation with allies and counterparties, for which one of the streams which we consider growing and invigorating is, precisely, the activities focused on improving capabilities for citizen incidence. Among our activities we will carry out those directed towards building arguments for demanding the right to health and those for transmitting skills and knowledge (within our specialization fields such as: budget analysis, information access and communication for incidence) with new instruments which will allow us to obtain better results.

Regarding human rights, Fundar shall dedicate to the analysis of public institutions, focusing on historically discriminated groups, especially indigenous people, with an also innovative approximation: the quest for accountability of the Judicial Power. In a related topic, 2008 will be key for the consolidation of the Civil Monitoring of Police and Security Bodies in Guerrero´s Mountain, recently created. This initiative grew from the joint work with the Human Rights Center of the Mountain: Tlachinollan, and the Institute for Security and Democracy (INSYDE).

Other two processes in which Fundar will be involved this year shall be the follow up of the State reform and an analysis of the most relevant programs of subsides for agriculture. Finally, but not least important, we will deepen our research on oil incomes and Mexican Petroleum´s fiscal regime, in an environment that seems quite interesting: the country´s energy reform.

Therefore, in this edition of Fundar´s Bulletin you will find relevant news on processes with which our team closed last year. In an overall balance of 2007, Fundar prepared, among other things, more than half a dozen publications on several subjects of public interest; it substantially collaborated in three broad coalitions: the International Budget Project, the Collective for Transparency and the Coalition for Women´s Health (with the latter we managed the approved budget to include labeled expenditure for women which was not contemplated in the proposal). Regarding Fundar´s commitment with the transfer of citizen capabilities on budget analysis and tools for incidence, we trained more than 40 national organizations and over 30 worldwide; many of these trainings were done along with the International Budget Project. [ more]

CINEMA AND HUMAN RIGHTS
http://www.ficco.com.mx/index_.html

NEW BOOK OF ACCOUNTABILITY POLITICS
The University of California in Santa Cruz announces the publication of the new book of Jonathan Fox, expert on democratization and civil participation in Mexico since 1982.

MEXICAN ALMANAC Sergio Aguayo Quezada presents the 2008 version of Mexican Almanac. This publication shows through numbers the political

THIRD SECTOR IN MEXICO AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Several researchers of Fundar presented results of their research work on transparency, accountability and citizen

DISCUSSION PANEL "PHILANTROPY AND CIVIL SOCIETY: The Challenge of Impact Measure and the Legitimity Quest”. February 27 11:45 am at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) Río Hondo Núm. 1 Col. Progreso Tizapán, Ciudad de México. Confirm with Carlos Enrique Torres o Rosa Marta Soto al teléfono 56284000 Ext. 3948 y 3901.

FUNDAR PROMOTES CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN THE WORK OF SUPERIOR AUDITING OFFICES
From November 5th through the 7th, 2007, Fundar participated in the 19th International Congress of Institutions of Supreme Audit of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI)

INTERNATIONAL DISCUSSION ON NATURAL RESOURCES, DEVELOPMENT AND DEMOCRACY IN LATIN AMERICA
In early December, Fundar was invited to participate in an International Seminar summoned by Citizen Proposal, Oxfam International and Revenue Watch Institute and supported by the ECLAC and the Pope Catholic University in Lima, Peru

NAUCALPAN STRENGTHENS THE CAPABILITY OF ITS POLICE UNDER THE PROXIMITY MODEL
From December 1st to the 6th , 2007, Fundar collaborated with the General Direction of Public Security and Transit of

HUMAN RIGHTS CLINICS DISCUSS STRATEGIC LITIGATION
Between November 14th and 16th 2007, members of the Project of Strategic Litigation and Human Rights of Fundar attended the Meeting of the Latin American Network

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS, USE YOUR RIGHTS!
On November 21st and 22nd of the year which has just ended, within the event “Know your rights, use your rights” in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the regional office of the British Council in Latin America summoned several actors to participate in working sessions in order to build a regional effort on information access.

EXCERCISES OF TRANSPARENCY IN POLICE FUNCTIONS
On November 22nd, the second working panel Transparency and Police Function took place, organized by the Institute for Security and Democracy

INTERNATIONAL DISCUSSION ON GLOBAL MOVEMENT IN FAVOR OF TRANSPARENCY
From November 26th to the 29th, 2007, the 5th International Conference of Info rmation Commissioners (ICIC) was held in Wellington, New Zealand. This meeting is summoned by the commissioners and councilors of information access, as well as ombudspersons and other people that occupy public offices