COLLABORATIVE WORK IN MEXICO
AND THE WORLD ENABLES LAUNCHING RESEARCH PROJECTS

The meetings with counterparties make projects with huge dimensions possible, for which a wide collaboration with civil society organizations and academic institutions becomes necessary.

This is the case of the Budget Transparency Indexes that are being put together in Latin America and in 10 Mexican states. This is also the case of the Health Monitor in Mexico and Central America.

The Latin American Index of Budget Transparency is supported by the Open Society Institute and gathers the participation of organizations from Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. At the time, the methodology to be followed in order to create this budget transparency indicator has been presented.

In the past few months, the questionnaires have been applied regionally, which is the base for obtaining the grades of the participating countries regarding budget transparency. This week we now have the first results that will be used to elaborate the national reports and the regional one; it will be made public on November 13th.

The experience is replicated at a national level through the State Index of Budget Transparency, a research still in process. In the meetings with Mexican counterparties the methodology for the Index was presented and a work calendar was put together. Civil associations from Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Chiapas, Mexico City, State of Mexico, Michoacan, Morelos, Sonora, Tabasco and Veracruz are in charge of the study.

Regarding transparency and articulation of networks in Latin America, Fundar was present at the workshop “Young People with Transparency”, given by the World Bank in Buenos Aires, from May 8th to the 10th, and to which representatives from Argentina, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay attended.

Another great study done on a regional level consists of the Citizen Monitoring of the Right to Health in Mexico and Central America, which is supported by the Ford Foundation. The start up meeting with the participating organizations was held in El Salvador on May 28th and 29th. The research protocols were exposed there, besides discussing shared methodologies and timing activities. During this process, one of Fundar’s central ideas has been covered: conceiving the right to health as a fundamental human right.

 

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