ISTR Sixth International Conference Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004 Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World

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Building Citizenship and Voluntary Participation in Mexico:Social and Economic Implications from a National Study
by
Jacqueline Butcher
Rio Escondido # 14, Mexico City, Mexico 53900

SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THIRD SECTOR RESEARCH (ISTR) RYERSON UNIVERSITY and YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, CANADA JULY 11-14, 2004 CONTESTING CITIZENSHIP AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN A DIVIDED WORLD Building Citizenship and Voluntary Participation in Mexico: Social and Economic Implications from a National Study Jacqueline Butcher CEMEFI/Universidad Iberoamericana Conference Theme: Civil society, solidarity and economy-is there another economy?

Changing political, social and economic conditions in Mexico have led to the need of understanding why and how people participate, the various ways in which this occurs, and in what measure they contribute to their society. This paper flows from the findings of the first National Volunteer Survey ever undertaken in Mexico. The Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI, 2003) has engaged in a 15 month study that includes: a) a look into the historical (Reygadas, 1998) and cultural factors (Verduzco, 2003) embedded in Mexican society that surround giving and volunteering, b) findings from a national survey on voluntary action and service, c) a series of case studies on CSOs that add a qualitative understanding of the sector, and finally d) theoretical and empirical (Butcher, 2003) research that reveals a comprehensive outlook on both formal and informal volunteer participation throughout the country. One of the main hypotheses is that, as in the case of the economy, there is a large proportion of informal participation, which in a way, explains the subsistence of almost half of the country´s population living in extreme poverty. The results of the study provide an informed basis for decision making in the government public policy arena and reveal ways for established CSOs to promote and enable citizens for more effective participation in community issues.

This is the first time a study of such nature has been attempted due to the lack of reliable information on the Sector as a whole and on volunteer participation in particular. The National Statistics Agency, INEGI does, however, provide basic demographics on labor and on household expenditures. One of the objectives of the study was for INEGI to include several key questions on voluntary participation in their surveys, to subsequently provide ongoing statistical information for the public at large. Other sources of information for the study include the latest government information on citizen participation (ENCURP, 2003) research from national economic and social science institutions, practitioners and informed individuals from the Third Sector. Although Mexico was one of the countries involved in the Johns Hopkins Comparative 22 country study,( Salamon & Anheier, 1966) the rapidly changing social and political situation of the country requires new information on the size, growth and nature of the Sector, and specific information on participation, which implies continuous refurbishing, updating and ongoing research.

The social and economic implications of voluntary action are also discussed in this paper since participation, solidarity and voluntarism are some of the important sources for the creation of social networks and trust, basic ingredients in the formation of the social capital (Putnam, 2000) within any given country. The numbers of participants, their economic contribution in volunteer hours in the formal and informal ambiance, plus the ways in which individuals become responsible citizens become key issues in the search of solutions to the country´s utmost needs: poverty, inequality, resource distribution, governance and civic participation.

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Butcher, J. (2003). A Humanistic Perspective on the Volunteer-Recipient Relationship in Dekker, P., & Halman L. (Editors). The Values of Volunteering: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Ch. 7.

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Salamon, L. & Anhier, H. (1996). The Emerging Sector. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University. Institute for Policy Studies.

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Swilling, M. & Russell, B. (2002). The Size and Scope of the Non-profit Sector in South Africa, South Africa: P&DM, University of the Witwatersrand & CCS, University of Natal.

Thompson, A., & Toro O. (1999). El voluntariado social en América Latina: tendencias, influencias, espacios y lecciones aprendidas. Sociedad Civil, Análisis y Debates. Núm. 9 , Vol. III.

Verduzco, G. (2003). Organizaciones del Sector No Lucrativo: Visión de su Trayectoria en México. México: CEMEFI & COLMEX.

Date received: September 29, 2003

Copyright © 2003 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # camk-79.