As part of the revival of participatory forums dismantled under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro (2019–2022), this project is an action-research initiative focusing specifically on the implementation of the Brasil Participativo platform. Launched by the Brazilian government in the summer of 2023, this platform aims to facilitate citizen contributions to the creation and improvement of public policies. It was developed using the Decidim web environment — a digital participation platform that, as of 2023, was being used in 30 countries and by 240 institutions.

This project was selected under AFD's call for research proposals on “Commons and Citizen Participation”, which invited proposals exploring how commons contribute to democratic practices and citizen participation; the interactions between commons-based actors and public institutions; and the capacity of commons to shape public action.

The project is part of AFD’s research program on the commons and will contribute to ongoing reflections on the “commons-based approach” — a framework closely tied to issues of democracy and citizen engagement, as it seeks to establish shared, operational governance of the complex challenges faced by public authorities, in partnership with citizens.

This action-research project aims to:

• Analyze the Brasil Participativo initiative over the 2023–2025 period through the lens of the commons approach — focusing in particular on its governance, use, and user-generated contributions;
• Formulate recommendations on the development and governance of the platform, in order to embed principles derived from the commons approach.

Various federal public actors will be involved in the research activities, using a sector-specific approach. Through this sustained dialogue throughout the project, the ambition is to foster stronger connections between public institutions and civil society actors — especially groups that have traditionally been excluded from participatory processes, such as women, people of color, and Indigenous communities.

The project will be carried out by a multidisciplinary team, bringing together academics and civil society actors with expertise in social movements, state–society relations, digital commons, and digital participatory arenas. Public institutions will be involved from the very beginning of the project.

The methodology will combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches — including interviews, document analysis, participant observation, and user data.

The project will lead to:

• Publications, including a final report, research papers, and policy briefs;
• Communication materials co-produced with public institutions and civil society actors;
• The creation of dialogue spaces through co-construction workshops and seminars.

Trade integration has been very beneficial for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) over the past 30 years. However, multiple crisis (the financial crisis of 2008, the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, etc.) have generated uncertainty about the future of the multilateral trading system. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the fragility of certain value chains due to the vulnerability of a system in which factories are located at the other end of the world from where these goods are consumed. All this is leading to reconfigure global value chains, which tend to shorten, becoming less global and more regional – a phenomenon known as the “nearshoring model”. This new context creates an opportunity for LAC countries, and especially for Mexico, which identify themselves as the best alternative for the relocation of value chains under the nearshoring model.

Historically, the Mexican North-Central states have benefited most from the processes of integration into global value chains. This is natural, since it is where the manufacturing export base is located due to its proximity to the United States. On the other hand, the South-South-East of the country presents historical lags that make it significantly difficult to integrate it into global value chains and, therefore, to take advantage of change in the current international context.

In this regard, it is imperative to design strategies to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the nearshoring phenomenon, taking into account the particular problems of each region. This two-speed strategy is essential to define public policy interventions that can achieve more equitable regional development.

This project is part of the Extension of the EU-AFD Research Facility on Inequalities. Coordinated by AFD and financed by the European Commission, the Extension of the Facility will contribute to the development of public policies aimed at reducing inequalities in four countries: South Africa, Mexico, Colombia and Indonesia over the period 2021-2025.

This research project complements the work carried out by the Extension of the Research Facility on Inequalities in Mexico on the national care system and on the redistributive impact of environmental policies.

This project aims to deepen the study of the phenomenon of relocation of global value chains to Mexico, recognising the challenges and opportunities it generates:

• First specific objective: To present a proposal to overcome one of the most critical bottlenecks identified by the productive sector, which is electricity generation. It is suggested to close the investment gap in electricity in the short term, through investment in distributed generation with solar panels, as well as exploring sustainable and equitable options, with a particular focus on the State of Nuevo León (North of the country).
• Second specific objective: To identify economic sectors with potential to benefit from the phenomenon of relocation of value chains and to address existing gaps in the formation of talent and human capital, emphasising social inclusion and gender equity. This will include a detailed analysis for the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz (South of the country), aiming to develop skills in emerging and traditional sectors, and prepare the workforce to take advantage of opportunities in the medium and long term.
• Third specific objective: To develop a strategic plan for the implementation of a portfolio of solutions based on the recommendations identified in the first and second specific objectives.

• First specific objective: Scenario analysis will be used to measure the gap between demand and capacity for electricity generation. Solar distributed generation capacity scenarios will use Geographic Information Systems spatial analysis tools, while the estimates on the redirection of subsidies will be taken from official public sources.
• Second specific objective: Generated using a combination of international and national databases, economic metrics will serve to identify opportunities to boost productive diversification. A preliminary analysis will suggest industry clusters to prioritize. This will allow to select economic sectors with the potential to trigger industrial development, through interventions in the field of talent training. Talent gaps will then be identified through quantitative analysis. This cabinet analysis will be complemented with qualitative information (interviews, focus groups with key actors…). 
• Third specific objective: The strategic plan will follow a mission-oriented policy approach, including a detailed action plan to be presented to the Mexican Federal Government. The plan will consist of a map of possible executing units within the federal, state and/or municipal governments, an analysis of the regulatory and institutional constraints that the plan could face, as well as strategic alternatives to overcome them.

You will find below the different research papers related to this project:

In progress

Contact: 

• Anda David, research officer at AFD and scientific coordinator of the Facility

Contacto: 

• Anda David, investigadora senior en la AFD y coordinadora científica de la Facilidad