According to Weimer and Vining, policy analysis is a “client-oriented advice relevant to public decisions and informed by social values” (2005, p 24). As they state, their definition emphasizes the idea of providing useful advice to clients and the importance of social values, since good policy analysis adopts a comprehensive view of a policy's consequences, even beyond those that affect the client. So, policy analysis or advice ideally will be united in one smooth continuous process: research, analysis, options, consultation, proposals, and decisions all guided and informed by advice. This simple sequential model is one that many policy advisers have in mind when setting out on the path leading to a decision (Wilson, 2006).

Since policy analysis is related to public decisions, the majority of policy analysis is to be found in government. However, in non-governmental and non-profit organizations daily operations intrinsically involve public decisions.

It is unquestionable that during recent decades civil society organizations (CSOs) all over the world have acquired an important role in policymaking. CSOs increasingly have consolidated themselves institutionally and some have professionalized their work, becoming an important alternative for growing sectors of activists and technicians who offer concrete support services to grassroots development initiatives. Moreover, CSOs no longer focus on developmental projects but have moved to a more political arena, where they carry out other functions such as monitoring elections, protecting human rights, designing and implementing social and developmental projects, and giving a voice to excluded minorities.

The goal of this chapter is twofold: on the one hand, it will examine to what extent some CSOs in Mexico conduct policy analysis, as well as the sources of the growing demand for policy research by the third sector. On the other, it will analyze whether they use policy analysis to exert influence in policymaking, and the factors promoting and constraining their impact in shaping Mexican public policy.

Defining terms: third sector, NGO, CSO

“Third sector organizations” is a term used to describe the range of organizations that are neither from the public sector nor from the private sector. It includes voluntary and community organizations (both registered charities and other organizations such as associations, self-help groups, and community groups), social enterprises, and cooperatives.