Mexican Solidarity: Findings from a National Study

This article presents the results of a two-year nationwide study presenting the structure and methodology utilized for the National Survey on Solidarity and Volunteer (ENSAV), one of the first national volunteer surveys ever undertaken in Mexico. This study is designed in two distinct segments to be able to engage all formal and informal volunteering in Mexico. The first segment is the analysis of a nationwide survey which presents the main data and findings plus the analysis of these numbers. The second segment reveals some of the main motivations that individuals have for giving and for participating both within and outside of group settings. The national nature of this research project reveals interesting patterns of volunteerism and citizen action by gender, location, and motivation, plus various forms of solidary participation that may be useful guides in the prevailing need to build and strengthen civil society organizations in Mexico and in this region of the world. These results provide an informed basis for decision making in the government public policy arena and reveal distinct and diverse ways for established CSOs to promote and enable citizens for more effective participation in community issues (Butcher, Springer, 2010).