A one-day workshop on the roles of CSOs, evidence and policy was held with a group of Mexican and Central American researchers in June 2005. The workshop was facilitated by John Young and Enrique Mendizabal and was designed to allow participants to present case studies, discuss their own experiences in trying to influence policy as well as to learn new strategies or techniques that might be useful to them. The workshop included a presentation by ODI's Director, Simon Maxwell, who was asked to give a short presentation on running think tanks. Time was also allocated, particularly during lunch, to informal conversations.

The workshop also offered the Civil Society Partnership Programme (CSPP) an opportunity to consider the views of researchers in a region not covered by the consultation workshops. These findings will be compared against those drawn from the regional consultations in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.

The participants were researchers from various independent and academic research and policy advocacy institutions in Mexico and Central America. Some of the participants presented their experiences in trying to influence local, national and global policy. ODI presented its work on CSOs, Evidence and Policy Processes and facilitated a discussion on the challenges faced by Latin American researchers.

The workshop set out a series of opportunities for future collaboration between ODI and the participants.