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Monterrey, Nuevo León, June 14, 2021. The pilot project for the Signos Vitales program, facilitated by Comunalia in Mexico, will be carried out in collaboration with Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad in Baja California; Fundación Punta de Mita in Nayarit; and Fundación Comunidad in Morelos, with an initial investment of 1 million pesos.
Through Signos Vitales, the Alliance of Community Foundations of Mexico will seek to identify areas of opportunity and strengths in the communities where our partner foundations are located, in order to promote initiatives that improve the collective quality of life and foster sustainable development.
The three selected foundations will focus on health, education, community development, food sovereignty, child development, climate justice, and women and children in migration situations. Learn more about their initiatives below:
- International Community Foundation (FIC), in Tijuana, Baja California: will address the needs of women and children in migration situations through a quantitative research component conducted in partnership with the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, utilizing Migration Surveys, a graduate thesis, and collaboration with academics and the Municipal Institute for Women; and a qualitative research component involving dialogues organized by the FIC and community members to define locally relevant indicators. The analysis will result in the preparation of a report to disseminate the findings and facilitate the development of agreements. This work will also help the FIC initiate collaborations with the International Community Foundation and CFLeads’ “Building Communities in the Americas” program.
- Fundación Punta de Mita (FPM), in Corral del Risco, Emiliano Zapata, and Higuera Blanca in Nayarit: Based on its focus areas of health, education, and community development, FPM will facilitate dialogues among community members to identify local priorities; it will collect qualitative and quantitative community data on these topics, and subsequently publish a report. In a second round of discussions, they will present the research findings to stakeholders to define joint strategies for working with the community. The findings and input will enable the Punta de Mita Foundation to establish its 2022–2026 Strategic Plan, as well as to forge and strengthen partnerships.
- FundaciónComunidad, in Morelos: will seek to expand the scope of its food sovereignty and child development initiatives and venture into the area of climate justice. To this end, it will conduct a geostatistical analysis in collaboration with the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos, organize community dialogues to conduct mapping exercises and identify local strengths, and, finally, promote the formation of a community council to define research indicators. It proposes a second round of discussions to map relationships, systems, and structures; and a third dialogue with the community council to produce a report. Fundación Comunidad’s initiative aims to identify areas of opportunity so they can be addressed strategically.
The partner community foundations participating in this phase use Signos Vitales’ structure and support as a tool to gather and organize the wealth of knowledge and social information scattered among the various community stakeholders in order to make informed and strategic decisions and foster collaboration with other stakeholders.
Signos Vitales, known as Vital Signs in English, was launched in 2001 as an initiative of the Toronto Community Foundation. It is currently coordinated by Community Foundations of Canada and is implemented in 85 communities around the world. Mexico participates under the leadership of Comunalia.
Check out the reports from our community foundations:
Vital Signs: Southeastern Coahuila Region 2023
Learn more about Signos Vitales.
