Environmental Working Group

A renewal grant to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) would support the organization’s continuing promotion of transparent, accountable public budgets in Mexico by enabling public disclosure of agricultural subsidies specifically designed to reach the rural poor. EWG provides extensive technical assistance to Hewlett Foundation grantee Fundar for processing, managing, and disclosing large public datasets in a user-friendly way. This unique partnership has made Mexican agricultural subsidy beneficiaries public for the first time, and has generated sustained interest among media, policymakers, advocacy groups, and the public. The collaboration has so far led to changes in agricultural subsidy policy in Mexico and to new restraints on public officials who were found to be illegally receiving subsidies meant for the poor. An important goal of this grant is to transfer necessary technical support from EWG to Fundar over the course of the grant period.