Evaluación y participación social en el marco de la gerencia pública necesaria

latin america has significant deficiencies in its systems of governmental management and participation. mexico is not an exception. the objective of this article is to analyze the process of the evaluation of mexican public action and social participation within the context of public management. thirty-one evaluated social programs are analyzed, using documentary analysis in combination with interviews with the involved actors. the variables studied were: organization of the evaluation system, resources utilized, sources of information and data treatment, content of the evaluation, and participation on the part of the beneficiaries and the social organizations involved. the conclusion is that mexico is far from achieving the levels of participation and evaluation which are proposed. important advances have been made in the evaluation of public programs, but there are still many problems and effective mechanisms of social participation have not been developed.