Taking Daybreaker Network to Mexico
When organizers have the tools and support to lead together, movements grow stronger.
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The grassroots run deep in Mexico
From labor unions to student movements to local assemblies, grassroots organizing has long been a force to reckon with in Mexico. Organizers have been working hard to expand democratic participation and keep authoritarianism at bay—to great success.
In the last decade alone, organizers have challenged extractive mining, energy, and infrastructure projects—often winning despite enormous political pressure. Indigenous peoples and rural communities have linked up across regions to defend territory, culture, ecosystems, and livelihoods. Women’s movements have kept gender-based violence in the public eye and political discourse. And a landmark law was passed to acknowledge the crisis of forced disappearance and the families’ right to participate in addressing it.
In the last decade alone, organizers have challenged extractive mining, energy, and infrastructure projects—often winning despite enormous political pressure. Indigenous peoples and rural communities have linked up across regions to defend territory, culture, ecosystems, and livelihoods. Women’s movements have kept gender-based violence in the public eye and political discourse. And a landmark law was passed to acknowledge the crisis of forced disappearance and the families’ right to participate in addressing it.
Photo by Barbara Zandoval
These hard-won gains are under threat
The last few years have presented grassroots movements in Mexico with a perfect storm of relentless challenges, both nationally and internationally.
Judicial institutions are weakening, and civil society is being discredited. Militarized, extractive policies are advancing. Disappearances, targeted assassinations, and extermination sites have become part of daily life. Criminal violence continues to claim over 30,000 lives a year—many of them activists, journalists, Indigenous defenders, and community leaders.
Recent global shifts in the humanitarian and philanthropic sectors have only made matters worse. The US has dramatically cut humanitarian aid, militarized its borders, and exported anti-migrant policies to Mexico. International NGOs, faced with legal and political hurdles, are retreating. Funding systems are collapsing.
Judicial institutions are weakening, and civil society is being discredited. Militarized, extractive policies are advancing. Disappearances, targeted assassinations, and extermination sites have become part of daily life. Criminal violence continues to claim over 30,000 lives a year—many of them activists, journalists, Indigenous defenders, and community leaders.
Recent global shifts in the humanitarian and philanthropic sectors have only made matters worse. The US has dramatically cut humanitarian aid, militarized its borders, and exported anti-migrant policies to Mexico. International NGOs, faced with legal and political hurdles, are retreating. Funding systems are collapsing.
Organizers need meaningful, sustained support now
There is an urgent need for social and financial infrastructure to keep these grassroots movements alive—and to help them grow and thrive.
Daybreaker Network offers a strategic, proven model to build exactly this kind of movement infrastructure. It inspires and equips local organizers and leaders to design their own learning spaces and community-building initiatives based on the capacity needs they identify within their own movements.
Over several months, we spoke with 20 grassroots leaders, organizers, and philanthropic intermediaries across Mexico. And we’re developing a plan.
The Daybreaker Network pilot program in Mexico will be co-created, decentralized, care-centered, and rooted in lived experience—built to thrive even in contexts of repression, fragmentation, or shrinking civic space. Through peer-led learning spaces, organizers can share tools, build skills, and strengthen collective power.
Here’s what the program has to offer:
Daybreaker Network offers a strategic, proven model to build exactly this kind of movement infrastructure. It inspires and equips local organizers and leaders to design their own learning spaces and community-building initiatives based on the capacity needs they identify within their own movements.
Over several months, we spoke with 20 grassroots leaders, organizers, and philanthropic intermediaries across Mexico. And we’re developing a plan.
The Daybreaker Network pilot program in Mexico will be co-created, decentralized, care-centered, and rooted in lived experience—built to thrive even in contexts of repression, fragmentation, or shrinking civic space. Through peer-led learning spaces, organizers can share tools, build skills, and strengthen collective power.
Here’s what the program has to offer:
- Scalable, community-led model that grows with the community
- Legal frameworks and advocacy tools grassroots leaders can use to defend their rights
- Local expertise and coordination: sessions led by regional experts and supported by a dedicated community organizer.
- Community grants: seed funding that engaged participants can use to launch community initiatives immediately.
- Peer-led, ongoing support systems designed for continuity, and a sustainable pipeline to bring new generations into movement work with care, stability, and mentorship.
The pilot will reflect the movement’s own priorities, geography, and political reality. Our role is to provide strategic design, training materials in Spanish and Indigenous languages, secure digital infrastructure, and proven methods that have worked in other high-pressure, repressive environments.
A story of what’s possible: Thailand
When we launched Daybreaker Network in Thailand, the challenges were similar: a vibrant but fragmented activism space where thousands of small organizations and hundreds of thousands of activists were advancing democracy, human rights, equity, and justice—but doing so in silos, competing for scarce resources, and struggling with burnout.
We began by listening. For five years, we collaborated with local organizations, and we conducted more than 30 interviews with activists, academics, and NGO leaders. Together, we built a shared vision for how to meet their challenges collectively.
One year later, Daybreaker Network Thailand is an ecosystem of more than 1,000 activists from nearly 100 organizations. It has co-led 10 learning spaces, and organized over 20 community-building events. Trusted local organizers lead the program day to day—building coalitions, running community events, and creating ongoing opportunities to learn and apply new skills. Daybreaker Network Thailand has accomplished something rare: sustainable infrastructure for coalition and cooperation in a country marked by coups, repression, and instability.
You can read more about Daybreaker Network Thailand here.
We began by listening. For five years, we collaborated with local organizations, and we conducted more than 30 interviews with activists, academics, and NGO leaders. Together, we built a shared vision for how to meet their challenges collectively.
One year later, Daybreaker Network Thailand is an ecosystem of more than 1,000 activists from nearly 100 organizations. It has co-led 10 learning spaces, and organized over 20 community-building events. Trusted local organizers lead the program day to day—building coalitions, running community events, and creating ongoing opportunities to learn and apply new skills. Daybreaker Network Thailand has accomplished something rare: sustainable infrastructure for coalition and cooperation in a country marked by coups, repression, and instability.
You can read more about Daybreaker Network Thailand here.
The vision we’re bringing
When organizers have the tools, space, and support to lead together, movements grow stronger and more connected.
That’s the vision we’re bringing to Mexico—and to other places where grassroots movements are holding the line under extraordinary pressure.
That’s the vision we’re bringing to Mexico—and to other places where grassroots movements are holding the line under extraordinary pressure.
