Mrs. Josefina Vázquez MOTA

Josefina Vázquez Mota was born in Mexico City in 1961. She was named Minister of Social Development of Mexico by Mr. Vicente Fox when he took over as President of Mexico in December of 2000.

She obtained an Economics Degree from the Universidad Iberoamericana, with a thesis entitled: “Informality: A basic legal problem”; a thorough analysis of informal trade. To this day, she is frequently invited to give conferences, share experiences or talk to students in her Alma Mater. Other studies include the Ad1 program on Executive Business Administration at the Panamerican Institute for Executive Business Administration (IPADE) and a Diploma on “Ideas and Institutions” awarded by the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM).

After finishing her degree, Ms. Vazquez dedicated her time to travel, impart lectures and conferences and to write, among other activities. She has given more than a thousand lectures on economics, politics, social issues and gender related topics, among others, both in Mexico and abroad.

Josefina Vázquez Mota demonstrated her strong social commitment by entering the Coordinadora Nacional, Asociación Política Nacional (Citizen´s Coordination, Naional Political Association) in the early eighties, where, she became Head of the Women’s Secretariat. This organization has been on of the most active and participative in the recent democratization process in Mexico. Since then, her pledge and dedication to issues such as human development, gender issues, social action and professional and civic responsibility have been entrenched in her every day academic, political and personal life.

Josefina Vázquez Mota has also served as an advisor to several business organizations like the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce and Tourism (Concanaco) and the Mexican Patronal Confederation (Coparmex), two of the most influential private organizations in Mexico

In the 1990´s she started writing regularly for some of Mexico´s most important newspapers, namely “Novedades” where she acted as editorialist of economic and social topics and “El Economista”. She is also a frequent commentator on financial and economic topics in several radio programs.

In 2000, she was elected to Congress as a member of the National Action Party (PAN) during the LVIII Legislation period. As a Congresswoman she served as Deputy Chair of the Economic Policy Committee.

Under Ms. Vazquéz leadership at the Ministry of Social Development in Mexico, the Program Oportunidades, the Ministry’s flagship program, more than doubled its beneficiaries to almost five million families, becoming a best practice in social policy recognized by institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter American Development Bank.  Furthermore, she has introduced an innovative territorial approach to social policy in Mexico through the Microrregions Strategy, which provides basic infrastructure and services in rural areas, and through the Program Habitat, which articulates the objectives of social policy and those of territorial and urban development.

During her mandate two important legislations have been approved by Congress, the General Social Development Legislation (Ley General de Desarrollo Social), that will provide the social policy sector with clear rules and mandates over the long term, in a framework of transparency and accountability; and the Federal Law to Foster the Activities Undertaken by the Civil Society Organizations (Ley Federal de Promoción de las Actividades de las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil), that promotes legal recognition of these instances and governmental support to their activities.

Ms. Vazquez Mota has always been an enthusiastic promoter of social development efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as in the world. She has been an active participant in the Latin American Social Ministers Forum, and has celebrated Cooperation Agreements with various countries. She headed the Mexican Delegation in the General Conference of the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture, celebrated in Rome, Italy.

She is married to Sergio Ocampo Muñoz, and has three daughters: María José (14 years), Celia María (11 years) and Montserrat (7 years).