Social Watch is a civil society research and monitoring initiative which currently involves hundreds of NGOs in some 60 nations. It was formed in the wake of the 1995 UN Social Summits in Copenhagen and Beijing, with the goal of monitoring how our governments were meeting their commitments to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality.
Each year country reports are developed around a unifying theme, synthesized and brought together in a global report produced by the Secretariat, which is located at the Third World Institute in Montevideo, Uruguay. This report is available in several languages.
Since 2000, economist Armine Yalnizyan has authored the Canadian report for Social Watch. The Canadian Social Watch initiative is funded by the International Development Research Centre, a public corporation of the Parliament of Canada. The Canadian Social Watch is now housed with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, in collaboration with the North South Institute.