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Jaime Villasana Dávila specializes in local government and content.

He has been involved with Mexican municipalities and local governments since 1997, addressing issues such as:

  • Government plans, programs, and reports.
  • Content on electoral platforms and institutional documents.
  • Measurement and evaluation of institutional capacity.
  • Citizen participation in public affairs.
  • Results-Based Budgeting (RBB).
  • Performance Evaluation Systems (PES).
  • Local political parties and regionalism.

From 2002 to 2021 worked at International City / County Management Association (ICMA) - Mexico/Latin America section (ICMA-ML). Within ICMA-ML, he held various positions and participated in multiple programs/projects with municipal and state governments, public entities, Mexican civil organizations and international development organizations such as USAID, World Bank, Open Society Foundations, Chemonics, Tetra Tech, among others. As part of ICMA-ML, he coordinated from 2002 to 2023 the SINDES Program for the comparative performance of municipal indicators, in which more than 60 Mexican municipalities participated.

He worked in the Saltillo municipal government as Mayor´s Assistant (1997-1999) and with the Mexican federal government (2001). He coordinated a political campaign in his hometown (Saltillo, 1999) and worked briefly in the private sector and in the newspaper El Norte of Grupo Reforma (2000-2001). He began writing in 1999 for the newspaper Palabra (Grupo Reforma).

In 2002 he began writing his local column in the newspaper Diario de Coahuila and from 2007 to 2014 was published in the newspaper 10 Minutes from Saltillo, Coahuila. In 2015 he published his column in the newspaper La Jornada Aguascalientes. From 2016 to 2022 he wrote occasionally in his blog. From May 2023 he writes twice per week his column DESDE AFUERA at the digital newspaper Más Información, based in Saltillo.

From 2004 is a member of the Network of Researchers on Mexican Local Governments (IGLOM), Co-founder in 2002 and member of Citizens for Transparent Municipalities (CIMTRA) and from 2013 to 2015 member of the Mexican Association of Political Science (AMECIP). He taught at the Tec de Monterrey Campus Saltillo and Campus Santa Fe (Mexico City).

From 2013 to 2019 he wrote about technology at Xataka-México (XM) and for Weblogs SL (today Webedia), owner of XM. From 2019 to 2023 was editor and then partner at TodoGravel.com.

Founder and editor of the following websites:

  • Localeando.com, covering Mexican municipalities, regionalism, and politics, and promoting events and publications on these topics. Also covering international affairs.
  • Gravelymas.com and its YouTube channel, an information portal/channel about cycling, primarily gravel.

Author of the books: México, the future of its national and territory unity, Regionalism in Mexico at the Beginning of 21st Century and The Municipal Administrator (City Manager) in Mexico.  Co-author of the book Municipal Experiences, a brief story of personal moments related to the Mexican municipalities.

He is also Co-Editorial Coordinator of the editorial project Vivencias Municipalistas, of which Volume I and Volume II have been published, and Volume III is in (eternal) production.

Full list of publications here and full list of papers here.

PhD in Political Science (cum laude) from the University of the Basque Country (Spain), Master of Public Administration and Political Rights by the International Institute of Law and State (Mexico DF). Bachelor in marketing from Tecnologico de Monterrey - Campus Monterrey.

Currently he is an independent consultant in local governments and contents.

Frequent traveler, he has lived in Saltillo (Mex), Monterrey (Mex), Mexicali (Mex), Mexico City, St. Catharines (Canada), Tokyo (Japan), Bilbao (Spain), Vienna (Austria) and Washington DC. Currently resides in Bangkok (Thailand).

He was born in Saltillo, Coahuila, México.