FOCAL's programs provided timely analysis and concrete policy options for policy-makers in Canada and in the hemisphere.

In its final years, FOCAL was engaged in a Health and Education program that examined inequalities affecting marginalized populations in the Andes, an Inter-American Affairs program with particular emphasis on the Summit of the Americas and governance issues in the region, a Labour Mobility program to foster dialogue on temporary foreign workers in Canada and the development impact of diasporas, and a program on the Private Sector and development. FOCAL also ran Research Forums on Cuba, Haiti and North America.

FOCAL implemented many more projects over the course of the years. The following is a non-exhaustive list of some of the themes and research areas covered by FOCAL’s program activities:

Poverty and Inequality
Canadian Afro-Latino Forum for Research Online (CanAFRO)
Economic Development in Afro-Latino Communities
Gender Equality and CSME
Social and Economic Policy

Governance and Democracy
Civil Society in the Promotion of Democracy in the Americas
Conflict, Security and Democracy
Democracy and Participation in the Andean Region
Indigenous Governance in the Americas
Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
Institutions and Development in the Southern Cone

Economic and Social Development
Economic and Political Implications of Chinese Investment in the Americas
Corporate Social Responsibility: Meeting the Millennium Development Goals
Energy and Development in the Western Hemisphere
Private Sector Development and Economic Growth: Regional Economic Integration
Trade and Development

Inter-American Affairs
Canadian Foreign Policy toward the Americas
Ibero-American Secretariat: Likely Impact on Canada’s Influence in the Americas
A Strategic Relationship with Mexico toward 2006