This article evaluates a series of civil society initiatives concerning the design of Brazilian public health policies stemming from the analysis of three cases in which non-governmental organizations played a significant role in the three last decades: the Aids epidemic, women's health and the psychiatric reform. It studies the birth of NGOs in the context of civil society participation in the country, it identifies its distinctive characteristics in relation to other forms of association and it compares their specific paths in the case of Aids, women's health and the psychiatric movement. It points to common dilemmas in the field of NGOs at the end of the 1990's and the need for studies about the participation of civil society organizations in the development of social public policies, specially in the area of public policies concerning violence.
Non-governmental organization; Public health policies; Public security policies