1. Description of Service
Capacity building of Health Center Personnel
● Facilitated a monthly departmental Training of Trainers Workshop with a focus on
sustainability, leading to 40 Rural Health Technicians gaining skills in order to educate
their employees in each of their 24 health districts on topics including behavior change,
adult learning principles and lesson planning.
● Developed materials for and co-facilitated weekly maternal and child health trainings and
lectures resulting in 15 local health personnel including doctors, nurses, the Rural Health
Technician and community health promoters sustainably implementing improved adult
teaching methodology to educate mothers in the community.
Family members adopting Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) behaviors and
practices
House Visits
● Coordinated with health personnel to conduct monthly house visits in five communities
in order to encourage mothers to timely vaccinate their children.
Women’s Group
● Founded a community-based women’s group and provided health awareness trainings
on women’s health issues. The health sessions provided an introduction to the topics of:
sex and gender, emotional and physical health, social status, human rights, women’s
empowerment, and health awareness.
● Designed culturally appropriate lesson plans utilizing imagery and interactive activities,
specifically to empower illiterate women to understand the concepts of maternal care
and women’s health.
Midwives & Pregnancy Club
● Organized, recruited, and facilitated monthly midwives and pregnancy support groups in
the community, conducting several lectures on: safe and proper ways of childbearing,
family planning, stages of pregnancy, exclusive breastfeeding, nutrition pre/post
pregnancy, newborn care, warnings signs during pregnancy, and hand washing, resulting
in women adopting practices leading to safe pregnancies and healthy infants.
“Brave Mothers” Group
● Mentored and empowered mothers with malnourished children by presenting
educational sessions on nutrition.
● Co-planned and coordinated with ICTA (The Science, Technology, And Agricultural
Institute) and “Brave Mothers” to organize and lead the construction of a community

2. garden at the Health Center in order to promote the nutritional well-being of mothers
with malnourished children.
Secondary Projects
Census
● Support health personnel with managing and maintaining the census in 6 communities
(population 12,597). The purpose of the census was to record the number of families, pregnant
women, children, infants, and animals in order to manage and take inventory of the amount of
medicine needed in the community.
Nutrition Work Group
● Arranged, categorized and updated lessons plans on nutrition for 50 Maternal and Child
Health Peace Corps Volunteers and Guatemalan health post personnel from
communities located in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Held monthly meetings,
to implement new ideas, projects, as well as reviewing and correcting Spanish grammar
of lesson plans.
Teacher Training (Experiential Learning cycle)
● Co-facilitated a training on the Experiential Learning Cycle to a group of teachers in the
community. Introduced and trained teachers on how to correctly execute a health
manual containing the experiential learning cycle format in order to provide educational
health topics to their students.
● Coordinated a training on the Healthy Schools Project, the Healthy Schools Municipal
Healthy Schools Commission to promote, orchestrate and ensure ways for students to
have healthier snacks and lunch meals.
Community Gardens
● Orchestrated teacher, parent and student collaboration to plan and construct a school
garden and family tire gardens, utilizing internal resources, to empower families to
replicate the process of creating gardens and to support nutrition.
Friendly Spaces
● Facilitated and programed educational health sessions to 35 adolescents (ages 10-18) in
the community, reducing teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, and
fostering positive self-image and career development.
Group Promises
● Trained and mentored student leaders from 4th
to 6th
grade on health topics and guided
them in replicating lessons plans in their classrooms.
Health Camp

3. ● Collaborated with, organized and educated a group of students aged 8-13 on various
health topics including: stress management, gender equality, and nutrition. Prepared
culturally appropriate lectures on gender equality by giving real-life examples about
gender stress, and nutrition.
The Vagina Monologues
● Performed in The Vagina Monologues, a play written by Eve Ensler, to raise awareness
about violence against women and social restrictions on women’s sexuality. Collaborated
with several Peace Corps Volunteers, Guatemalan women, and Quetzaltenango branch
of the Municipal Office of the Woman. 300 people attended the production, and all the
proceeds (total of Q2,249.85=$326.64 were given to Pies de Occidente a non-profit
organization of Quetzaltenango. Pies de Occidente helps to promote the health and
wellbeing of women and youth in rural indigenous communities of the Western
highlands of Guatemala.
Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC)
● Scheduled and recorded tri-monthly meetings with Peace Corps Guatemala staff in order
to foster communication between Peace Corps staff and Volunteers. Tri-monthly
meetings allowed the VAC members to be able to negotiate and resolve issues related to,
security, housing, time away from site, and other Peace Corps policies.