Wednesday evening Daniel and I met with Dr. Victor from USAID. He has been working with USAID on a program called Municipios y Comunidades Saludables (Healthy Municipalities and Communities) for the past few years. The program is based on a self-diagnosis of the problems of the community that leads to a plan of action to solve such problems. The primary tool for identifying the problems of the community and of the families involved is a diagnostic questionnaire that asks details about different aspects of daily life. The most important characteristic of this program is that the families and communities are responsible for completing their own diagnostic and forming their own plans of action. This method should result in the most honest answers and the most promising plans for change. As outside organizations, USAID and Nexos Voluntarios (NeVo), cannot know what the most serious problems of the community are or how to solve them without the support of the community.
The survey that is being used for NeVo's purposes asks questions that are similar to those in the USAID diagnostic, but it is not as specific in some areas. While community development needs to be thought about as being a long-term project, it is also a multi-dimensional project. At this time Nexos is not only focusing on health, we are still trying to grasp what the people of Media Luna perceive as their most pressing issues. From the results of the survey so far, there is no consensus on which problems need immediate attention. We have decided not to incorporate any of the diagnostic's questions into our survey at this time and to continue with the questions as they are.
Even though a self-diagnostic seems like a great option to gather information about a community, in the rural areas (the focal points of this program) organizations need to anticipate people who are illiterate or non-Spanish speakers.
More information on USAID and the Healthy Municipalities and Communities program is available at the following website: www.comunidadsaludable.org
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