Camino Verde facilitators in Mexico

Facilitators from all three of the Camino Verde regions during a meeting to exchange experiences, carried out at CIET’s Acapulco headquarters in December 2011

The facilitators are a multidisciplinary group consisting of 21 young recent graduates from different disciplines, such as psychology, anthropology and environmental sciences, at the Autonomous University of Guerrero. The group includes 17 women and four men, aged between 22 and 40 years. They all share an enthusiasm for community work and working in teams.

These people are the leaders of the Camino Verde intervention in the field. Their main tasks involve training, accompanying and supporting the brigadistas to meet all their needs.

The training they provided to the brigadistas started with how to return the children’s saliva test results (on recent dengue virus infection) to the parents. It went on to training on such things as  the vector mosquito’s life cycle, the entomological monitoring of potential breeding sites and the use of social networks.

Facilitators also accompany the brigadistas when they perform initial household visits to speak with their neighbours and carry out entomological inspections with residents. Also, they and the brigadistas make arrangements to request services in the communities, such as garbage collection. They also provide support for the brigadistas as mediators to solve conflicts with community members. Facilitators are the ones who deliver the material resources necessary for the brigades’ activities, and act as the link between the community and project leaders.