I engaged in this project as part of a two year Masters program in Public Health, which includes as one of its core components the application and development of skills and knowledge fundamental to the field of Public Health through the experience of a summer field placement. With great excitement I completed this program element working in Managua Nicaragua with a Non-Governmental Organization called Puntos de Encuentro (Meeting Points or Common Ground). Puntos de Encuentro is a Nicaraguan feminist non-profit development organization working in the areas of communication, research and education. Though based in the country’s capital city, Managua, its efforts target a national audience and are particularly directed towards young adults and women. Operating from a rights-based approach to development, Puntos uses multi-media methods and skills- and leadership-training, among other approaches, to promote and strengthen the individual and collective awareness and realization of rights and capacities among Nicaraguans, including those related to sexuality and gender, reproductive options, intrafamiliar violence, and HIV/AIDS.

Puntos’ institutional goal is to change social norms and attitudes over time by encouraging the development of values, attitudes, behaviors, and relationships based on principles of inclusion, respect, solidarity, non-violence, and cooperation. Programs and activities seek to facilitate this process through nurturing capabilities that allow people to challenge discriminatory, exclusionary and violent practices. Almost all programs and services are planned and executed under the umbrella of Puntos’ multi-media/multi- method strategy "We're Different We're Equal" ("Somos Diferentes Somos Iguales," in Spanish abbreviated as SDSI), which aims to promote the rights and the individual and collective empowerment of Nicaraguan youth. This strategy seeks to influence public opinion in Nicaragua, and, by extension, in other Latino cultures with similar cultures. It is an approach seen as essential to raising individual and collective consciousness. The primary mass communication components of this strategy are a television series broadcast weekly across Nicaragua and aimed towards Nicaraguan youth called Sexto Sentido, which addresses a variety of social and health issues through a telenovela-like form, and a complementary radio program, called Sexto Sentido Radio, which is broadcast Monday through Friday and offers a space for open discussion and debate of the issues presented in the television series. Puntos de Encuentro also publishes a nationally distributed feminist magazine called La Boletina, holds youth leadership training throughout Nicaragua, and supports and participates in a variety of activities conducted by other organizations and state entitites.

As a member of Puntos de Encuentro’s Research and Evaluation team, I conducted a multi-stage, multi-faceted research project to refine the organization’s methods of monitoring and evaluation. Through electronic communication with key informants, such as academics, theorists, and professionals working with social action organizations, and through internet based research I sought alternative models of: 1) evaluation used by mass communication efforts within social movements (both in general and specific to organizations) with particular interest in campaigns and programs whose goals involve overall social change, not exclusively individual behavioral change; 2) monitoring of radio programs that address social and health issues; 3) focus group execution and 4) pre-testing of television scripts with target audiences before episode production. Besides gathering information and synthesizing ideas to orient Puntos’ work, this research initiated communication with key people involved in the fields of mass communication, “entertainment-education,” public health, and social action, among other areas, thus facilitating the creation of links with organizations similar to Puntos de Encuentro within Nicaragua and abroad. Additionally, I supported the Research and Evaluation team in the creation of methodological proposals for monitoring and evaluation, especially of Sexto Sentido Radio, and in the researching stages of a project proposal to fund the evaluation of the second phase of the SDSI communications strategy, which will be focused on HIV/AIDS.

On a very practical level, my involvement at Puntos gave me the opportunity to experience the day-to-day functioning of a non-profit with limited monetary resources operating within a national context of fairly omnipresent economic struggle – a context I expect to encounter in future work in the developing world and/or with marginalized communities in the U.S. Working with Puntos also heightened my awareness of the essentiality of inter-institutional alliances and support networks both within and without of the country for the successful execution of activities and for general organizational sustenance.

Through my specific work I had the opportunity to develop skills and competencies in the areas of research and program planning and evaluation and I was able to sharpen my ability to clearly communicate to a variety of audiences, verbally and in writing, in English and in Spanish. I was able to develop a more thorough understanding of theories behind behavioral and social change and methods of mass communication – particularly entertainment-education – supported by a familiarity with social action initiatives based on these methods and, in some cases, by communication with the theorists themselves.

In conclusion, my summer with Puntos de Encuentro was an extremely valuable experience and one that I expect to serve as a personal and professional point of orientation. It was an absolute pleasure to contribute to such a dynamic and original organization and an honor and great help to receive the support of the Center for Latin American Studies through the Tinker Travel Grant.