Fernando Jerez, Global Health and participation consultant - Social science and facilitation solutions.

About

I am coursing a Master's in Global Health at Bergen University in Norway. My main areas of interest are exposure science; and the development of usable evidence of health outcomes and health risks related to exposure to xenobiotics in occupational settings in the global south. I have 15 years of experience in human rights, capacity building, advocacy, accountability, and social participation of grass-rooted organizations and indigenous and marginalized populations in public health. Because of this experience, I'm very skilled in knowledge management and organizational learning for planning, evaluation, strategy development, and participatory social and biological research methods. Has been a consultant for NGOs in Latin America, Africa, and international organizations such as UNICEF and philanthropic organizations like OSF.

Experience

Open Society Foundations

Nov 2022 – Apr 2023

Remote

Knowledge Management Consultant

A technical report was developed in which learnings and innovations were abstracted from over 200 organizational documents. These documents evidenced four years of discussions among OSF and its corporate partners in organizing a global campaign to advocate for public services during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The report summarized the discussions and developed recommendations to follow up on the campaign's global advocacy efforts in international institutions and diverse government settings in Africa, Europe, and Latin America and on how to keep promoting movement-building for health equity globally.

UNICEF

May 2022 – Apr 2023

Guatemala

National Manager to promote community participation to improve COVID-19´svaccination in Guatemala

A methodological approach for community engagement was developed for the Guatemalan Ministry of Health to improve vaccination coverage in rural indigenous communities of Guatemala. This required analyzing epidemiological data to prioritize municipalities and facilitating several meetings among the Ministry of Health and organizational implementing partners for decision-making, problem-solving, and change management involving several stakeholders. Ensure compliance with UNICE´s standards and administrative protocols with organizational counterparts. Technical reports were developed monthly, summarizing advancement, challenges, and methodological approaches.

Rafal Landivar University

Apr 2022 – Jan 2023

Guatemala

Expert Consultant in Organizational Strengthening

Provide to the Institute of Natural Resources and the Environment of Rafael Landivar University and its local implementation partners an organizational strengthening protocol based on a participatory assessment approach to measure organizational capabilities. To achieve this, participatory methods were implemented and facilitated within the organizational partners. This includes facilitating several meetings to assess the organization's capabilities to achieve desired goals and decide on strategies and actions to match organizational capabilities with desired goals. There, technical reports were developed to the Rafael Landivar University and mediated versions of thosereports for the organizations.

Center for the Study of Equity and Governance of the Health Systems

Jan 2016 – Jan 2023

Guatemala

Political Strategy Coordinator

Lead in transitioning from a reactive approach to health advocacy to a systemic one based on engaging with causes. Facilitate system thinking workshops to identify root causes, problem-solving, planning, and action routes to engage with identified problems. Lead qualitative research projects and report writing. Facilitate capacity-building workshops with community leaders and staff of the organization. Provide evidence and political and context analysis to improve decision-making.

CEGSS

Jan 2016 – Jan 2023

Guatemala

Political Strategy Coordinator

University of Bergen, Norway.

Sep 2020 – May 2022

Guatemala

Field Operations Coordinator

Led the development of gathering of biological samples of 240 individuals for epidemiological study in a hard-to-reach community of Guatemala. Direct the recruitment of study participants. Manage the acquisition of laboratory equipment and instruments and hire and train staff. Ensure that the sample gathering and the recruiting of study participants fulfilled bioethics criteria. Represent the project among authorities in the Ministry of Health of Guatemala. Secure the cold chain of the samples and their delivery in Norway.

Center for Human Rights and Development.

Feb 2021 – Jun 2021

Remote

Organizational Consultant

Developed an evidence-based technical report on good practices and recommendations in using communications technology to promote legal empowerment and the organization of a grass-roots paralegal network in rural Uganda.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine/INCAP Research Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases

Jan 2020 – Jan 2021

Guatemala

Research Assistant

Assist in developing a participatory action-research project between mid-level officials from two city Councils in Guatemala. Responsible for all the day-to-day communication with the participants, data analysis, questionnaires, facilitation of workshops, work meetings, and writing of administrative and research reports.

DIALOGOS

Sep 2018 – Dec 2018

Guatemala

Research Consultant

Write a technical report developing a stakeholder analysis tool.

Alliance for the Universal and Public Access to Health Services.

Jan 2016 – Dec 2016

Guatemala

Advocacy Consultant.

Provided advice in developing a health advocacy strategy for a coalition of organizations and citizen engagement approaches.

Center for the Study of Equity and Governance of the Health Systems

Jan 2014 – Jan 2016

Guatemala

Advocacy Coordinator

Lead in transitioning from a reactive approach to health advocacy to a systemic one based on engaging with causes. Facilitate system thinking workshops to identify root causes, problem-solving, planning, and action routes to engage with identified problems. Lead qualitative research projects and report writing. Facilitate capacity-building workshops with community leaders and staff of the organization. Provide evidence, political, and context analysis to improve decision-making.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jan 2014 – Jan 2015

Guatemala

Field Operations Coordinator

Led the implementation of a randomized controlled study in 36 municipalities of Guatemala. Write technical reports of progress and assessments of the political and socioeconomic conditions of the municipalities.

Association for the Advancement of Social Science

Mar 2006 – Mar 2013

Guatemala

Research Assistant

Facilitated capacity-building seasons of qualitative research methods for the technical staff and led the development of qualitative studies.

Education

University of Bergen

Aug 2022 – Jul 2023

Master in Global Health, Public Health

Universidad Rafael Landivar

Jan 2004 – Jan 2014

Political Science, Political Science

Fernando Jerez

Global Health and participation consultant - Social science and facilitation solutions.

Skills

Languages