Get to Know the Kore Timoun Fellows - Lauren Marlar
Monitoring and Evaluation Fellow
Lauren holds a Master’s of Education from Vanderbilt University's Community Development & Action program, with a certificate in Latin American Studies. She is an experienced researcher with a focus in community-driven and evidence-based international development, and she is passionate about community health and health system strengthening. Prior joining CNP, she was the Impact (M&E and Development) Intern with the Lwala Community Alliance. Lauren enjoys tea and watching stand-up comedy.
She is from Shreveport, Louisiana.
Lauren Marlar joined the Kore Timoun staff in October, 2018. She will work with us for a year.
Why were you interested in working for the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti?
Kore Timoun checked a lot of boxes for me. As an undergraduate student, I studied international development and public health in Haiti throughout my coursework and extracurricular activities, and I was able to visit and observe several health care facilities and auxiliary programs in the country. Because of this, I have wanted to work in Haiti for what feels like a long time.
I also recently worked on a project with the Community Health Impact Coalition, which inspired me to work with programs that deploy "community health workers", or any lay community-based health agent that goes the extra mile (sometimes many miles) to ensure that children and women do not fall through the cracks of healthcare coverage. Here, they are our monitrices.
What do you hope to accomplish while you are in Léogâne?
My big goal is to develop and implement an overall strategy for the monitoring and evaluation system that will last beyond my tenure here. One component of that is increasing the availability and understanding of performance information in order to increase demand and data-informed decision-making. Another is creating/updating data collection tools that really work for people on the ground.
Lauren (left) and our Kore Timoun staff get to work at the beginning of the 2019 new year.
What has surprised you the most about being in Haiti? About Kore Timoun?
I've been pleasantly surprised with our ability as fellows to go out and explore. It's almost a necessity because we live and work in the same building, but our coworkers also want us to be able to experience the "highlights" of the country as well as share in a bit of what makes Haiti home for them.
What do you hope to learn from this experience?
There are many technical skills I am building, but I think what is most important is learning how to effectively navigate a community-based organization in a way that is collaborative, producing things that are meaningful to and have buy-in from the main users and implementers (field staff, clinical staff, managers).
Our Kore Timoun fellows work because of generous donations from people like you. Please consider giving to the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti.
