Interview from the Field: Tanisha Franquez Aflague
Q: How did you first get involved in the Children’s Healthy Living
(CHL) Project?
A: My involvement with CHL
began as a trainee. There were two trainees selected from each jurisdiction (Alaska,
Hawaii, Northern Marianas Islands, American Samoa, Federal States of Micronesia,
and Guam) to pursue higher education in CHL’s effort to build capacity in each
jurisdiction – my home and jurisdiction is Guam. After completing my doctoral
program, I was hired at the University of Guam. At the University of Guam, I continue
to be a part of CHL as faculty for the CHL Network (CHLN) and am a mentor for
the Child Health Assessment in the Pacific (CHAP) – an extension of CHL, which
is an undergraduate summer fellowship program. My role in CHLN is to align extension
nutrition education projects and programs within the scope of respective
funders.
Q: You are currently working as the EFNEP coordinator for the
University of Guam. How did your CHL training prepare you for this role?
A: The EFNEP coordinator
provides leadership and oversight for the program, including keeping University
administration and stakeholders informed about the program and its impact. My
professional work experience and graduate program training, including the
doctoral program, prepared me to fulfill this duty. At the core of EFNEP coordinators
are warm qualities, soft skills, adaptability, and unique community awareness
to ensure client-centered programming and implementation. CHL training prepared
me to be an EFNEP coordinator in Guam by deepening my understanding of
community-based approaches to create and leverage community partnerships to
expand the reach of EFNEP and implement Policy, Systems, and Environmental
Change programs. CHL has also increased my knowledge of my community through
understanding health disparities and social determinants to health in the
Western Pacific. My CHL experiences highlighted the strengths of Pacific
cultures to frame nutrition education, which I apply to all EFNEP efforts. Our
Pacific cultures and traditional practices are central to EFNEP
paraprofessional training, recruitment, and implementation.
Q: What are you most looking forward to at the National EFNEP
conference?
I still consider myself a
new coordinator and always look forward to the conference to continue learning
and growing to best meet the needs of Guam. I learn from other coordinators by
networking and attending sessions. The sessions clarify national regulations
and updates, as well as help me to refine my leadership and management skills.
Photo credit: Tanisha
Franquez Aflague.
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