Peace Corps Communications and Marketing Projects
As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I worked as a Clinic and Health Team Specialist with the Kgalagadi South District Health Management Team (DHMT) in Botswana. My mission focused on reversing the decline in HIV testing rates and addressing the rise in HIV, STIs, and teenage pregnancies. I developed a youth-focused digital communications strategy that introduced the DHMT to the power of digital outreach. This included launching the district’s first Facebook page and health website, significantly expanding their ability to engage young adults and deliver relevant, accessible health education. One of our most successful initiatives was the creation of Botswana Passions, a storytelling-based digital drama series published through the Botswana Health News platform. This innovative approach brought taboo health topics to the forefront and helped the district reach over 60,000 people across social media channels. The campaigns were recognized nationally for their creativity and impact in public health messaging.
Scroll through to read more about the projects I developed during my Peace Corps Service.
Botswana Passions
I created this online health drama to discuss health issues and other social topics with a storytelling approach. This new medium was designed to further combat message fatigue. The numbers steadily improved, with Episode 17, reaching nearly 60,000 people and gaining more than 1,300 likes.
The Director of the CDC in Botswana approved the COVID-19 messaging.
The United States Embassy in Botswana shared the COVID-19 episode and endorsed Botswana Passions as a great medium to learn about and discuss health.
Botswana Health News
I created the district’s first social media platform to share health news. A significant concern with health education in Botswana was message fatigue. As the number-four leader in HIV prevalence globally, messaging pervaded every sector of the society, and people no longer heard the messaging. HIV continued to be a major concern, as well as other sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancy. We need to change the way health education messaging was delivered.
After just one year, we had gained more than 8000 followers, and the community was engaging with the content.
School Health Education
I implemented a school health program at the local secondary school in Tsabong. We discussed health and gender openly in mixed gender groups. Our goal was to create a healthier tomorrow, in terms of overall health and gender equity, by engaging the youth of today.
We created a school magazine to help the students employ what they had learned by writing magazine articles.
Woman Talk & Man Talk: I worked with Guidance and Counseling to develop a series of talks for male and female boarding students to discuss health, life skills, and personal development.
We have to start talking about the real issues in ways that get people to feel. Remember, feelings sell. And we are selling behavior change, perhaps the hardest thing in any culture to sell.
Excerpt, Botswana Passions Backstory
Peace Corps Annual Report:
I assisted in the creation of the 2018-2019 annual report that highlighted work being done by Volunteers throughout Botswana, highlighting successful projects and PCVs. I managed the graphic design and layout and collaborated with the programming team to obtain information about successful projects and statistics about overall program success.
Economic Development
At the time of evacuation, I was working with the Economic Development Officer to create tourism opportunities in the district that would reduce the unemployment rate, thereby reducing social issues. There is a high correlation between unemployment, alcoholism, and HIV. Bringing jobs to the area by promoting tourism would have long-term effects on improving health and economic outcomes for the district.