Program Resource Team

GOJoven Staff

Esther Saraelle Tahrir, MPH
International Health Programs/Public Health Institute

Esther Tahrir currently directs the Young Reproductive and Sexual Health Leaders Program and the International Family Planning Leadership Program Latin America for International Health Programs/Public Health Institute. These two international fellowship programs, conducted in Spanish, focus on enhancing leadership skills of reproductive, sexual health and family planning leaders, both established and emerging, in Central America and Southern Mexico. Esther has over 10 years experience working in public and reproductive health with a focus on development of leadership and capacity in underserved communities including immigrant and low-income families. She has worked for extended periods in West Africa, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Throughout the Northern California Bay Area she has worked as a trainer, community organizer, health educator, manager, researcher, social worker, outreach coordinator and medical assistant. Esther has interned and volunteered throughout the world and lived in Europe, Africa and Latin America. She is fluent in Spanish and French and is studying Portuguese. Esther completed her undergraduate work in Community Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz and received a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of California Berkeley. At Berkeley she held various leadership positions, including Student Representative on the Faculty Council and Strategic Planning Committee. She was honored with the Henrik L. Blum Award for Distinguished Social Action.

Denise Raquel Dunning, MPA
Training Manager

As Program Manager of the new Emerging Leaders in Reproductive Health Program, Denise manages implementation of the Summit Fellows Program and the Institutional Strengthening Program in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and Quintana Roo, Mexico. Prior to joining the Emerging Leaders in Reproductive Health Program, Denise worked in the Population Program of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation on grantmaking and research in Mexico, India, Ethiopia, and the Philippines. Denise served as a Fulbright Scholar in Honduras, working to implement hurricane relief efforts following Hurricane Mitch, and previously also worked on health programs in India, Ghana, Mexico, and South Africa.

Denise received a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, where she focused on International Development Studies after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Duke University. She is a Board Member of IDEX, a non-profit organization supporting global grassroots development efforts and was recently recognized as a Choice USA '30 under-30' Activist for Reproductive Rights. Denise is a native Spanish speaker who also speaks fluent French, Portuguese, and German.

Josie Ramos, MA
Program Coordinator

Josie has been working with IHP as Program Assistant for the past three years. She also intends to finish her Ph.D in Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the near future. Josie has always been passionate about activism for women’s rights. She has worked at several nonprofits including Defensa de Mujeres, a domestic violence agency in Santa Cruz. Currently Josie is President of the Board of Directors at Triangle Speakers, a nonprofit that works to eliminate homophobia and she is also a volunteer with Women Against Rape in San Francisco.

Josie is an LA native and she is proud of her Mexican heritage and culture. She has a BA in English and Spanish literature from Stanford University and she’s been living in the Bay Area for 14 years.

Rudy Ariel Felipe Pocop
Regional Program Administrator

Rudy Ariel Felipe Pocop is the Program Assistant for the Public Health Institute's Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program (GoJoven). He has eight years experience in the fields of Community Health and Environmental Studies. Rudy has worked in several different regions of Guatemala in the fields of Primary Health Care, Environmental Conservation, Health Advocacy and Disease Prevention. Rudy’s specific areas of expertise include training, program coordination, and the design, management and implementation of local development projects.

Rudy is an Agronomist, a graduate of the Escuela Nacional Central de Agricultura (the Central National School for Agriculture). He studied Environmental Engineering AT the Rural University of Guatemala and is presently preparing for the General Private Exam and Graduate Thesis in order to complete his Environmental Engineering Degree.

José Maria Coti Puac
Program Assistant / Guatemala Country Representive

José Coti is our current Country Representative for the Young Leadership Program in Sexual and Reproductive Health GOJoven in Guatemala and Program Assistant for ASECSA (Association for Community Health Services).

He has 10 years experience in youth work, Community Participation, and Media Studies, in several regions of Guatemala, including Mancomunidad Huista, the linguistic areas of Q´anjobal, Jacalteco, Chuj and Mam de Huehuetenango and also K´iche, and Mam de Qutzaltenango.

He has worked in the areas of Community Leadership, Theatre, Mayan Dance , Alternative Communication Media, health promotion and disease prevention. His main role is in facilitating training, coordinating local programs, and creating, directing and running local development projects.

He has a degree in Communication from San Carlos University in Guatemala and is presently completing a degree in Communication Science.

Lidia Trinidad Simon Velasquez
Accountant

Presently Lidia is the accountant for the Young Leadership Program in Sexual and Reproductive Health GOJoven, financed by the Summit Foundation. Lidia has finished the fourth semester in a Business Administration degree in Guatamala´s Mariano Gálvez University in the Chimaltenango campus. She is a graduate of the Perito Contadora in the National School of Commercial Sciences in Leonidas Mencos Ávila in Chimaltenango.

Lidia was born in San Juan Comalapa, part of Chimaltenango and lives in her home country.

She likes to read, listen to music, chat on the internet and loves the sport of basketball. She also likes taking part in the workshops for young people and being a mentor to her younger sisters. She shares information with young people on the topic of sexual and reproductive health and informs them about organizations related to these areas.

Doris Lizzeth Garcia
Country Representative in Honduras
Pan American Social Marketing Organization (PASMO)

Doris Lizzeth Garcia is 25 and a Psychology student in Tegucigalpa’s Catholic University.  She has been a volunteer for the Youth Club in Conexión for 4 years and is one of the speakers for the program and project educator.  Previously she was a volunteer for a non-profit organization called the archdiocese of Caritas for 3 years, working to prevent STIs and HIV/AIDS.  She worked closely with self-help groups for people living with HIV/AIDS and worked with health centers where she would counsel pregnant girls aged between 12 and 15 about preventative health methods.  

She likes to play basketball but loves reading and listening to music. She loves to share what she has learned with other people and gets most satisfaction from teaching.
Doris is Catholic however being religious does not prevent her from talking about sexuality.

Doris enjoys learning more each day.   One of her goals is to learn to speak English as it is very important.  She lives with her mother and a brother in Tegucigalpa.

George C. A. Emmanuel
District Representative in Belize
Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE)

George recently took on the position of Country Representative in the Toledo district of Belize, in the Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program (GOJoven). George is also the Communications Coordinator for the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE), and the Institute for Development and Environment of Toledo.

George is an Agricultural Engineer, a graduate of the Agricultural University of Havana, Cuba, where he worked with entomo-pathogenical nematodes, a kind of biological control. George also received a diploma for teaching in secondary schools from West Indies University´s Department for Teaching Degrees in its country.   

George has been working with youth for 10 years as a teacher and trainer for the Special Olympics on the island of Santa Lucia, his home country, in the Caribbean Sea.  He also enjoys working with rural communities teaching the importance of environmental conservation.  His passion is promoting sustainable agriculture and development.

As well as speaking English and Spanish, George also speaks French and understands Portuguese. He likes to read, enjoys music and sports, especially soccer.  He also likes growing flowers and repairing cars.  He has lived in Belize for more than six years, is married and has two kids.

Mareny Cecilia Cortes Santiago
Country Representative for Quintana Roo, Mexico
Education, Culture and Ecology (EDUCE)

Mareny Cecila Cortes Santiago is 26 and has a degree in Chemical Engineering specializing in Environmentalism.  Her goal is to be a professor and scientific investigator and to create a civil organization for Public Health and Environment which would be sponsored in part by the Water Analysis Laboratories where she would be a member of the organization and then director.
Presently Cecy is a high school teacher in the CONALEP school, where she teaches Chemistry, Physics and Biology.  She gives classes to adolescents aged between 15 and 18 in Nursing and Tourism. Her four years of experience as an educator help her to share her knowledge with the adolescents.
Right now, Cecy is seeking funding for her Masters in Environmentalism with a specialization in water quality.  She is also Denise Dunning´s assistant in the Youth and HIV project which is being carried out in the city of Chetumal, Quintana Roo.
As part of her Leadership Action Plan in GOJoven as a Summit Fellow in 2006, Cecy gives workshops on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in a Juvenile Detention Centre in the state of Quintana Roo. This experience has helped her education and been a very worthwhile personal challenge.  She also participates in a Women´s Club where they help, orientate and support each other.

Eva Marisol Burgos
Country Representative in Belize
National 4-H Center

Eva Marisol Burgos is 29 and has been Country Representative for Belize for 3 years and was a Summit Fellow in 2004. Eva is a nurse and has three years experience in community sexual health from Belize´s Ministry of Health´s Materno Infantil (Young Mothers) program, she also teaches Reproductive Health in the 4-H Education Center.     Presently she also supports the Leadership Initiative for Emergency Contraception (ILAE) and is a trainer for the GOJoven program in various areas including, contraceptive technologies and reproductive health rights, among others.  

Eva volunteers her free time at the HIV/AIDS Committee in Belmopan and is a mental health counselor in the Western Regional Hospital in Belpoman.  She is also a consultant for health questionnaires for Belize´s Central Office of Statistics.  

Eva is married and has one beautiful daughter.  She loves reading, listening to music, snorkeling and spending time with her family.