Jessica Salazar Dávila, Nicaragua Regional Manager

Jessica Salazar Dávila joined GP in July 2009 as summer facilitator in the Dominican Republic. She has since acted as our Nicaragua Regional Manager in coordinating site visits in Nicaragua. She identified our first host community when we opened up in Nicaragua in July 2010, called El Hatillo, in Matagalpa. She is half Nicaraguan and half Ecuadorian and was born and raised in the rural and indigenous community of Chagüitillo also in Matagalpa.

Ms. Dávila has personally been transformed through international service exchange by having hosted young volunteers from around the world in her house in Chagüitillo for the past 15 years. She has dedicated herself professionally to work with them in the implementation of various sustainable community development projects, which has helped farmers and rural inhabitants to find new sources of jobs through the Federación de Asociaciones de Sebaco. Other projects include leading workshops for women living in extreme poverty, on topics of sexual health, reduction of infant mortality and HIV/AIDS awareness. Ms. Dávila has also volunteered as a leader for more than 15 years in her local Community-Based Organization for Chagüitillo Development (Asociacion por el Desarrollo de Chaguitillo, ADCH) as well as for the local Museum of Precolumbian Art.

These experiences have given Jessica the desire and commitment to help transform the world through youth and community development and to combine this with her professional training as an architect. As such, she has specialized in construction and humanitarian projects such as “Un techo para mi pais” and others by Habitat for Humanity. Ms. Dávila has worked on projects to strategize betterment in quality of life of high-risk urban neighborhoods of the capital of Managua. She is currently applying to be UNICEF volunteer in Nicaragua. Previously, Jessica has developed international exchange courses for youth in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico and has participated in a cultural exchange program between France and Nicaragua. Her native language is Spanish and is improving on a daily basis her English and French.