The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical need for linguistically accessible and culturally appropriate health information to reduce health disparities and contribute to equitable health outcomes. Join this webinar where panelists will discuss cultural validation (CV) - an intentional practice that includes refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities in producing tailored and meaningful messaging. Webinar participants will learn about best practices and tips for cultural validation from the newly developed Cultural Validation and Translation Review Toolkit.
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Define cultural validation and translation review
- Understand the importance of cultural validation and translation review in crafting culturally and linguistically appropriate messaging
- Identify steps organizations can take to implement their own cultural validation process
This webinar is being held in collaboration with our partners at the International Rescue Committee (IRC).
Leena Zahra
Leena Zahra is a Project and Operations Senior Coordinator for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and a Syrian American social impact specialist. Currently, she coordinates project developments for IRC's project, the Center for Adjustment, Resilience, and Recovery (CARRE). CARRE’s work focuses on providing quality mental health and psychosocial support services for children and families who have experienced forced displacement by acting as a bridge between refugee/immigrant and mental health providers.
With over seven years of strategic humanitarian community outreach, program management and advocacy experience, she has worked with small to large scale Nonprofits, NGOs, and government agencies like the World Food Program (WFP), International Rescue Committee (IRC UK), Karam Foundation, and U.S. Senate. She has a Master’s in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics (LSE), with a particular interest in amplifying community voices and shifting the narrative alongside globally displaced persons.
Jean de Dieu Mukunzi
Jean de Dieu Mukunzi has been a public health professional for more than 17 years. He is the founder and executive director of Ebenezer Healthcare Access; a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps immigrants navigate healthcare and other community resources by overcoming language and cultural barriers. Prior to his current position, Jean de Dieu was a population health project manager at Ohio State University Medical Center.
Jean de Dieu Mukunzi was born in Rwanda and has been in Dayton since 2008. He holds a bachelor’s degree in clinical psychology from the National University of Rwanda and a master’s degree in Public Health Management from Wright State University. Jean holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate and he is fluent in five languages. Jean has conducted different research projects including the “Assessment of Refugees Health needs in Montgomery County – USA”.
Jean has been coordinating a team of multilingual medical professionals to review and validate messages to be used by immigrant populations in the Miami Valley region. Jean is married and has three children.
Syreeta Wilkins
Syreeta is the communications strategist for the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants (NRC-RIM). Before joining NRC-RIM, she spent more than a decade leading communications programs for K-12 public schools, specializing in internal communications, digital media, and diverse and multilingual communities. During 2020 she led crisis communications and other efforts related to her school district's COVID-19 response.
She holds a master’s degree in linguistics from New York University, where she explored socioeconomic influences on Spanish-speaking immigrants' speech patterns. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Macalester College.