Our Approach Details

AYUDA is a volunteer-based organization structured around five important and interconnected components.

 

1. Local Partnerships

In countries where AYUDA operates, the organization works together with a “Local Partner” to better help us respond to local needs, design culturally appropriate approaches, and build local capacity. AYUDA’s main form of support for diabetes communities is human resources (i.e., AYUDA volunteers). We also provide limited economic support when necessary. AYUDA works with Local Partners that have transparent operations and clear objectives that are congruent with our philosophy. AYUDA’s current local partners include:

  • Bermuda: Bermuda Diabetes Association (BDA)

  • Dominican Republic: Aprendiendo A Vivir (AAV)

  • Ecuador: Fundación Diabetes Juvenil Ecuador (FDJE)

  • Haiti: Fondation Haïtienne de Diabète et de Maladies Cardio-Vasculaires (FHADIMAC)

2. Leadership Training

  1. Volunteer Training Program Summit
    Prior to volunteering abroad, AYUDA’s volunteers undergo online training and meet in Los Angeles, CA to receive intensive training. Focusing on our founding principles of youth leadership and empowerment, the training program builds the foundation for the rest of the AYUDA experience. The topics covered during training include AYUDA principles, fundraising and social entrepreneurship, cultural training, diabetes education, and leadership building. These topics allow AYUDA to deliver comprehensive support for the youth it serves while building the leaders of tomorrow.

  2. Cultural Training Program
    Once abroad, AYUDA volunteers undergo an intense cultural orientation program run in conjunction with AYUDA’s Local Partner. AYUDA strives to provide locally defined, sustainable programs, which is contingent upon our volunteers’ understanding of the local culture and values. The cultural training includes experiences such as visiting historical sites and the homes of some of the families with whom AYUDA works.

  3. Local Youth Leadership Training & Youth Empowerment
    AYUDA supports local projects that emphasize youth-to-youth empowerment as defined by our empowerment model. Once in the host country, the AYUDA volunteer team joins with youth leaders from the Local Partner’s organization to foster leadership and team-building, and to prepare for the subsequent outreach and camp programs. AYUDA also facilitates local youth leadership workshops.

3. Diabetes Outreach

AYUDA volunteers and local youth leaders divide into small groups and travel to various rural and high-need areas in the host country to observe the reality of diabetes in the community, gain information from the diabetes community, and fulfill other objectives as defined by the Local Partner.

4. Local Projects (camps, education seminars, etc.)

AYUDA is dedicated to supporting locally defined diabetes projects that empower young people to live happier and healthier lives with diabetes. Projects include diabetes camps, workshops, parent support groups, and leadership training activities, among others.

5. Program Sustainability

  1. Volunteer Earned Income:
    AYUDA’s programs are primarily funded through an earned income stream from volunteer fundraising. This covers the costs of volunteer participation and subsidizes overall program costs. AYUDA’s financial model is unique because it places an awesome responsibility on its volunteers. We believe the AYUDA volunteer fundraising requirement is a key aspect to ensuring volunteers remain at the center of the organization and offers volunteers the opportunity to learn and use skills such as self-motivation, empowerment, fundraising, and marketing. Volunteers’ fundraising efforts contribute to the majority of the costs to run AYUDA’s programs and sponsor local diabetes projects.

  2. In-kind Donations:
    Medical supplies and equipment represent a large portion of local program budgets and AYUDA works to ensure Local Partners do not have to pay for such prohibitory costs, which are usually free to diabetes camps in the U.S.

  3. Partnerships & Linkages:
    AYUDA has worked to establish successful partnerships with a variety of institutions, including international organizations, pharmaceutical companies, diabetes camps, and hospitals. These partnerships play an essential role in promoting AYUDA’s programs by recruiting and identifying volunteers, providing in-kind donations of diabetes medical supplies, and promoting the sustainability of local diabetes projects.