We organized three monthly group meetings held in the elementary school of the community with the coalition members. Meetings agendas and coalition meetings were jointly developed and facilitated by the two partners. During these meetings, we: built capacity on the principles and methods of CBPR; explored their experience and perceived benefits of the coalition; obtained participants commitment; explored and prioritized the main health issues; determined the name, mission, vision, operational objectives and guidelines of the coalition; and assessed the meetings effectiveness. Coalition member’s capacity was also developed to scientifically formulate the research question and developed a shared action plan for a research agenda and funding options. To maintain communication between meetings, documented minutes, meeting exercises, and future meeting agendas were circulated among the group through email or phone updates.
