Madeleine Maceno-Avignon is co-founder and Country Director for Communities Organizing for Haitian Engagement and Development (COFHED). Born and raised in southern Haiti, she has worked over the past 17 years engaging rural communities and supporting them in a consciousness-raising approach that helps change their self-image from powerless beneficiaries to critically engaged citizens and change-makers. This innovative and highly-effective process puts these communities in charge of their future as they lead self-identified initiatives related to education, health and sanitation, agriculture, women’s rights and economic growth. Madeleine has been developing teaching modules for COFHED’s Train the Trainer Community Engagement Catalyst program, which is a result of her participatory inquiry and action research with partner communities. Madeleine holds a Master’s degree in Participation, Power and Social Change from the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in Britain and a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Minnesota.